1810 Farmhouse: Furniture Placement & HELP

3 years ago

last modified: 3 years ago

Cool Houzz. I wrote a really long thoughtful post & it never posted so I am saving this and trying again ::sigh::

I am looking for help from my fellow Houzz Members. We have been renovating an 1810 farmhouse for 3 years and our next step will be electricity. Yes you read that 3 years, I’m exhausted. This post is a lot less witty because I’m tired and frustrated that the original post didn’t work. Please read it all, it’s a lot but I could really use your help, especially those of you with photoshop skills!

Our next step in renovation will be the electricity which means I will have to have a lighting plan which will affect furniture placement and plans (to a certain extent).

Things to note:

This is our favorite room in the house

This room is off the kitchen

We had masons rebuild the wall and create the archway out of stones in the original wall & yard

The previous owners had this room solely as a dining room

The closet next to the hearth I plan on making into a nook that holds firewood on bottom & my crystal & barware on top

The tarp is hiding Jersey Winder Stairs (google, hard to explain what they are)

The room is narrow (as is common with old homes)

Proper photos are hard to grab in mid construction

We are no child home (I feel like this is important to note as most people ask when designing)

We will have no ceiling lighting as we are soda blasting the ceiling to show the upstairs floor & exposed historic beams

Layouts I’ve considered:

Dining table next to archway, couch along foundations all & two chairs facing the couch

Built in along wall next to archway, with a tv & two love seats & two ladder back chairs closer to the hearth

Built in along wall next to archway, no tv, just books, two comfy reading chairs facing out, living room furniture next to the hearth

Dimensions:

Foundation wall to Archway (without blocking): 105”

Length of room from Hearth to back wall: 259”

Pass-through AKA walkway along stone wall to the staircase: 48.5”

What makes this so hard:

I cannot justify a room solely for a dining room. We have never had a dining room & we host like 1 large family dinner a year if that :)

I plan on having a kitchen table in our kitchen, whether that is my moms old dining table I grew up with that is drop leaf (and folds small when folded) or a primitive table and use the dining table in this room

We are a big TV family. My husband and I eat dinner & watch tv, I can’t see us carrying food upstairs to the other living room to watch tv while eating

When our most common visitors come over (my in laws) they hang in the living room in our current home and watch tv which is close to the kitchen.

Im having a tough time about being realistic vs making it work for us. Since the upstairs is another living room, I planned on having one of them be without a tv.

This room always felt special, like a parlor or a library. I want to enjoy the hearth & the stone wall. I will be adding lights in the trim work of the windows to show the stone wall. If you have any questions ask away! Please help! I really can’t even sleep at this point! Lol