It's a challenging room, but a really nifty one. Can the workout balls go in the armoire in the passageway? Because getting a piece of furniture in that room big enough to store them might be problematic.

Are there occasions where more than one person is watching TV, so that there needs to be "something" where the blue big chair is? And for TV watching, does there need to be a way to put one's feet up (that's mandatory in my house)? If so, I'd say lose the big blue chair and ottoman and get two smaller chairs. The chairs can be situated near the walls in the corner Get one or two small cubes/ottoman/table things that can be easily pushed around for use as tables, or ottomans, or out of the way for your exercising.

Try putting your blue chair in front of the window, across from your new leather couch. Put your blue ottoman where the couch was. If you had a storage ottoman, would your exercise equipment fit in it..or some of it? If so, some storage ottomans come with rollers and can be used as a coffee table and then rolled out of the way when you need the space. Or if you are handy, you can put rollers on your self. Put your table and lamp at the end of your blue chair and it will look nice...no new furniture to buy other than a storage ottoman. Your room looks comfy.

Interesting house. Is that a window peeking out of your fireplace wall? And is that a big sky light over your table?

Throwing this out there.......what is the purpose of the kneel wall? Because it takes up a lot of space and limits how you can use the space. If it weren't there, you could put the long couch facing the fireplace and the hallway where the armoire is would enlarge the dining area, and/or the living area.

The first thing I would do is find an accessible place to store the exercise equipment and just pull it out to exercise and return it when done. Its a pain, but its cluttering the room the rest of the time. I thought if I bought new furniture for my little living room I would probably get a sectional and thats all, but you already have the leather sofa which is nice. I would do two smaller scaled chairs. The chair and a half is too large unless your kids sit in it with two in it. My living room is not much larger and I have a sofa and one chair. When I need extras I bring in the kitchen table chairs temporarily. I would rather have it like that so its not cluttered. I don't have a coffee table, just 2 side tables, one on one end of the sofa and the other by the chair - they are scaled on the small side too. Really think about what the needs are before purchasing and try to find what is going to fit the space best and serve your needs. Try to use as little floor space as possible. This is the only way I have made my room comfortable - I had to buy furniture that was scaled to the space and keep the clutter out. You have a big storage piece in there that I don't know if its really necessary to be there. If its not I would find somewhere else to put it. The fireplace is a nice feature and really makes it look cozy. Really think about maximizing your storage space if you haven't already.

I think it's a perfect room for a small sectional as described in C. I'd get one without an arm on the side closest to armoire to increase the seating and stretching out space of that section. If you found one with a wedge in the corner, you'd have room for a floor lamp behind it. If not, then you could easily mount a swing lamp on the wall and use cube or nesting tables in place of a coffee table. Then you could choose a comfy chair for where the leather couch is now.

A vote for a smaller sectional in the corner where the blue chair now sits! Handy seating -- and fills the corner.

Then add a standing lamp in the corner (it will sit directly in the corner behind the new sectional so the sectional will have to go there first -- and then find a tall thin standing lamp with a swing-arm head) to take the place of the small black lamp.

Thanks guy! I should have been clearer in my original post -- the leather sofa is new and has to stay. The blue chair and ottoman are very much past-their-prime and need to go. I just have no idea what to replace them with.

Yes, I know the exercise stuff clutters up the room. I am hoping to be able to fit them in the closet next to the fireplace (they are too big for the armoire) but I need to do some re-arranging first. I can find it a new home though.

The big armoire has to stay where it is if I want to keep it -- this house is so full of doorways and windows that there are only 2 walls big enough to place it and the other one is the only logical spot for a sofa in the formal living room. It seems more imposing in these pics than it looks in real life and it holds a TON of stuff -- that's where we keep all the board games, a bunch of the kids' toys, and the rest of the exercise equipment (the bands and dumbbells).

The kneewall is there to separate the family room from the kitchen. The family room (and the little "hallway" where the armoire was) are sunken -- two steps down from the kitchen. So without the kneewall, people would fall off the edge of the kitchen floor -- it has to stay.

Yes barb, that is a window up in the fireplace wall. When we redid the exterior thanks to the Great Stucco Disaster we debated about removing it because it really is stupid, but it does brighten up the room -- we tried covering the window with black plastic to see how it would look without the window and the room was surprisingly darker. So we kept it. We keep a big model sailboat in front of it to block the direct sun though -- otherwise, you get blinded at certain times of the day. And yes, that is kind of a skylight above the kitchen table -- it's actually a 2 story opening where the 2nd floor hallway has a balcony rail-- there's a window on an exterior wall in the opening and it lets in a lot of light. I've been toying with the idea of someday closing it in (because it also lets a lot of noise and heat escape to the 2nd floor) and putting a 2nd floor laundry room up there (it's right off the master bedroom) but realistically, that will probably never happen. I can dream though.

So ok, given the constraint that the sofa and armoire need to stay and the "big blue bomber" furniture needs to go, does that change anyone's opinion?

That is a cute little room..but I can see it making it hard to arrange furniture.

