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Bad Furniture Arrangement for 7 Loooong Years! Help me Please!

11 years ago
Hi, I have been in this home for 7 years now and even before we moved in I have hated the living room. I thought it was because of the size. I've always felt that it was too small (which it definitely is a small living room) but I've realized over the years that it may be more so the horrible layout. I just have never been able to make things look right. We recently opened up some of a wall and totally rearranged the horrible kitchen layout to make the space more open on the dining room side and more functional, which has helped with lighting and an overall more open look. But, the living room is still the same. I have quite a few pictures. You will notice the picture from the front doorway ( there is no separate entryway; you walk directly into the living room). There are cathedral ceilings with a loft overlooking the space. You will notice a large fireplace that sits angled in an open side corner ( it's so weird and awkward). The view from the dining room side shows how weird that window is; the large window is not centered on the wall and sits more to the left. This makes it difficult to put a couch there because of the centering. The tv has been moved around everywhere and still looks weird no matter where it is. There is one short wall on the left side when you walk through the front door but there is very limited wall space otherwise, as you can see. I am simply mentally and design exhausted! Please help! Any ideas are welcome. I just know my Houzzers can help me. :)

Comments (15)

  • 11 years ago
    oh! and please pardon our mess. We are just cleaning up from the long kitchen remodel and some other remodeling we've been through (popcorn ceiling removal, painting, adding new fixtures etc.. exhausting!
  • 11 years ago
    Perhaps your furniture is too big for the space. As the TV is awkward to matter where you place it, do you have a spare bedroom or maybe the loft you can turn into a TV room, and use smaller furniture in this room, more a reading or conversation area, even a room for cocktails before dinner?
  • 11 years ago
    I know this is the last thing you want to hear when you are clearly exhausted--- LeLe is right. It's hard to see past the clutter right now. Tidy up and you will get some advice-- it IS a tough space!
  • 11 years ago

    Is this the only living room, or family room in the house that you can have a tv in? As that and the over scale furniture is what is throwing you. Also I would HIGHLY recommend getting rid of the tile entry way and matching the hardwood floor right up to the door. as that square is eating into the rest of the rooms real-estate and the otherwise angled fireplace wall that you have to work with since it is such a dominate feature in the room...

  • 11 years ago

    Also can you show a picture of what is going on on the right side of the front door where are those walls. You might want to take a picture from the second floor looking down to show the entire floor plan as there are too many variables to make sense of this wall layout.

  • 11 years ago
    Hi, if it were my room I would wall hang the TV above the fireplace on a bracket. I would place an L shaped sofa with one one of the 'backs' with its back to the entry passage. I would put a console table along the back of the couch also. This would help to divide the space. Some nice big pictures on the walls to use the height. A curtain pole and curtains to the floor. Hope that gives you some ideas!
  • PRO
    11 years ago

    I would definitely hang the TV above the fireplace for starters, hang that beautiful mirror you have up against the fireplace above the couch. Maybe a new Lshaped couch as the person above me mentioned?

  • 11 years ago

    Can the TV go above the fireplace? With an odd shaped room it is taking up real estate? I love paulinny's idea or replacing the tile. My first gut reaction is to put TV above fireplace, angle couch to match fireplace, move chair in back corner by the window and pretty up from there. Seeing more pics would be great. As paulinny mentioned please take a second story pic.

  • 11 years ago

    Seven years with those vertical blinds???? Get panels today. They should touch the floor. Rod under arched window.

  • 11 years ago

    Just throwing an idea out there....could you switch your dining area and living room?

  • 11 years ago

    HI -- You have been struggling with this room because you have the wrong furniture . Get some drapes to cover most of the wall from as high as you can go and as wide as the wall. The drapes will go over the window , arch and all . Put some wood venetian blinds on the window from the straight top under the arch . Hang the TV on the right wall or set on a long low console that fills the width of that wall . Get a big round fancy frame mirror for over the fireplace . You need a tailored (small arms ) sofa or square sectional backed to the window wall with a lounge chair . The sofa in part will make a hall division from the entrance . The sofa could also be one with the lounge end on the right end . A very thin console table can be added too for the front hall.

