Take a floor plan drawing with you that has each wall and opening measurements written on it. Take a tape measure with you and measure each piece of furniture you like. Don't buy anything. Come home and tape the measured pieces you liked on the floor with painter's tape to see what will fit. Then you're ready to take your credit card to the store, but not before. And be sure the store has a generous return policy if what you buy doesn't work in your space. Sell your sectional on Craig's List to have some cash to spend on decor.

Before you get into colors, art and decor, you've got to get your seating needs and arrangement decided. To echo Deco, get your space measurements together. If you post them here, we can give you guidance on what will work within your spatial constraints. Then you can start finessing.

What are the measurements of the red lines?

Hard to read all the labels...is that a fireplace? And dining room table?

Wow Nancy, this is amazing! Thank you so much. I love the blue sofa and take your point about furniture with legs and maybe a smaller table. The wall decals are interesting too. We don’t need a table in the lounge as we have one in the kitchen so I’m wondering about getting rid altogether, but the room is so L shaped I’m not sure what else I could do at that end.

Lots to think about - thanks again!

Thanks for your suggestions Manon, I have updated my floor plan to be clearer and have measurements on!

Hi, Ellie. I couldn't get your measurements to true up exactly, but the below is very close to scale. Take a look at the arrangement and see if it appeals to you.

For the major seating, it's got a standard size sofa, an apartment sized sofa and two smaller scale armchairs. Measurements are on the seating pieces. Try to stay within those measurements. One seating area is for TV watching with the small scale sofa and the other is for entertaining/conversation - with a standard size sofa. If you go with swivel chairs, most everyone will have a view of the TV. TV is to the left of the fireplace, in your current dining area.

As recommended, take some blue painter's tap and map the dimensions out on the floor. That will show you if the sizes will work. Nancy Ingram has great guidance on elements that work well for smaller spaces, so really consider them as you make your selections.

I like Manon's concept of a conversation/guest area and a separate TV spot. Unfortunately, the way your front door opens throws people right into the corner when they enter. If you can reverse the door swing so that one enters into the room, rather than into the corner and a piece of furniture, it will make a difference as to what you can do with the space. You definitely need to restrict yourself to apartment size seating.

Can you put the tv above the fireplace? I don’t particularly like doing that but when space is limited as in your case that may be a good option. This creates a single focal point around which to place your furniture. Consider 2 love seats on either side of the fireplace 90 degrees to the fireplace wall and facing each other. Avoid putting too much furniture in this room but perhaps two side chairs next to each other could work in the corner to the right of the door. A nice storage piece such as chest, credenza, etc would work well there if extra seating is not critical. Add a single big plant.

Similar to this only you don’t have room for small chairs by fireplace. Those would go in the corner to the right of the door. Colors are nice too

Wow thanks Manon, that looks fantastic too; food for thought! The TV would probably be better above the fireplace cctuttle as the fireplace does protrude into the room but I wonder if that might be too high - I'm going to ask hubby what he thinks about that.

Here is the ideal alignment according to TV size.