I am concerned that the navy blue will fade under the window.

You give measurements of the sectional but not of the room, but guessing from your photo, I say "no" to a sectional. Love your inspiration room, but, it is not yours.

Consider painting your walls a blue that will deal with your concern that is not light and bright. This is Scandinavian blue...relates to areas which have little daylight.

Now, how about slip covered sofa in white? Your entire room will become a jewel.

A navy fabric will show every little piece of lint. If you go with a real leather it will not matter about the lint. Just do not go with a bonded leather. Use a high grade leather.

I agree about the grade of leather. Really why paint the walls blue when you can have a blue sectional so less boring than brown which seems to be the choice for so many people.

Why paint the walls a perfect blue rather than what you have now? Because you have low light and you need a saturated color that will hold its own. Your sofa color should be an accent to the walls, not the other way around.

Dimensions of the room? And, additional pictures, please. Must bookcases, etc., stay?

Lee has a beautiful white leather..Vespar.

Thank you so much for your advice everyone. We are already stretching our budget by increasing the quality of the sofa manufacturer and a fabric sofa is already a stretch so I don't think we could afford a leather sofa. The fabric we are looking at is almost like a crypton. I'll have to research the fabric content but the double dubs are 100,000 so I know it will handle the abuse. Attached are the three colors it comes in. Whether or not the blue will show everything is my biggest concern. I do love a navy sofa and how well do many colors play off of it.

I can see maybe shortening it so there is no chaise and make it feel more open. I will attach a plan but here are more images of the room from other angles. The bookcases stay for now. We will upgrade over time but are functional for holding all of the kids toys for now. Plus there are heating registers along that wall.

I would prefer to keep the wall color as is because it flows up and down the stairs and to the two hallways. Plus there are already three rooms that are blue. I could switch out the rug and pick a different sofa color from navy. Any suggestions?

Oh and here are the three sofa fabrics that have the high double dubs. The test are more of a velvet and are beautiful but the double rubs are 15,000.

Here is the plan for our living room...

I like the navy!

I'd be very careful with dark fabrics on sofas. If the color is flat it will show everything immidiately.

Also I find dark blue looks very dark and dull unless a room gets lots of natural light.

Thanks Elizabeth Z...it caught my eye too but am nervous.

@Tems...I do worry about how the fabric will react to the lack of light. I want something with contrast to the room but don't want to do chocolate brown, etc. I do l love all of the color combinations that go with navy blue but don't want to have dark walls.

I agree, don't do dark walls. Get some pretty striped - or other patterned -throws for the sofa. If you decide on the navy sofa, light colored walls will contrast nicely and keep the room light.

Thank you Elizabeth! That is exactly my thought....I love lime green and orange and tan. It would be great to use those colors as accents to the sofa. Esp with a fun blanket and pillows. The navy fabric actually has denim in the name so it would be great to use it just like a pair of jeans that his with everything!

I think the navy would be beautiful. It will show more lint but very manageable especially if it is more denim, cotton twill. I suggest getting blue painters tape and taking the time to mark the exact measurements of the sectional on your floor. Make sure it has room around it. If you do get the chaise, claim it first...everyone will want that seat.

I have a black couch n I hate it bc it's not leather !!! It shows way to much lint crumbs everything esp with kids !!!!

But I love love the idea of a leather sectional

I love the navy fabric choice and I have dark brown velvet couches in my den (white dog and cat + 3 kids) and it's nothing to vacuum when needed. With kids, I would rather dark than light. I also had blue couches for years in my living room, and when I got tired of them (as with any couch), just updated the pillows, accessories. I also think your set up is fine, it will be the scale you'll have to consider. I also like the wall color with the navy. I think dark paint would lend more to making the room smaller than the couch's color will.

I like the navy & with the fabric's high wearability, go for it. I would place it just the way it is oriented in your drawing. Be aware it will fill the room since you have so many doors. Use a coffee table & one or two end tables with lamps. Add some light colors with the contrasting pillows:

From the toy in front of your bookcase I'm guessing your kids are young. I don't think I could keep a navy couch, that I use daily, clean. How do you really think your kids will do? Leather or vinyl sure, fabric no. Also in your floor plan you don't show where the couch will go. Does the bookcase go away? If not I really don't see how a sectional will work and really think the chase will make the room feel small. Our living room is shaped much like yours and my wife wants to replace our couch and love seat with a sectional. Before we do we'll use card board boxes to fill the space the new sectional will fill and live with it a few days. It's kinda a hassle but we've used the process before to find that furniture we though would work doesn't and since a sectional is such an investment it's really worth the time.

Thank you so much for everyone's advice. I'm trying to separate what I like in general from what actually works in my space. Sometimes that is hard to do.

In the mean time, I have laid out my living room in order to figure out what configuration works best. We are trying to be able to fit as many people in this room as possible. I know the option with the chaise is obviously a tighter for but my 6'+ husband loves to stretch out and that leaves little room left for the rest of us.

I'll definitely lay everything out with boxes before we buy anything. Worse case scenario, the bookcases will go away.

Contrary to comments made about painting a room light to make it seem bigger, that is not always the case. What makes a room appear small is the lighting it gets, not the color on the walls. Darker and saturated paint colors will usually work well in smaller areas where light is poor, because saturated color shadows corners and makes them disappear by tricking the eye.

