..

Not much help, but I like the fabric choices. I love blue and white:) I might lean more towards the solid textured fabric.

Thank you all for your supportive comments!
Partim, thank you for wading through so much!
You have the lay out right except , as you figured out, I will need to switch the sofa and loveseat , which is a bummer, but we've lived with what you see in the pictures for many years and it really never bothered us. When I see all the beautifully arranged rooms, of course, I want that too. But I'm thankful I can afford to do what I'm doing and have a home.
I cut out templates to double check things and I've decided to just wait on ordering the chair.
Things may take longer, but with such a small room with no full wall except the one with the fireplace I was tempted to block off for all the layout issues that have been mentioned, I think that's the safest thing.
I felt validated by the suggestions that I am on the right track as far as color goes.
My new sofas will be less bulky and there will be lots of white, glass and light colors. The right lighting and small tables will be key.
Thank you all again.

J Berry. So glad you are holding off on the chair. I am also glad the new sofa and love seat are smaller than your current ones. I think you will be really happy you made this decision.

The first step I take for every client is a floor plan. It is your building block. A good floor plan will make or break you. One of the concerns I take into consideration in a floor plan is age and health of client. Example: are there small children, someone in a wheelchair, or other health concerns?

You mentioned you have health issues, and I want to ask about the tv placement, as it may impact you.

May I ask this? Was it your husband who requested the tv over the fireplace? I am wondering why he had this request. The height of the tv there will be much higher than the average person likes tv. The optimum center of a tv should be 42" off the floor. In this case, it is going to be much higher. Maybe there is a very good reason for tv placement over the fireplace. I am just asking, since you still have time to rethink this, if you may not have thought through all of the implications.

In addition, instead of a beautiful piece of art over the fireplace, the tv will be what you see when entering.

Thank you.

I wanted to show you this photo, in case you want to go with a more dusty blue accent, like you showed with the chair fabric. In this case, I'd pull in more earthy tones.

Which do you like better? The more subtle blues below or the more vibrant ones I posted previously?

Dorset Park - Weymouth, MA · More Info

Posting to see pictures

Did you order this couch in the white fabric? Just trying to keep colors straight. I love blue and my living room is various shades of it. I have a cream leather chair we just love. I sometimes feel boxes in by the colors in my rug so I’d suggest getting a lot of variation so if you change things up in the future you can keep the rug if it’s still in good shape.

CDR Designs LLC
Thank you for posting the picture! That is more what I'm envisioning , with a very pale greige paint in a very sunny room.
That was helpful!
My husband's biggest concern was the TV placement for ergonomics.
We are having a Mantelmount brand TV mount installed. It pulls way out and way down to eye level.
I tried everyway I could think of to accommodate his wishes and mine and even with removing the fireplace, we didn't gain much.
I did not want to remove that 90's wall unit just to replace it with a TV and be forced to decorate a TV wall. DH was not open to a TV being placed adjacent the fireplace.
The installer came last week and wired inside the wall, drywall repair on Friday (plus some- see picture).
Shopping for wood look tile and narrowing down paint to #1 Whisper Gray , #2 Trade winds , both Dunn Edwards. Painters are booked for June 19th.

I should've got a picture with his leg sticking through! I so wish we were removing the asbestos popcorn.
There is the one sample of tile that we've obtained. I'm telling my DH we need something a little warmer to repeat the kitchen cabinets you can see from the door and contrast with the gray tile that stops at the living room. (we had a kitchen leak last year. Remodeling the kitchen wasn't on the list and working on the living room wasn't up for discussion yet. So now I have a flooring delimma.) The picture of my kitchen floor is shadowy. It's mid to light gray and the walls are super white (I think that's the actual name...).

Actually, the tile looks warm enough. I'm just afraid it's too light. DH says he doesn't want to let the other room dictate his choices.

..

TV: If you had planned on the tv on the wall where the entertainment center was, you would not have had to decorate around it. I actually recommend not doing that. Perhaps something very simple, if anything. Maybe a couple of lamps.

But, since you are set on the tv over the fireplace, have you chosen a tv yet?

Flooring: In design, I do consider the entire house. If you choose not to, the rooms will not flow well. I recommend you consider the entire house when choosing floor. What do you have in the other rooms (besides the kitchen). I don't recommend the tile color you have chosen and don't recommend putting in tile butting up to another tile.

I can't recommend a paint. I choose paint last.

I agree about considering the whole house for flooring and too late for the TV.
We have 15 yr old stained rippling carpet. Life has been busy!
In the small entry off the living room and in the bathroom off the hallway (from the entry to to the 3 bedrooms) there is a square ceramic. I convinced DH that entry tile and hall had to be consistent with living room .
We are leaving the bedrooms and bathrooms and laundry room alone for now. It's just too much.
I"m just trying to make the best with my situation since I obviously don't do this much.
My 1st choice would be wood floors, but they just aren't a good fit for us for several reasons.
2nd would be carpet, but my Dr reminded me that I couldn't afford the risk of off gassing.
So, that left us with tile. Cork is a no.