Just to try for placement, what if you put the chair and half on the wall where the ottoman is sitting? You can scoot it down closer to the door to see if you did a love seat, how much space it would take up...I'm thinking maybe 2 chairs.

Have you tried the leather sofa on the wall where the ottoman is?

What about relocating the tv above the fireplace (assuming it's a flat screen).

I think you'll be able to find either another sofa or a pair of chairs that would tie in nicely with your new sofa which is very nice.

If you want more lounging space, I think a slimline sectional would be wonderful. Your beautiful new leather sofa is very slim and pretty and I think a complementary slim sectional (such as the type that's a sofa with an attached chaise) would look and function nicely. It would give you that 2nd lounging TV watching spot (we like to lay down too) or more seating if you have multiple people watching.

Something like this should fit within that 73" knee wall.

I would do two chairs or possibly only one. When you see something you like get the measurements and go home and use painters tape to see if it will fit in the room. I wouldn't get a leather chair tho.

Pricklypearcactus - that is a pretty sofa. Were you thinking that I'd put the long part of the sofa down the wall opposite my currnet sofa and have the chaise stick out along the kneewall?

dd50 (and everyone else) -- I'm glad you all agree that this is a tough room - I was afraid I was just missing something obvious. I think maybe (maybe this weekend, if I can sweet talk the hubby into helping, LOL!) the best thing for me to do is drag the chair and ottoman out of the room (not so easy, as the chair folds out into a bed and is very heavy!) and try putting other stuff into the room -- I can borrow the sofa and chairs from the formal living room and play around to see what looks best.

I wish I had the ability to picture stuff in my head without actually having to see it in front of me, but I just don't -- I have no spatial visualization skills whatsoever. (Anyone else have this problem?) I've tried and tried with floor planning software and photoshop and cardboard boxes and painters tape and still, it always looks different (and usually worse!) than I expected in real life. So my only choice is playing dollhouse with real furniture, which my dh hates. But I just remind him that it's cheaper/easier than having me buy the wrong size furniture over and over.

If I do get the chance to rearrange, I'll take pics of the different versions and you all can vote!

Oh, about the TV. It's relatively new and not a flat screen (the built in area for the TV is taller than it is wide and most flat screens are wider than they are tall, so in order to get the most screen size, we went with a regular TV -- we're possibly the last people on earth to buy a new non-flat-screen! I've considered putting a flat screen TV above the fireplace but a) the fireplace is very much a 1700s colonial farmhouse style mantel and a big flat screen would ruin the look and b) the woodstove that's tucked into the fireplace pretty much heats our entire house all winter, so that mantel and everything on it is boiling HOT for half the year -- I have heard that so much heat is not good for electronics although some sites I've seen say TV's are ok above working fireplaces, so who knows?? I assume though, that our woodstove probably cranks out a lot more heat than a regular fireplace for a lot longer period of time (we'll burn it for a couple months straight without letting it go out), and that just seems like asking for a fried TV set.

I did think about getting one of those slide-out swivel mounts so we could pull the TV out a bit and swivel it for better viewing on the other side of the room -- that would solve the TV viewing issue, but I know that the TV would always stay pulled out -- we'd never slide it back in cause we're lazy like that -- and I think that might look bad. Also, I was worried that with the TV slid-out on a mount, it might be dangerous for my kids (they could pull it down on themselves) but now that they're older, I guess that's not a concern anymore. So maybe I will also look into one of those -- anybody have one or know of good place to find TV mount type stuff?

What's right outside the exterior door? Could you put some sort of cabinet or bin out there to hold the exercise balls? Even one of those rubbermaid ones designed to hold porch furniture cushions, etc., would work. Not the most beautiful thing, and not perfect if it is cold/snowing out, but if that is sort of a service porch, it wouldn't be offensive.

I'm still sticking with the two chairs and small tables/ottomans that can be slid around. I like the sectional idea, but I'm afraid that would just be too much furniture in the small room. On that note, how about some modern, slim recliners? Not the puffy marshmallow type, but some that would have clean lines. That would eliminate the requirement of ottomans.

I think you could align a small sectional either way: against the knee wall with the chaise under the window or under the window with the chaise against the knee wall. I would probably do the former because I'd want the window trim to be visible, but either would probably work.

Another option might be to move your "Dump" sofa against the knee wall (if it fits) and place something smaller where the sofa is now. You could either put chairs where the sofa is now or maybe a slim loveseat or chaise. Depending on if you prefer to have the room cozy or more open, this would possibly open the room a little bit. The sofa where it is now sounds very functional for you, but it also sticks out a little into the walk way which might make the room feel a little tighter. In general, I would want the bulkier furniture in the more spacious part of the room: the area by the knee wall. Depending on how much seating you want, the bulky item might be your new sofa or (if you choose to buy) a sectional.

Is there any chance the TV could be relocated over the fireplace (sorry, I know you didn't ask that question)? Otherwise, I like the idea of two chairs with movable small cube ottoman's or the slim recliners. Even though many love to hate recliners, they are very functional and some are really nice looking!