How about a round table and move the table/desk under the window away? It could be rather like a front hall table and double as a game table. Then in the corner where the rectangular table is now, have another couple of chairs and small table as a secondary reading nook.

Whoops, sorry, missed that the table I suggested getting rid of is your DH's puzzle table! Sorry. You do have to have one of those in any beach house. I think it is a law. ;-)

I wouldn't put anything there. It's right smack in a walking path. Maybe just decorate the FP hearth and leave it at that.

How about a console table next to the stairs to give that area some fill-in?

What function do you *need* to address? Do you need more comfy seating? You could put 2 cozy chairs that would share an ottoman slightly angled towards the other seating area - pretty much the layout you have now but comfy. Or do you need overflow eating/game playing space? Then a drop leaf table with the chairs you have now and extras somewhere else could work. Or....? How would you like to see the space used?

Tib, it's not right smack in a walking path. With what's there now (the two small chairs and table) there is more than enough room all around for walking in all directions. Maybe that's not evident from the pics. There is a door to a closet on the wall along the stairs so can't put furniture there. Plus, that WOULD stick out into a traffic path.

Dlm, there isn't quite enough space for two comfy reading chairs there. Really it doesn't need to be functional, as I mentioned. The space does feel weirdly empty with nothing there, though!

Maybe I'll get a pretty fancy dog bed for the space!

Do you use the fireplace? How about replacing the rug (with same or different) and getting some big floor pillows? We're floor sprawlers - or rather my DH is with our dog - and he likes to have big pillows on or near the rug for that. Next to the fire..... nice!

These chairs are cute, and cheap (and maybe fine since I don't think they'd be used much).

http://www.worldmarket.com/product/green+teaghan+chair.do?&from=fn

This is adorable but the color isn't practical.

http://www.worldmarket.com/product/erin-cute-as-a-button-loveseat.do?&from=fn

DLM, we use the fireplace about as much as we use the room during the winter, which might be 1-2 times a year! When our kids are older (like when we are empty nesters in 5-6 years) we will be here a bit more in the off season but for now, we rarely get a chance to be here during the winter months.

No suggestion, but I'm so envious of your open window! That won't be a possibility here until late October/early November.

Sorry if I didn't get the pic right. Yes, it looked that way to be because of the front door and stairs location.

Isn't a puzzle table usually more accessible to several people? Or does your DH do them alone? I would get a nicer, slightly lower table, move in into the room a bit and place comfy chairs around it for a more welcoming puzzle table.

When we've done puzzles on vacation it is usually a group project with helpers coming and going depending on interest and concentration level.

I think it can be it's own little seating area. I'd get a small wicker love seat and put it's back to the stairs. Put the other two chairs across from it with the small table in between them, then get an area rug to define the grouping. This way the FP can again be a focal point and not blocked. The chairs are small enough that they can be pulled up to the puzzle table or to the other convo grouping when needed. After all this is vacation casual.

My first thought was a game table with four chairs. But what about a chaise? Could be a cozy reading spot and a chaise wouldn't necessarily block views like a settee. Pair it up with a smallish table (you need somewhere to rest your cup of tea, glass of wine) and I'd probably put an area rug there, too.

couple rattan swivel rockers?

I think you need another comfy sofa facing the fireplace with a rug somebody can stretch out on. . The table and chairs look lonely and out of place. Chairs are not substantial enough for that space, IMO. Actually, Sue, that inexpensive large curved sectional sofa would look great there. This is the gray, there is also a blue mist color that would be lovely. Looks green on my monitor but all reviews say it is blue. http://www.homedecorators.com/p/riemann-curved-tufted-sectional/00/810/

I think I'd keep it simple and just treat it like an entryway. I'd probably put a bench in front of the fireplace and skip the rug.

Funky Wood Bench · More Info

Stein World Ticking bench · More Info

Safavieh Hampton Pillowtop Bench, Robins Egg Blue · More Info

Maybe just a different angle will work with some height in a floor lamp and two tiny different height tables and two cool chairs with one off to the far side. This one shows that you could still have a puzzle table.

Oh, the joy of bad photos. This space definitely isn't as large as kswl thinks, or as small as tib thought. I'll see if I can get a better angle. I don't think Annie's plan would work either due to size.

