Please provide more photos from different angles and a floor plan with some general dimensions if you can. What type of fireplace are you planning to install?

It is hard to tell but the color of the walls and the carpet, and the furniture's fabric are not working together. The placement of the furniture is also disjointed.

Thanks Felix. I've added some more photos. The room is 21' from the entry to the photos and 21' wide at the farthest corner. It's a difficult room to measure. I agree the colors do not work well together and so hopefully I can find a solution. Thanks again!

Excellent, thanks. I will study some options for you. In the meantime, try this. Arrange your sofas and chairs as you would like them to relate to each other, not the room. Then, once you are free from the walls, study different orientations for that same configuration of furniture. You might find a solution for a layout that works for you. Then, we will look into colors and details. Have a great weekend.

Hi Jennroze, this is a difficult room due to its shape and traffic pattern. Below you will find a possible layout that would work well. This layout however, puts the organ (its a beauty!) on the outer wall, opposite the entrance, and calls for two sofas, one is a custom angled sofa, and leaves no room for a fireplace.

In addition to a new layout of furnishings the room needs substantial changes to become visually cohesive. I will list all the changes I will like you to consider in a second message. I must run now. Cheers!

Trying leaving the way you have it but bring in everything within 30" or so to the coffee table. The coffee table needs to be close enough for a person to set a drink on it from a sitting position. That should make it a bit more of a cozy room.

I'm a huge fan of navy! Is the furniture staying? The organ, while beautiful, is HUGE. You don't need to center it on that wall so consider pushing it more toward the room entry. I'd also consider some sort of bookcase on the opposite wall in the same tone as the organ to give a balanced look as that entry is your main view.

What do you use this room for? Will you have a TV? Will it be above the fireplace. You need to think about those things first and then start moving furniture. If you want to use the room for watching TV, try centering the sofa in front of your future fireplace and flank it with the chair and loveseat. If it is more "formal", try angling the sofa on the wall left of the FP, the loveseat where the sofa is now and the chair next to the sofa. I would also suggest that you find a sofa table or appropriately sized box that you can stand in place where you want the fireplace to be so you can keep in mind how close the furniture might be.

As for painting your tables white - don't worry about whether it matches the organ or not. If you get that bookcase, that will anchor that part of the room so the tables won't matter. However, with the light walls and rugs, the white tables will basically disappear. I would try painting just the tops and leaving the legs wood and, if you think you can handle the all-white, it's easy to then paint the legs. You can even paint the legs in an accent color. If you are keeping the furniture, consider painting your walls a medium to darker beige. It will cozy it up and make the furniture not look so disconnected.

Below are a ton of pics showing navy furniture to give you some ideas on wall color, rugs, curtains, accents...

I would pull in both your couch and love seat closer together as well as the chair (see below how it make it so much cozier). Add a console table behind the couch and add a lamp and accessorize. Adding a large square table (accessorized) will fill the middle and you could keep your side tables if you went with the table below (just add some lamps and place tables right next to the seating) - I wouldn't suggest white tables. You could also add a bench seat under the larger window. Add lots of pillows (color ideas below). When you get your fireplace you may have to rethink this set up, but the bench seat would still work.

Yes, please send the tables somewhere else, maybe craigslist. Matchy matchy seating and matchy tables are just too much. Then get a large round coffee table and orient all the seating around it, preferably in a way to take advantage of the views out the windows.

If you're looking to replace furniture, I'd get rid of everything except the couch. replace the loveseat with two identical chairs, and replace the recliner with a single statement chair.

Something like this or in a blue print would make a good statement chair:

Wow! Thanks for the great ideas. You've all convinced me that the tables shouldn't be white. :) I like the idea of a bookshelf on the opposite wall to the organ. Bringing in the furniture to the coffee table will definitely help; I hope to try that. Also like the idea of adding more/different cushions. Groveraxle, thanks for your picture of our living room! That's amazing! Were you thinking of placing the statement chair with it's back to the main entry?

Jennroze, regarding the room's decoration, consider changing the wall's color. The pictures provided by other Houzz contributors are a great example of hues that compliment your sofas.

Consider changing the carpet all together. I would suggest a Berber carpet if not tile. I assume it is better keeping the room carpeted for the sake of acoustics.

Consider replacing the shades with roman or bamboo shades to give the room some personality.

Consider either capping the half walls between the room and the foyer with molding or building them up and framing the entire opening like the doorway opposite the organ.

