oopsie - where in the "nook" would you put the bookcase? It's where it is now because 1) I had planned on doing built-on bookcases on either side when we built the house, had been looking for a matching (IKEA) one for other side until my dad brought the Victrola over and 2) now it balances the Victrola. The Victrola is on that side b/c of where the crank is. The LS is 5ft long and 3ft deep - so can't move it to other end of area rug until we make the nook bigger, since it's too hard to get past Ds's chair. I don't want to move the sofa down closer to the bay - I like it centered on the slider. Eventually we'll build in bookcases and a window seat (not deep - will follow the contours of the bay so we can still fit the tree). The opening to the bay is 9 ft across, with 1ft 11" wall space on either side (where bookcase and Victrola are). Until we can afford to get that done we're living with the sofabed (bad idea to put it in the "great room" open to kitchen), we were trying to seat 5-7 people so bought LS and then found ottoman at GW, but I'm willing to get rid of the LS and ottoman as long as we can still seat 4-5 comfortably (not on wooden dining chairs & barstools). 2 chairs could be split up on either side of slider, LS cannot ;-) I sort of like the monochromatic scheme (very soothing), but would like to bring more pattern (besides tone-on-tone stripes) into the room. I wouldn't be adverse to painting the walls a different color when/if we redo the tile in the kitchen, but it would have to work with the oak cabinets, pine trim, tan carpet, linen shades and khaki/mocha sofa. Well, maybe not the carpet b/c if/when we do tile (and sunroom) I'd likely be putting hardwoods in FR. But the sofa and shades have to stay - we have too much $$ into them.

Mtn, yes itâÂÂs an animal skin which is a dime a dozen now discounted on many sites. However it works for me because I already had the big carpet. I had a problem with the dominant color of the kitchen cabinets taking over in the open plan so the animal skin helped ground the living space. It also helped with blending the Fred Flintstone fireplace in the open dining room on far side. The ceiling fan works well! At first the decorative light surround thingy made a rattle noise when the fan was on high, which was very annoying. We just dabbed a tic of clear silicone on one section and that took care of it. I agree about the loveseat not always being useful which is why I went with a three seater and a four seater. I decided against a sectional because most people do not like the corner section as itâÂÂs hard to get out of. The other problem with a sectional was that if I wanted to lie down while husband was, my feet would be in his face during movie watching. He does not have a foot fetish so that wouldnâÂÂt work. For my needs we wanted two items that you could stretch out on for movies or watching series shows. But again, I think it all should be about how and whoâÂÂs using the room. Some people only have room for so much seating. I think where people go wrong on the sofa and loveseat thing is that the pieces are often way too bulky for the space.

My wife loves the idea of of curling up in the corner seat and reading, so we are going for the sectional. Our TV is opposite from the long wall, so we need more seating opposite of that - hence the longer side. I think it will be comfortable with a couple of ottomans even several could watch a movie comfortably... two people on the right arm and ottoman and two people closer to the corner with an ottoman.

Rather than a chair and a half, I would go with the loveseat (for one!) and put your lovely credenza behind it with a lamp on it. (Get one the width of your credenza. A loveseat looks intentional. A chair and a half looks too awkward to me. And then....get a new WIDE credenza for under your big tv. The best of all worlds, no? A couch to lounge on. A loveseat for one. You keep your beloved credenza, and you get to buy a new credenza that is even more lovely! You can put the desk somewhere else!