No one else here likes puzzles but sometimes someone will pull up a chair (and move the dog bed) to help.

I thought about a chaise, or a bench kind of like the first one jlc posted.

I'll be back with a better pic and some dimensions...

I'd like to see something summery and light inside the fireplace (such as dried hydrangeas or a large fern) and another rug. I'd look for a round rug that isn't so big as to extend into the walking path, but has some of the neutral color from the other seating area, a bit of green and some peach in it to go under the little chairs.

The FP is 5' wide. The depth from the hearth edge to the "traffic path" that needs to be open is about 6'. So this space is about 6' x 6', let's say.

Now that you've all helped me think about this, I'm wondering if two different chairs -- a larger comfy chair on the right (partly in front of the window) and a smaller one on the left, with the small table in the middle -- might work. Or, Annie's idea MIGHT work actually...I'm going to fiddle around it a bit...

a floor lamp and a comfy reading chair FACING fireplace. The chairs you have now with back to fireplace look odd. Maybe a little area rug. It is a lovely house.

Whoa, that last picture clarified the space constraint----no sofa, obviously!

How about a rug and two chairs facing each other parallel to the fireplace, sharing the same ottoman? Maybe with a small table at one side of each chair for drinks, etc.? We have this arrangement in our library and it works really well---all the benefits of being in front of the fireplace without having your back to the other people in the room.

For example, this loveseat is only 51" wide, so it would fit fine.

New idea. Round puzzle table near where it is now but pulled out, almost in front of the window, with 3-4 upholstered dining type chairs around it. Sometimes we have multi-day monopoly games and that would be a good place -- better than the kitchen table! Then really the dog bed might have to be in front of the fireplace!

I tried a facsimile of Annie's idea and it seemed too congested.

Kswl, your last idea might work if they're small chairs. If they were much deeper than these, they'd start to encroach on traffic path and the space to pull out DH's puzzle chair. I like the idea, but I'd like it better with two big upholstered chairs, and we don't have that much space.

I've had the chairs facing the FP, and at various angles...it seems like every arrangement is awkward.

For all who have suggested a floor lamp, we have sconces over the FP so I think a floor lamp would look odd.

In terms of function, I think some expansion on the puzzle table situation might work best. It needs to be close to that window though, not in front of the FP, because DH likes the water view. :)

...or, some variation of jterrilynn's idea.

I think you need small club chairs, or those parsons chairs that look sort of like wing chairs. Those in the photo just above look skimpy---too many legs, too much wood. You need fabric!

Variation on jt's idea: of course both of these spaces are bigger, but I could do something similar with 2 mismatched chairs.

Kswl, I wasn't suggesting keeping my chairs -- just showing them for scale.

Hey Sue, hope you do not think I'm suggesting that furniture in my diagram. I am suggesting the layout only. Where the chair on the right is I would have something like a chair and a half size that could double as a cozy reading corner or become part of the round game/puzzle area. I still like the idea of two round tables, one small high side and one larger game. You might have room for a small cool ottoman.

Sue, do you remember your paint color? I like it.

Sorry, Sueb20 :-)

Have you looked at smaller upholstered chairs? This ad is from Calico Corners and I see several smaller footprint chairs that would be great in your space.

Emma, it's Odessa Pink (Ben Moore). It makes me happy!

What a great space! I'm jealous of your beach house! I would angle a rolling bar cart off to one side, stocked with a tub of ice, for bottled waters when guests come in off the beach or - depending on weather, a bottle of wine for warming up on a cool night. Add some fresh flowers and a fruit bowl, and it's the perfect spot to unwind with a snack and drink. Off to the other side, place a single club chair, with a throw blanket and a basket beside it for books or magazines. Here is an example of a pretty barcart.

I'm in love with your house. Seriously, and the picture over the fireplace! I think: nothing. A pretty half-round hearth rug, a bar or counter-height bentwood caned stool with a plant (or a good fake one!) to the right of the fireplace, and be done. Keep it light and airy.

Odessa pink. I'm keeping that in mind, it's so pretty! (I'm dying to see what the kitchen looks like...)