There was an interesting article in House Beautiful a few years ago encouraging darker paint in low light/small rooms. So, white is not necessarily the best choice to compliment smaller/darker spaces.

I've read a similar article and agree but I am happy with the color of our living room now. I actually chose a chocolate brown paint for my cousin's small living room and it turned out beautifully. She bought a light colored sofa and it complimented the space nicely. I would actually paint our other living space a dark color. Almost all other rooms are a color in our house and I prefer the common space to be a neutral. So now it is just figuring out the sofa space. I think I'm just going to have to select a new carpet to provide the contrast in seeking.

@alysia young...that is my concern, that it does everything...esp with little ones constantly playing and eating in the living room.

@maureen...exactly my thoughts and ideal vision. We are on the same page.

@sandra...those were the colors I was thinking of...something fun and colorful!

You have a very nice room with good other pieces (leather chair, coffee table, bookcases & console).

Please reconsider the size of the new sofa. The one you have listed is 12 feet long and almost 8 feet on the side. That is huge for a modest sized living room of 20'x15'. If this is a second living room or den, then go for it. If it's your only living room, then it's going to be uncomfortable for anything other than watching TV. You won't have room to enter the house without feeling like you are falling into the huge sofa. Graph paper only works so well. Mark it out with tape or boxes to see it in the space.

Good point jdforney. I understand what you are saying. The current furniture leaves way to much space in the room for my liking. I hate the separate chair because everyone feels so far away and it won't stay close to the sofa no matter what I do. Plus it leaves very little seating. I would rather have one large sectional that we can all stretch out on than a number of smaller piece for this particular room. I do like multiple pieces of furniture in many other rooms but just doesn't seem to work for us in this room. We do primarily use this room for TV watching and just hanging out and talking or reading. Our other living room is small with a fireplace so I think our current furniture will work well for us to snuggle up and read.

I arranged the furniture to kind of indicate the footprint even though there are gaps. If anything, we can eliminate the chaise so there is more room at the door but the space by the door doesn't bother me too much because the chaise isn't that long. Plus we really don't use the front door all they often.

There are lots of room in which the sectional is large and the main component, but it makes for a great room for tv viewing, which is its appeal. If you look at pictures on Houzz "Sectional in front of TV", you'll see rooms that are a lot smaller than yours. Your children are not going to want to sit with you forever in the scheme of things, so enjoy while you can.

Thank you Maureen...I think we are of the same mindset! That is a good search tip...lots of sectionals that fill the space. I think the layout is of personal preference but one that I like for this stage of life. My husband alone takes up so much of our current sofa that just for the two of us we need to expand. When it comes to the kids, I want to get in as much snuggle time as I can. My oldest is 6 and still going strong. He has sensory issues and loves the pressure, I'm hoping that leads to extended snuggling.

Practically, no one can sit up in the corner of a sectional (think leg room), your hubby will have the corner as a back rest and stretch along the other seats, and another person on the chaise and that will not leave enough seat in for your family as the kids grow big enough for feet to touch the floor.

We've had navy leather sofas with lighter colored walls (Divine White) and the navy is very neutral. Leather is not in everyone's budget, so feel comfortable with what you can afford. We've had two sectionals before and they are very family friendly.

Can you take boxes and set them out in your room in the formation of the sectional so you get a visual and spacial idea of how it fits? Color them blue or cover them with something dark so you get the true impact. My initial reaction was that the room was too small, but you have several openings that could make it work.

Love the pillows that sandradclark posted!

Have you considered a long left arm sofa with chaise attached.. a two piece sectional? This would accommodate three people very comfortably and would open the book case up some. Then, you could do one or two chairs depending on space.

Examples:

Or two chaises...

I was considering that as well. In fact, I love the Modern Family Room image and was going to use it as an inspiration pic for my office renovation. :)

I think I need to bring the family to try out that configuration with the whole family.

@marylut...I have realized that our family doesn't really sit...we lay. I know that sounds lazy it is reality. We are either on the go and traveling places or we are home an sloth like. lol So something we can lounge and watch tv is our biggest concern.

I think a navy Sophia will look awesome in there! I think a two chair sofa would be perfect! Someone gave me a great website http://www.houzz.com/pro/thesofaworks/monarch-sofas

they custom make sofas with affordable price tags.

also people on houz hate sectionals I kept posting about one and I got nothing but negative feedback. But here are tons of options with sectionals that look nice and they are so much more comfortable!

We are a lay and watch tv family as well. In our living room we have a large two seat sofa w/ a chaise. At the end of the sofa w/out the chaise, we have a comfy club chair. We are a family of four and this works out pretty well. Husband on the chaise, kids on the sofa (they are 5 and 7 now) and I get the chair and an ottoman (or the other end of couch when the kids go to be). Instead of a coffee table, we have a leather ottoman w/ a tray. Works for drinks, plates, etc. but can be moved up to the couch when the kids want to lounge even more. We have a sectional in the basement and find that who ever gets the corner also uses the arm and this reduces seating. Having the couch, chaise, chair and ottoman actually works a bit better. Also, we have a navy couch in our playroom. It does show crumbs and such more than our gold/beige living room couch but I think it is more the fabric vs. color.