Thanks! I’m attaching pictures of all angles. It’s a perfectly rectangular room at 13’x18’. Right now we have a sectional that really only seats 4-5 ppl. We thought if we oriented the tv towards the fireplace (utilizing the horizontal aspect of the room, the 18’) we could seat more and have more seating options.

I appreciate the bookshelves and their cost.

Room from all angles

View from fireplace wall

I would be hard pressed as well to demolish the cabinetry. The cabinetry can be updated an made more contemporary by changing out hardware, refacing, painting, etc. You should be able to replace the fireplace surround and hearth material to update it as well. You could lower the mantel of the fireplace enough to place a tv above it. That might make viewing it easier than its present placement. The existing tv cabinet could be used for art display. Good luck whatever you decide to do!

Can you post a drawing of the room with the measurements?

How many people do you want to seat?

The fireplace wall will be expensive and complicated to reorient. Perhaps you should explore rearranging the seating first. Let the designers try to maximize the seating space. It may prove to be the more effective, less expensive option.

Its such a nice room, I'd probably look for another solution, maybe creatively re-arrange your furniture, buy new furniture that fits better or seating you can tuck away until you need it?? It'd be a shame to take out the mantel and your built-ins which are both so pretty.

Paula: I’m happy to get new furniture. But the orientation of the room not changing won’t really help with quantity. Not being able to block the fireplace or tv builtins means I only have 2 sides to put furniture

I might have missed something but I’m confused as to what the (extensive, expensive) reno would achieve. The TV has what seems to be a superior spot presently. And while you might want to modernize the fireplace, it matches the finishes elsewhere in the house rather perfectly so you can’t do too much without making it disjointed.

Had you posted the fireplace with a TV above, I’d be wanting to move it and take advantage of the other wall where (a) it sits lower and thus more comfortably (b) it doesn’t compete with the fireplace (a big black square (tv) atop a small black square (the firebox)).

Jpp221: my goal was to open up another wall for club chairs or additional seating. I guess my plan doesn’t resonate with you all....

I think I would play around with your floor plan and furniture before starting to remove the built ins. I can't think of any way all the seating is able to be oriented to the TV even if it is over the FP (unless you did 2 rows of stadium seating lol). You could have a sofa facing the FP and 2 chairs in front of windows and 2 chairs where TV is now but that doesn't add a substantial amount of seating.

Jen- your furniture is lovely & I like the way you have it set up, i didn't see the additional pics until after i posted my comment -- when i only saw the 1 pic in your original post. You actually have a lot of seating. What about some puffs for the kids or a bench of some sort under the window or a cushioned ottoman for overflow gusts?

The fireplace mass is comprised of two elements to create one. This means that you have to consider the two elements as one mass. While the black hole of the firebox is offset, you have to view the adjacent cabinet as one half of the whole. Because of this arrangement, it becomes really expensive to move any of that wall around. That's problem number one.

Your second desire was to move the TV to above the fireplace box. You have an obviously load bearing beam above that space and the ceiling won't be high enough to accommodate a television. I don't think it is going to fit.

The way the current entertainment wall is designed is the most comfortable angle for viewing. You would be selecting one good function for a less than good function with the TV above the fireplace.

What you could do is take out the TV cabinet and hang the TV on that wall. With a family, I bet that series of cabinets is valuable storage space that you don't want to lose. That's a tradeoff.

By changing the furniture, we may be able to optimize the use and save you a bunch of money and trouble in the process.

How often would the additional seating be needed (nightly vs once in a while when people come over)? If the latter, I can imagine places where seating can be plonked and dragged over as needed.

My experience—but I obviously don’t know your family—is that the clusters of 4 or 5 gathered around the tv nightly are becoming exceedingly rare in our multi-screened, video-on-demand world. In a family of 5 (say) you might, most times, only use seating for 3 (someone is off playing sports, another is x-boxing in the basement, etc). “Gather round, children” seems to happen only a few times during football season.

Hmmm. You’re all making sense. Bummer! Ha!

If I got rid of the stone footer at the foot of the fireplace, could I utilize the space in front of the cabinet for a chair?

If you were to redo all the furniture, would a sectional still be what you would get? The sectional is Room and Board 108”x108”. We have other rooms we could put it in so it would get reused.

You could spend all the fund necessary to change the FP wall to something like this, however, even if you take away the current TV unit, I'm not sure that nets you enough space to actually place any additional seating on that wall and still have a walkway to enter the area if you stick with the sectional

Depending on the dimensions, this layout might work, but only you know if your family will be ok with looking at the TV sideways.

Graph paper. It's your best friend. Use it. You need to plan the space with the removal of the hearth and see if chairs will fit. I'm doubting that it will get you much in the way of space. Any chair that you put there will need room around it. I'm betting that they will be too close to the firebox.

You do have unused space in the corner by the window that a club chair could be placed. But, it would not have a view of either the TV or the fireplace. It would only work as seating overflow. It would be another seat.

What is the maximum number of seated persons goal?

Do you need extra seating for tv watching or just for entertaining in general? If extra seating doesn't require TV watching for adults, you have a great place for a built in windowseat/bench next to the fireplace. And if you need seating for kids for tv watching, I'd look at getting a coffee table with pull out stools. Not too comfy for adults but fine for kids. I also think that you might be able to fit 2 slipper chairs (maybe not club chairs) one next to the tv and one in the corner where I proposed a bench. They are easy to pull a bit closer for conversations when you have guests.

Thank you for all the comments. We want more seating options because we entertain a ton! The family room is open to the kitchen so it’s naturally where adults congregate when we’re cooking and eating and drinking. We do have 2 small boys, but family tv watching isn’t the focus of the room.