I think your idea of putting the sofa facing the fireplace and having the play area behind it is a good one. I'd go with a low bookcase behind it, with baskets or bins to hold toys and books. Is this room your prime tv watching area? If the tv can be put in one of the built-ins, then you would have one major focal point, with the tv and the fireplace next to each other, and the sofa facing them. Keeping the media cabinet where it is will really limit your seating arrangement possibilities--it will be difficult to watch tv from the sofa if the sofa is facing the fireplace. And if the media cabinet takes up most of that wall, it is also taking up a lot of the space where you could add in new chairs. Moving the tv to the built-ins might cost some money--you'd need to have the cable hook-up moved and maybe hire a carpenter to make changes to the built-ins. But you will be spending money anyway on new furniture. I wouldn't let the fact that you currently own the media cabinet influence your plans for this room too much, as it could be as much a liabilty as an asset. If it keeps you from creating an attractive room with the amount of seating that you want--why keep it? My thought is to put the sofa where you plan. Then you could put two upholstered chairs, one on either side of the fireplace, angled a bit, but facing the sofa. That would be a nice spot to curl up with a book. That would give you seating for at least 5 people. Then get a couple of side chairs and put them on the wall currently occupied by the media cabinet, with a small side table between them. If you make the table and chairs in the play area into a game table, then you will have 4 more chairs for guests. Now you are seating at least 11 people in the room without having to move in chairs. If you absolutely have to keep the media cabinet and keep it where it is, then I'd suggest a sofa against the window wall, facing the tv, and a second sofa or a loveseat (depending on how large your room is) at right angles to it, facing the fireplace. You could still put a bookcase against the back of the sofa facing the fireplace. Then an upholstered chair in that lower right-hand corner between the built-in and the media cabinet. That should give you seating for 6-7 people, although only 3 of them will be able to view the tv comfortably. If the media cabinet fits the style of the house, could it be repurposed in the play area of the room, holding toys? This post was edited by camlan on Tue, Mar 11, 14 at 8:53

Thanks all for the replies. The floorplan/construction was already done by the seller, so I didn't have a say in the bathroom unfortunately. There are pantries and closets - just missing in the floorplan :) As for dining area - this is a good point.. I was thinking of just using the island for dining area for now since it's just me... maybe replacing the "media" area with a dining table instead? I was actually hoping to shy away from a TV in living room altogether.. so it could work! Thank you for all the suggestions.

Great ideas @havingfun! Thank You! It's funny, we started physically moving some things around down there, and I'm starting to think the TV should indeed go on the far wall. I'm just worried about it creating a black hole at the end of this long room. Are you suggesting dividing the room into two sections? Like a TV section and a fireplace section? "face couch or appropriate chairs towards the tv. appropriate chairs or couch to fireplace" and then a rug in each section? I like Bohemian, vintage, rustic, industrial styles I think. I liked the first and third rug you suggested. Maybe light bright rugs and warm darker furniture? We really like the idea of leather sofa/s, like the kind with the nailheads. We have cats and friends, so any anti-stain, non-fur grabbing furniture is what we are looking for.

Hmm... I was going to suggest a more substantial sofa, but now that I see it would block the fireplace if you did that. I also think your couch adds a lovely bit of color. But I love the new couch you're considering, actually almost put it in my home. So it certainly wouldn't be a bad choice. Every good MCM living room begs for some leather, but I think youd be better served adding it as a bench under the window, or in the chaise. I would keep the same chair for the second, since you will already have a mismatch between couch, chairs, and corner chaise. That's obviously a beautiful console but you'll need to measure carefully. It looks pretty long at 80"- how long is your wall? You also don't want anything more than a few inches taller than your chaise. I would pick the chaise first and the console second so you can get the dimensions right. Here are some options for a bench for under the window, and a leather chair/chaise for the corner.