When I see rooms like that in pictures, I think that the homeowners do not watch a lot of TV very much at all. Anyone I know that watches TV regularly has their room situated with furniture facing the TV. Either that, or they lay on their sofas while watching TV, which is possible but would only allow 2 people to watch TV at any given time.

I have a sectional. DH takes the section that faces the TV. I get the part that's perpendicular. I sit with my feet up and face the TV. But I don't think it would be as comfortable with my back against those little arms on the couches in those photos.

I think if you do the 2 perpendicular couches, you could also do a big comfy chair that faces the TV, in the middle. My DH would be 100% on board with that.

My sofa is like that, but I only have the one large sofa sitting like that. I watch TV at night on it all the time, I use pillows to brace myself up on the far end of the sofa and I am fine.
I also have a large chair that matches the sofa sitting directly in front of the TV, Dh sits on that, and uses an ottoman for his feet.
You unfortunately are "stuck" only by the width of the room.
I watch the TV for hours, so I would suggest buying big pillows, regular pillows you could use for sleeping, and also couch pillows.
They will move the pillows around to where they are comfortable, especially the kids.

It works for two laying down watching only. We had it that way briefly in2000BC (before kids). Dh lay on one and me on an other and we liked it. Now we have one sofa infront of tv over fireplace and chairs angled facing it.

Anytime I have rearranged in such a way that the tv is not front and center from the main seating sofa, I've regretted it. DH makes such a fuss about it with not so subtle comments about how much his neck hurts from always turning to the side, poor baby! But since he doesn't read here, I'll admit it drives me a bit batty, too and I've only done somewhat angled viewing, not full on right angle/perpendicular viewing. For me, that would not be an option and I'd find another solution.

That is exactly how I have my living room set up and I like it. Do you plan on adding an ottoman? I think that helps.

I do this arrangement in my LR sometimes, but I also have room for two chairs at the ends of the sofas that diagonally face the television. That way, 4 people can watch - two laying down on the sofas, two in the chairs.

I've had that set up in our past apartment and in our current house. Except, we have a sofa facing two chairs. We have people over and TV watching is never a problem. How many people sit up and look straight ahead? I'm always leaning and flopping over like some beached whale. With this set-up there is certainly a best place for watching, but all of the other spots are comfortable. We have a small living room (13x15) and this was the only large wall big enough for our stupidly large television.

Yes, that is the exact set up we have--- and that part of our basement has a width of about 14 or 15 feet I think so it is very similar to yours. In fact, our ID brought one of the walls in closer to create a more intimate "inglenook" type area. We don't have a problem with stiff necks while watching anything if we're sitting upright. And we have two swivel chairs at the ends of the sofas where one can view easily, but the prime real estate is still the sofas.

I have to ask, though, for people whose sofas face the tv: does it hurt your neck to watch while you are lying on the sofa? It's the same situation....I never hear of anyone complaining about that,

If I lie on the sofa while watching TV I will be asleep within 5 minutes. I'd rather sit up with my feet up on something. If I need to lie down, I need to go to bed. I feel guilty and slothful enough watching TV without having to be prone as well.

No one lays on the sofa here to watch TV. We do have 2 ottomans if someone feels the need to raise their feet.

The only time we had the parallel seating with the TV at the end was in our first apartment. We had one sofa facing 2 chairs and to make TV watching easier we had swivels installed on the two club chairs.

Hi! I just found your post and I've been struggling with the same issue. What did you end up doing?

I cannot imagine watching TV in that position - I would put the TV in a different room. Otherwise I would put one sofa facing the TV with a sofa table behind it in the middle of the room, and have a conversation area behind that sofa. We have two lounge chairs facing our TV, and we moved our sofa (which no one uses) to a wall perpendicular to the TV. We have speakers for surround sound placed so that we will get the optimal effect in the lounge chairs.

I have a TV in my bedroom, and I have to turn my head to one side to watch it, which I do not like, but I only watch it for 30 minutes to one hour in the morning and never in the evening.

I have no problems watching my tv from a perpendicular sofa. Sometimes I lay down.. sometimes I sit (currently I am sitting on the end of the sofa closest to the tv and sorta watching tv). I do think the size of the tv matters-- but by today's standards, my tv is probably small at 42". I don't think i'd want a smaller tv in this position.

If anyone is reading this w the same question, I would say avoid that arrangement. In my experience it’s only comfy for one person and even at that feels like less positions.

Whoever "DH" is, they're very popular and seem to watch TV with everyone. The perpendicular viewing angle is not ideal, but my friend has a chair placed perpendicularly in his living room and it's the seat I always get when I visit. I've never noticed neck fatigue when watching TV with him and his wife.

It is not good to watch tv with your neck bent to the side. Eventually, you will get muscle and joint pain as a result. It is an awkward position. Health comes before esthetics. Watch your tv with your eyes level to the screen, neck forward not tilting up or down. Take care of your back and neck before thinking of room decor. You will only have one neck in life. You can still design a room beautifully without being uncomfortable. People who say they are comfortable won’t be after watching tv like this for years.

So the size of the space is actually 16ft by 14 ft and again two couches facing each other with an ottoman or coffee table between them.

I have this exact arrangement in my family room, 2 large couches facing each other with TV mounted over fireplace at the end of the room. We love this arrangement and no one has ever even hinted of a stiff neck. It simply is not an issue. Most of the commenters have not actually had this arrangement in their own home.