And yes, we bought a 55" TV. Approx same size as the mirror that's over the fireplace now.

With what we've been living with, the things we are doing, even though not the best design, will be an improvement.

Okay. Thanks. Have you considered wood-look laminate flooring. There are many brands that look like wood. These have really come along in the last few years.

I recommend Corectec, but there are many brands.

Products | COREtec Plus XL Enhanced | USFloors · More Info

I actually would recommend a tone that melds well with the kitchen tile. This would make the space feel more cohesive from room to room.

Thank you for the great photo! That is the right tone!
The first thing I researched was flooring. Unfortunately, I can't handle the smells associated with laminate, LVP, carpet.

Okay. Thanks.

Given your current TV watching setup, I'm not surprised that your husband wants a better arrangement! He does need to be fairly close to the TV if he is not getting a large one. So I can see why the pull-down and the sofa pulled close to the TV is a priority for him.

I will offer an alternative. If the TV is to the right of the fireplace, he can have a comfortable swivel rocker there which can be as close as he likes to the TV without disrupting the furniture arrangement otherwise. You should be able to find something in a solid blue color. He doesn't really even need to have a pull-down system, just mount it on the wall. Unless others are also watching, in which case the swivel mount is better.

Since you already have a display cabinet in the room, do you really need more shelving units flanking the fireplace?

Partim,
DH wants a sofa for sitting on, does not want it mounted on the side. We don't have scads of money to redo what we've already started with the TV mount.
I'm pretty much having to go with what we've purchased (TV mounted over fireplace and sofa/loveseat).
We have a 1500sq ft tract home in Southern California- no den, no basement.
We needed housing for DVD player and stereo equipment including turntable.
I had hundreds of media storage options picked out, but DH also wants books in living room.
So, trying to balance TV, fireplace, shelving for audio and books in a small room where my main concern was more seating and being a beautiful space that will be low maintenance and chemically friendly has been a challenge.
I appreciate your help and sorry I seem so difficult.

Sorry if this is way off track, but thought I'd add that I have respiratory issues and sensitivities. I recently donated about 100 books that were in my office/studio where I spend a lot of time. And added a hepa air purifier. It seems to have really made a difference in the air quality in that room and I'm feeling better.

That is good to know! The cabinets on planning on are glass on top and enclosed on bottom, so that may help.
An air purifier would be helpful!

I think the DE Whisper Grey would look good in your room to pull in the tile in the kitchen. I am really the blues shown below with the Whisper Grey. I am showing a pillow from Crate & Barrel that would look great in your space. You could add other blue pillows in the range of blues in this pillow

Mave Pillow 20" | Crate and Barrel · More Info

Posting to see pictures

You are not difficult at all!

I am intrigued by what is in your wood display cabinet. Is it a glassware collection? I think you could arrange it differently to increase its attractiveness. Could some of the non-glassware items go in the new cabinets for display, and leave the glass-sided cabinet for the glassware only? It would have more impact less squeezed together.

Or are these inherited heirlooms that you feel obliged to display? If so, put most of them in a box and display a half dozen at a time. More attractive and still honors the collection.

CDR Design LLC
Thank you for looking it up! I like that pillow too!

Partim
That is my husband's cabinet. He has bottles he's found, Indian grinding stones, war memorabilia from family, 40's stuff, 60's stuff, family photos, family yearbooks from the 1910's.
I'd like to take family photos out of there and display in a cohesive way. There is so much in there! There's more in the garage, I'm sure!

I actually think the bottles might be a possibility for the new cabinets that are white. My sunset picture has green , blue and purple in it like the bottles.
I need some colors in the white cabinets to pull things together.

J Berry with severe asthma and allergies, I am so sympathetic. Have you considered a pre-finished hardwood floor? Pretty close to 0 VOC.

You mentioned you did not want to have to decorate this wall if a tv is here. This huge wall will still be here. Is there a possibility you could put bookcases in the back of the room, move the large case maybe to the hall and put the love seat here?

Just a thought. To really plan the space, I'd need complete dimensions and dimensions of your new furniture.

CDR, don't have time now, but I would like to explore going back to layout I have with old furniture and put chair on that empty wall.
The window wall is the longest and adding a chair on the wall unit wall would solve lighting issues and a nicer look with the sunset picture.
Thank you so much for your interest and time! Partim too!
Off to tile row! Saying a prayer for direction and the right color!
Thanks again!

I"m just reading along but want to offer that we have Daltile brand wood-look tile on a feature wall in our shower and people always ask if it is real wood.

I looked at tons of wood-look tile when I selected it and thought Daltile's options were the best. I think there was one option at Emser Tile I liked also, but not for the price.

