I think the idea of any Brown, or any Taupe being a Neutral and that it will go with anything is something that will date current decorating trends. Genuine leather (just like granite) was Out of fashion for some time because of the popularity of synthetics during the mid-century period. My parents had a custom suede sofa that aged very poorly (it was brown and ended up with bluish black shiny wear marks on it) --the company paid to recover it, and offered black leather, and my parents picked black Naugahyde for it's bullet-proof ness. (Still in their house). Leather has become much cheaper, because the ways of processing leather all the way to processing the Dermis to look like the hide by coating it and painting it, and embossing it --has made "Leather" accessible at all price points (although the Bycast leather process I described can't be called "leather" in some countries). So the big, *relatively inexpensive "leather" sofa may be something that says early 2000s, as well as the "neutral" color of the sofa, being shoehorned into a room full of other colors.

We have a long narrow living space and went with a sectional, but one custom made to fit the space just right. I'm only 5'0 and didn't want a big bulky one that would swallow me up or make my legs dangle when sitting upright on it, so the seating is deliberately designed to be low and not too wide. As someone with short legs and stature, I am never all that comfortable even in most chairs due to dangly leg issues and distance from back of my knee to rear, which is shorter than most chairs these days. I'm more comfortable when I can pull my feet up under me, and that tends to work better on a sofa. So custom made was the way for us to go, as-- for once in my life-- I wanted furniture that was comfortable for me to sit in!! Our kids are grown and gone though they do visit. And we entertain a lot. No t.v. in our house. When it's just us, we do spread out and lounge on it/ take naps in front of the fireplace. When we have company, there's plenty of space to sit upright and converse without it being awkward. As you can see, we also have a pair of chairs, and an ottoman that can be used for additional seating. Not shown is the kitchen -- sorry the lighting isn't that great in this photo -- you can just barely see in the foreground one of the four chairs at the kitchen island. These are counter height and provide additional seating. Because of the position of the island we thought this arrangement flowed a lot better than having a sofa acting as a barrier between kitchen and LR, which is what we had before (sofa and loveseat -- brought from our previous home). Also not shown is that the living space extends beyond the pair of chairs. That's where my home office is, so there's an additional two chairs there as well. If we want to watch a movie, we use my computer monitor to stream netflix, hubby turns around one of the chocolate brown chairs to face the screen, and I sit in my comfy office chair (a DWR recliner). When entertaining there's tons of separate conversational areas, even though the space is not enormous. People on the far sectional end / people perched on the near end conversing with those in the chairs / ottoman can be moved around closer to the sectional / people on the island stools, which can be optionally turned around towards the LR and the view / people in the office / people in the DR which has a table and 6 DR chairs / people out on the deck. Lots of flexibility. We figured someday when we sell future owners will probably want a flat screen t.v., so we did wire for that in multiple places. Future owner could put the t.v. above the fireplace, or on the back wall near the sliders where we have the art now. I could see a future owner flip-flopping this arrangement with a t.v. and console on that far wall. For us that was less than ideal as the best views are from the sectional, and we'd rather have the views than a t.v.

We have a big family with lots of kids. I do like leather, but we chose a soft, tough chenille. If you look closely, you can see the fabric is high-low and also, has several colors within it(and this would help to hide crumbs/stains)...but from a standing position, it appears solid. The fabric is soft, very soft. I did research at the time we bought it, and looked at the Wyzenbeek (?) rub count and all that, and it was top notch. It is some kind of Scotchgarded olefin, about as tough as they come. I was not a fan of the microfiber sofas, because they seem to grip you slightly...but perhaps those have improved since then. Our sofa has never had a spill that didn’t immediately come right out, so we’ve been happy. and as I’ve spoken about before, I’m a fan of sectionals in big rooms, esp for families. I understand the designer perspective on appreciating an arm for every adult.....but no one sits on the sofa in our house! The kids lounge. the adults lounge too. We are super casual , and ymmv, of course.

So there’s a lot I could say about how to set up your family room, but it would be way too much detail! The first thought I had would be to remove the 3’-10” wall. There’s so much more you can do with the space with that gone. Most of my ideas hinge on that. I did a couple with the wall intact. A few basics when doing a seating area is that you want your seating to be no more than 6 ft from each other for having a conversation. An area rug is really helpful in anchoring the area to be used for furniture placement. Yes, a sectional will give you the most seating but because the room is narrow, it could make the room feel closed in. What can help is having legs and sticking with something more tailored and not overstuffed. If you go more modern, sectionals tend to be very deep and it could end up swamping the room. I recommend using painters tape and outlining it on the floor and get dimensions before you set foot in a showroom. I would take your tv out of the corner and get it up on the wall. You can put it on an arm and angle it toward your seating area. Unfortunately, when I post these they may not be in order where the floor plan matches the 3D elevation.