I can't tell if you want to keep the two little chairs and the table that you have in front of the fireplace or not. The scale of them is good but the problem is that they are just floating and need to be anchored to the area. What about a small oval or, as mentioned half-round hearth rug (maybe a braid one) in front of the fireplace with the chairs that you have. Regardless of what you put I think it will need to be anchored. Right now, that chairs are just floating.

Rebecca, that would be cute but we have a bar area in the kitchen about 12' away. We have a big kitchen open to a big screen porch, and that's where everyone hangs out in the summer, from morning coffee to after-beach drinks to late evening tea...

Bp, thank you! I can post kitchen pics later...when it's clean! We just had company for 4 days and everything's a mess.

Bl, the chairs are there only because I had them and stuck them there after moving around some other stuff. There WAS a rug there until the other day when our old dog peed on it for the 3rd time! I can use those chairs anywhere.

We have a big Home Goods here and a lot of interesting consignment shops. I may poke around this week and see what I find.

What about focusing on the fireplace itself instead of the floor in front of it. Make the floor an extension of the fireplace and decorate it as a whole. I found this site when researching fireplace vignettes. Might be a jumping off point (or not! ). :-)

reasons to decorate in front of your fireplace

Thanks, bl...some variation on this might be pretty. We could turn the chair toward the FP in winter. In summer, it seems weird to me to have the seating face the fireplace, which isn't used, with its back to the other seating area.

The fireplace has a gas insert so I can't decorate inside the firebox, as someone else suggested.

Where are those dimensions? I can't tell if there is enough room for a narrow reclining chair, like an old morris chair to be positioned under the window angled into the fireplace front a bit, with a floor or wall bracket lamp between the window and fp, for reading, and on a pretty rug centered on the fp. No second chair. Could the puzzle table be pulled further down the wall if needed, or is it positioned for a view?

Maybe someone has mentioned this, but your sofa and chair look sort of crowded in that corner....what if you put the puzzle table and chairs in that part of the living room and put your sofa facing the fireplace...sort of floating...not against any wall. Your chairs could be where the puzzle table is now. A pretty rug in front of the couch and fireplace would look nice.

The sofa is too big to go in the area in front of the fireplace. I know it seems illogical, but this is a weird room.

The puzzle table stays where it is because it has a water view. DH doesn't ask for much, but he takes his puzzle table and its location quite seriously. :)

I am going to rearrange a couple of things and show a pic later! I think I have at least a partial solution.

Sueb, I can so relate to your frustration of a FP in a traffic pattern.

i would get a rustic pine round table in the corner for DH puzzles, add 2 comfy wingback styled dining chairs & a bench to go around the table.

maybe some type of storage piece on the wall across from FP. Treating the FP area as a foyer of sorts.

NOT THIS FABRIC!!!! Lol

Well, this is what I've done. I put the chairs that were originally there, back. I love these chairs -- they were a CL find, and they were in front of the FP until I moved them to the "conversation area" that, yes, is cozy aka crowded, but that arrangement works better than others I've tried. Tucked away over there, they weren't as easy to admire! I think they are back in their rightful place.

I still need to get a rug, which may have to be an indoor-outdoor type until our elderly dog....dies.

I have the wicker chairs back over by the sofa, but that's temporary. When I find the right chairs to replace them, I will move them over to the puzzle table.

The chairs look really good! I was going to also suggest a couple pretty square ottomans....

Those chairs look perfect!

What if you just use one of those chairs. Put one back in the nook with the couch. Then put the biggest round rug that will fit In That area. I envision a furry rug or a country rug from capel. I would also put a narrow bench on the staircase wall

Pretty room. I am not sure about chairs with their back to the fireplace, it seems a bit odd. Especially if they are looking at a wall instead.

I think you should get rid of those floral cushioned chairs and start over. I can help you move them out on my next trip up the coast, no problem. And really, since the cow is part of the grouping there, I will take the painting off your hands as well.

But if you insist on repurposing, I do like the latest iteration. I like a bit of quirk in a vacation home. You don't want slick.

Yes, plenty of quirk here. If the chairs face the FP, it seems odd to me because we don't really use the FP, and then the chairs have their backs to the other seating in the room. I've tried them both ways at various times. For now, for me, they're fine. Hoping for the rug I ordered to arrive soon!

Love those chairs by the fireplace......and your cow pic too! Can't wait to see the rug in situ......