In the layout I posted earlier, the orange circles are either plants in urns and bases or thin pedestals that can frame the organ with either vases, figurines, or plants. The deep blues circles are round coffee or side tables (where you have to consider the alignment of square tables with the walls and furniture, you don't have to do so with round tables).

jennroze, I would put the statement chair facing the entry, back to the art.

Now, if you really want a statement chair...and I mean statement...take a look at Wild Chairy.

Felix, with all due respect, putting all the furniture against the walls makes it look like a waiting room.

Sorry Felix, I should have mentioned that we hope to put pillars and molding on the half walls in the same color as our trim. We also hope to paint the inside of our front door... wasn't sure if I should use the same color as our trim or black. (The outside of our home is grey and black).

We have thought about replacing our carpet but it's only 2 years old so I would like to keep if possible. Sad to say, I maybe should have waited with the blinds but they are only a couple of weeks old... :) Paint is not as costly and our furniture is older so I am hoping to work with that. Thanks for all the advice! It's definitely given me some great ideas!

Groveraxle, I agree. It can also feel like a relaxing space where residents can read or listen to music with no sense of hurry. We are most often working in the blind since we lack the personal interaction so essential to undertand our interlocutors and therefore serve with effectiveness. Please, dont hesitate to provide me with feedback. It is always welcomed. Cheers!

Thanks, Felix. You made me laugh with your reply. Sometimes I take myself a little too seriously. Thanks for putting things back in perspective for me. ;-)

I agree with grover's placement. I do not think you need to replace two year old carpet & the color is not bad either. I just do not care for all matching furniture. Some ideas:

Have you considered removing the half walls altogether? I think it will get fussy with trim and pillars. I'd paint the inside of the front door the same as the trim. You have a great space to work with!

Yes, I have thought of getting rid of the pillars but they have too much sentimental value. When my Dad and husband were working on the house they added these walls, leaned up on them and said with a big smile, 'What do you think?' I didn't have the heart to say 'no' because they were going to be their leaning posts while they waited for us (my mom and me) to finish talking. Now my Dad passed away suddenly last year and they remind me of him. Thanks for the suggestions though. (I don't think most homes get built like that so you can still make those suggestions - lol) I think the trim color is a good suggestion for the front door as we have another door to the left that leads to the bedrooms etc., that will be in that color as well. I want to add a mirror and coat hooks in the entry. Any suggestions? Thanks for your help!

Taking out the pony walls is a great idea!

Lots of great fodder here already, but I wanted to add one thing that jumped out at me: if you compare Groveraxle's mock-up to your first photos (the 3rd, really), a big difference (in addition to getting everybody close enough to converse) is the orientation -- she has made it centered around what you intend to be your focus wall (with art and fireplace), while your original was off from that, centered sort of around the single blue chair, randomly to the left. I know your room isn't square, but I still think it's helpful to have a single axis of visual orientation, and I think that's part of what made it feel "not quite right" to you.

Do you have any interest in a piece of furniture for your entry, like a hall tree, or do you prefer hooks and a mirror? Overstock has some hall trees in all different colors and configurations if you wanted to take a look.

p.s. So sorry about your dad. Sentiment trumps design every time.

I was thinking of something for on the wall. I had thought the left side to do a mirror with a side table or bench and the right side a spot for shoes and coats. The tiles are black so I didn't know if I should tie that in somewhere.
Thanks indomom, thankfully I only have one spot like that. :)

What about something like this? Coat and shoe storage and bench all in one and maybe a tall mirror on the other side?http://www.overstock.com/Home-Garden/Linon-Anna-Black-Wide-Hall-Tree-Bench/9177199/product.html?searchidx=1

I totally missed the story about your dad till just now, jennroze. I am sorry. Keep the pony walls for sure!

Didn't think of something like that; looks great!

no problem, groveraxle. I would have gotten rid of them and many times I mentioned it to my husband but now that he's gone, they're staying. The tables should be leaving tomorrow so I can start implementing your great ideas! Thanks!

Your beige carpet seems to have some pink tones, and I notice pink in the framed prints, so I wonder if you would consider painting the walls a very pale pink? To complete the look of the room, valences in plain navy or a navy and white stripe, to match the upholstery, might be effective. My daughter has the same style tables in a cherry stain with black glass, and they are beautiful. So, you might try a cherry stain to add warmth or stick with your original idea to paint the tables white. If you have glass etching skills, perhaps you would like a floral design etched onto the glass of the tables. If the glass is tempered glass, though, it will not be suitable for etching. I do like the layout of the furniture and the way you have made the organ the focal point. For variety, however, you might put the sofa in front of the wall that has the framed prints and then put the chairs and end tables on the adjoining walls.

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