  • 11 years ago

    The square of the tile at the entrance is competing with the angled fireplace wall. It is just bad architecturally. Put an entry door mat outside if that is the issue. Hang drapery panels on each side of the of the window high enough at least to go up to the height of the top of the rounded part of the window. Then from the top covering the arched odd window, hang a roll up matchstick or split tortoise bamboo shade to come down to the top of the window to create the illusion that the whole window is much grander and taller than it actually is. Another words cover the round transom top window. You are competing with angled walls, rounded window and the awful tile square and that is throwing the whole room off. At a similar height hang a great mirror Over the English Georgian fireplace mantle. You need at least a 6' x 9' rug although you can probably even go with a 8' x10' Beautiful Traditional rug on the same angle as the fireplace in the middle of the room. This will define the space. Make sure that it is big enough so that at least the front legs of all furniture are on the rug otherwise it will look like a bath mat.

    Small sofa, Think love seat or settee size Traditional small roll arm with lush throw pillows in the same colors as the rug on the window side facing into the room on one side of the rug in the middle of the room with the front legs on the angled rug, a cocktail table or leather tufted ottoman in the middle, and two small scale upholstered chairs across from the sofa or you can place the sofa facing the fireplace on the diagonal and a chair on each side facing into the center of the room. However if you do that you would need to put a console table behind the sofa so that you don't walk into the naked back of the sofa. OR two chairs on the window side facing into the room and the sofa facing the fireplace, so that you keep the passage to the dining area open.. See you can always play with a small sofa and two chairs. But all must be on the angle of the fireplace.

    Gone are the days of slamming furniture against the walls. In the corner by the window place a tall ...YES LIVE Tree as tall as you can afford but at least 7' fiddle leaf trees are really popular now and hearty or a corn plant. Painting on the wall where the TV is now with a picture light. A large tall piece like a buffet and hutch with plates or books and accessories or a console with two tall thin console lamps and another mirror over it or painting above it against the wall to the right of the window to fit into that niche area where the sofa is torturously squeezed now. It will help balance the room with the large window and across the room with the angled fireplace. Also a last look before leaving or answering the door and a great place for a beautiful bowl for keys. Loose the too big sofa and the chair and a half. This seems like they were from another house or they can be relegated to a den or anywhere else. Oh and did I mention NO TV in this room! Sorry tough love I believe they call it. You don't put a TV over an English Georgian fireplace, it's just ...so wrong. Now this is a big one and don't hate me, Get rid of the builders special ceiling fan and light combo and get a real chandilier. This is time to make it a grown up room and not an over-scale furniture catch all. You are doing all of this phenomenal and expensive renovation it's time after seven years to make the first room you see when you walk in just as incredible. It will be a little more formal but you have to work with the hand that you are dealt. You don't want to replace over scaled furniture with an over scaled sectional that is even bigger and you are stuck with left arm facing or right arm facing sides that you can't use anywhere else. Sorry again for the tough Love but I'm a New York Designer and sometimes an Exorcism is needed. Most important have fun but don't block the entrances and natural flow of the room.

  • 11 years ago

    p.s. No micro-fiber or Ultra suede, It's a traditional space predicated by the fireplace, paneled doors, and hardwood floor.

  • 11 years ago
    I think the room is lovely in the sense that it has good bones. The mantel is beautiful and the flooring is gorgeous. Also like the paladium window. I do think that for small odd shaped room, less is more. If you use this room for watching TV i think t should be mounted above the fireplace. I would then angle the sofa to face the fireplace or replace the sofa with 2 sofa chairs. Perhaps a sofa table behind the sofa could be used for additional lighting you could also add a small coffee table. Good luck.