I don't think this is the color you are after, but they have several different options.

random · More Info

random · More Info

Definitely looks like wood jwap, really love how your shower looks! Do you know the Daltile tile name?

Are you pairing the sunset picture with the chair, because it is to narrow to go over the sofa?

If so, I can tell you that the wall will look very bare.

I suggest that you put the sofa or love seat against the long wall. Install a 5 foot long picture rail shelf, about 8" above the back of the sofa. Set the sunset picture in the picture rail, and find another smaller interesting piece of art to display beside it. Nothing too attention-grabbing - maybe a sepia print? The brown would look good with this piece. Or if you want to install a wider shelf, you could still prop the picture and put something beside it like an attractive pot, maybe with a cactus plant in it LOL.

Dawn, I think it was their acacia line. They had like 4 color combos of that line. Plus several others.

I think you can order samples if you don’t have a showroom near you.

Thanks jwap, we have a big Daltile showroom not too far from us :-)

Here's the tile we chose today. The picture on the floor is at the showroom but it melds well with our kitchen tile and kitchen cabinets.

We're getting the tile for much less than the sticker says.
Here are the dimensions of the living room ,the England sofa and loveseat and the Ikea white cabinets.
The floor tile will go all the wall to the fireplace (no hearth).

Did you bring a piece of the tile home? Your cabinets have a cherry feel and this tile seems to have no red in it. Products often do not look the same in a showroom as in a house. I'd be careful.

Personally, I'd look for something the blends better with the existing tile so that the spaces feel more cohesive. But, personal choice.

I tried a few options for you. You seem to want to grant your husband's wishes as much as possible, which is really sweet. I think, though, it is going to feel crowded, as I mentioned before. As long as you know that going in.

1) Could not fit your existing glass cabinet. No room for an end table or lamp between the loveseat and Ikea cabinet.

2 . Moved love seat to opposite side if you want to look out window. However, this doesn't flow as well.

3 Ikea cabinets gone. Existing cabinet stays. Plenty of room to walk when you enter and existing cabinet moved to other wall. Room for lamps and end tables.

Thank you so much, CDR!
It is so kind of you to draw those options up! It does help to see the options side by side.
I did bring a tile samples home and the tile is a good fit.
Here is a picture of our fireplace in progress. It was built with used brick and I wanted a smoother look. We had the mortar joints filled in more. We also removed the brick height hearth and replaced it with a herringbone mini brick hearth which was to be flushed with carpet that I was going to replace. The whole thing will be painted.
Now, since we've changed to tile flooring, we'll be removing the hearth, so that will add a little space.
We haven't had a fire in years.

fireplace in progress · More Info

I guess the hearth is being flushed with the carpet!
Typing on a cellphone.

Fireplace looks much better! You won't gain any space on the hearth area, because you are adding the bookcases. I would thing long and hard about them.

I think having the bookcases on either side of the fireplace is going to make things look very crowded and will also extend 18 inches out from the wall.

Do you absolutely need the bookcases? If so, what about using the IKEA Billy bookcases instead? They are max 12" deep and if you put 2 side by side they are about 64" wide (together). It they would fit (2 on each side). And they are much cheaper than the others. So many ways to hack them to look custom too.

Well, all of your responses have caused me to think everything over very carefully. It's been helpful in feeling more comfortable with my decisions.
I analyzed my old layout vs my new plan and we will actually gain more function and updated design.
I'm thinking CDR's last layout.
The biggest challenge will be lighting and places to set a drink, but I'm finding ideas.
We haven't had problems with our old layout for 25 years. We're more interested in function and comfort and we've mostly had that without nice design.
I've definitely had to make trade offs.
Thank you all for helping me think this through. I think that is what I needed.
I'll update with pictures as it comes together.

The problem with the book cases is I needed depth for a turntable and receivers. My DH also did not want open shelving for components. Trade offs

What about using option 3 (last layout) and buying a unit that sits where I have the glass case. Maybe move the glass case elsewhere.

Do you use the turntable?

Here's a picture of our old layout, minus the rocking chair that we had by the wall unit and the fireplace.
And a picture of best layout incorporating all needs/stipulations I had to work with.
The new layout has templates with existing tables that I will change as I am able.
You can see how much the entry was blocked, I had 1 little picture to the right of the fireplace (sunset was in dining room) and that big honking wall unit with an analog TV and a small hand me down digital TV with a firestick on the coffee table and extension cords running from there to the fireplace wall.

I think I've thought of every possible configuration of things and have gone back to the drawing board several times when I've run them by my husband. 100's of media consoles, sofas, fireplaces, floors, layouts.

We use the turntable. The Ikea bottom cabinet doors slide.

The sofa height is 34 " and the bottom cabinet is 4' 3/4". So the full glass portion will be visible. I don't care about seeing the bottom and we won't be opening them that often.

....as long as you are happy with it, that is what matters.

Looks to me like it will work for you.