Hmm. If you want a transition, here are two other options that might be worth considering.. . . Option A. Put the flat screen on the wall opposite the fireplace -- over the baskets where the small pic is currently. Use the existing armoire for toy storage. Put two swivel or moveable chairs along the left end of the rug. Put another swivel chair about where the left couch cushion is in your second floorplan. Put the couch or a love seat where you show it in your second floor plan. As long as the tv is mounted medium high, you should have three good viewing chairs. Option two. Mount the tv on the wall where the armoire is currently. Put the couch where the loveseat is in your second floor plan. Put one swivel chair to the left of the fireplace (similar to your current floor plan). Consider building a deep uphoulstered bench to replace the bookcase on the left side of the fireplace. This lets you view the TV from the couch, one chair, and possible the bench. In terms of your laughing friends, tell them not to expect any permanent resolution to your LR decorating woes. Those of us with odd shaped LRs (mine is only a tad bigger than yours) end up shoving furniture around a lot as technology and family needs change. Over the years, my couch has been shoved up against every wall in my LR -- plus it "floated" in the middle of the room for about 8 years. Each arrangement has its pluses and minuses. My current arrangement, for example, sacrifices all attempt at having a graceful transition from my front entry and largely ignores my fireplace. Yet it works for us right now. The important thing is to find something that makes your family happy and comfortable -- at least for now.

Now I understand where you are headed. My suggestions will not be matchy matchy and are pretty eclectic in nature. So, hopefully you will get some ideas you may not have thought about. Let's start with the DR. Drapes: I like dramatic so, if the rug has bronze that would be my first choice though there is nothing wrong with gold. I like plain simple drapes. I think drapes like blacksplashes should not be a focal point of a room when you have other beautiful things going. They should help frame the room like the color on the walls do. You may not need pinch pleated drapes. It would save you money not to have the pinch pleats. You need to decide if you want to run them from ceiling to floor or with a rod (I saw some beautiful rods at Calico Corner's. I think JCP carries Kirsch hardware also) above the window not from the ceiling. Dining table: I notice most people select wood to use with oriental rugs. I am working with a designer for my family room and breakfast nook and he just taught me a good lesson: Print rug-glass table, solid rug-wood table. He said you want to show off the beauty of the rug at all times from every direction. They do make some very large glass tables that you can use with 2 wooden pedestals for support or a great square base. If you are having a lot of guests for dinner like Christmas than you can add a folding table and use the same table cloth. This is just a suggestion. You can use wood but I always like to share new knowledge when I learn something. I still like crystal for chandeliers in dining rooms. In this case I would use crystal with some funky lamp shades to add a little fun into the room. You may find these at Home Goods or on line. I would try leopard for shades. It's hard to visualize if this will work without actually seeing it in person. Maybe someone will photoshop. Do you know the size of the table you want to use? I also think you may be able to find dining room chairs on ebay or a used furniture store that might be in decent condition or you can buy them new. Remember the chair wood does not need to match the wood of the table. There is more interest created when they don't. Here is another idea for chairs: you can used entirely different ones for the head of the table. Actually, I am pretty good at decorating eclectically. My friends are always looking for my eye. The designer I am working with always says to me "what do you need me for". Well, he is a great buffer between me and my BF whom I share my new home with. He has made my life so much more easier and is worth every penny. I am also learning alot about decorating from him.

I would use the side of the room where you currently have your sofas as the "adult" space, and the corner where you have the play rug as the "kids" space. You need to separate the two. So move the desk to the adult area - either on wall to the right side of the opening to the family room, or slide the sofa under the window closer to the other one and put the desk on the wall between the sofa and entry. Move the two tall storage units to the staircase wall, and use them exclusively for toy and game storage. The kids kitchen can go on the wall to the left of the doorway opening. From your entry, you will see mostly the adult area, and the messier toys and all the shelves won't be immediately visible. One other option that could work depending on your floor plan is combining your living room and dining room in this space, and using the dining room exclusively as a playroom.

Oh lucky you! I would LOVE a separate living room. Consider how you want to use the space. Preferably, something other than "a pretty place for people to see when they walk in before they go to the family room." While that's fine if that's what you really want it to be, it has become the reason people are (unfortunately, in my view) eliminating "formal" living rooms in new homes. It's SO nice to have an away room, which this could be for you. So, conversation? Reading? Any musicians in your family? How about board games? In my house this would be the reading/conversation/music room, so I would furnish it with 4 comfy chairs in a circle with a center table, maybe a bookshelf or two and a piano. What you do with it depends on the space you have.