i think we will have to remove some things from there. It is terribly full. perhaps move to wall on right?

Re do fail. ??!!!

Take seventy percent of the stuff OUT. The room is choked with dark and heavy everything. Your first photo ( with a switch of couch to back wall ).........is better than your makeover. Go back to that, switching sofa locale to the back wall, put the console under the window, with two lamps, and lose the end tables and put the chair angled in at the door end of the room, in front of the console,. Get a RUG. And a coffee table that is not brown.

Along with some window treatment advice. What is that.......exactly??

With the new set-up, the sofa seems just too close to watch t.v. comfortably. The first arrangement is better -- with a bit of tweaking.

IMO the thing that needs to go is the behemoth entertainment center. Hand the T.V at the right viewing height with a low cabinets below it to hold the books you really want to keep, no to the sofa table move the sofa back a bit, get rid of the chair and add some light colored pillows to the sofas and some simple light colored roman shades to the window. In fact if possible I would probably try to find a new place for the sofa and just keep the loveseat and the chair in that space.

Lots of stuff, makes your pretty room look more like a storage depot. Armoire too big for room and unnecessary, remove but keep TV on same wall. You could install a long shelf for TV components but no Knick knacks! Keep sofa on opposite side for best viewing. This arrangement avoids glare coming from window. Dont see where you need sofa table and for what, more stuff? A big graphic print hung on wall across from window would look good, something very colorful to complement the brownness of your nice furniture.

If you like the entertainment center on the new wall, I would suggest removing the arm chair completely and switching the loveseat from the window-wall to the wall currently occupied by the armchair. I think that will help make the window wall look less clutered, and the big open wall less empty.

thank you all for your comments, I am very grateful. I am considering making my own built ins to house the tv and all our books. that would cut down on the depth of the piece on the long wall and put the tv a bit further back for better viewing distance. i love my books and would like them all in one place (they are currently scattered in bookcases in most every room). what do you think? I have also attached a floor plan since i can't seem to take a photo that isn't dark. could i get some suggestions on a furniture layout plan that includes a tv and seating for our family of 6 in the living room?

Personally, I think the first arrangement is better. Unfortunately, the new arrangement appears overcrowded and much too close to the television. This room is a bit overwhelming for me due to all of the books. It may work better if the books could be moved to another location and the entertainment center is replaced with a long TV console.

The entertainment center is just too big for the room IMHO....Can you take the top part off and leave the bottom part with the TV sitting on it or hung just above it on the wall? Then rearrange....maybe love seat in front of window, couch on wall opposite the windows and chair facing the TV/low entertainment center. Add lamps and small end tables....probably don't need a coffee table but a small ottoman if you want. Take away the console table and I am sorry to say your books. Maybe you can find some bookshelves to put in your bedroom or den?

i do not think we have visited or revisit as the case might be. I feel that everyone is trying to shove and squeeze you into a place that may not fit for you. You need a library area. Form follows function right? Your books are important, so we must keep book cases, center stage even. You have 3 public rooms. do you use the dining room every night? Do you really want to use your front room for lounging around in front of the tv? what are you doing in the family room? Some new ideas to consider. I use the dining room on formal ocassions or when i have company. So generally my family room has a place for hubby and i to sit, then i have other tables that can be put together in multiple ways to dine a few to many. So my front room was generally my library, Art gallery and foyer and formal dining room as needed. here are a few pics of a library dining room. maybe a couple other ideas too.

what do you think of things like these?

hello, having fun - thank you for your understanding of our need to have a place for all of our books! these rooms are beautiful. the bottom one suits me best (colors/feel). i would love to have a room like this. me, in a room surrounded by books - heaven. hopefully i can quickly give you an overview of how we use our rooms. we are in the dining room in the back of the house (read family room on the floor plan) most of the day schooling and eating. we eat dinner there when my husband comes home. then some of the family will go into the front family room (read living room on the floor plan) and watch tv. during the day, the kids might choose to go into this room to read a book. that would be the only time it is used during the day. the den (dining room on the floor plan) is used for computer work for the kids, xbox for the teens after school and legos for my 14 year old. my oldest teen son works at the computer most of the day doing his schoolwork. i have thought long on this subject and feel that the rooms cannot be changed in their use. the back room and the den have two few walls for enough furniture for 6 of us to watch tv, so that has to go in the front room. if i swapped the dining room and den the kids would have a huge play room and we would have a small, dark dining room. so i'm trying to figure out how to arrange things nicely according to the function of the room.

It isn't working because when I suggested this arrangement, the main idea was to get rid of the giant e-center. It is eating the room and won't fit in the back room either. In addition, I think the sofa table and that sofa can back up another 6". The overstuffed chair from the back room may be a little too much, even with a less imposing TV setup. Besides, that length of kitchen wall should hold more bookcases. Plus the den has potential as your library. If you close the hall opening (right of the sofa) and add another wall (left of the sofa,) narrowing the entrance to the den, you'll be able to create a book haven. Tiny libraries can be fabulous!

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If you are keeping all the furnishings as shown in the room then I like the first arrangement personally, and would center the TV unit on the long wall and then build book shelves from the top of the unit to the ceiling and put all your books on those shelves.....add a plant in the corner, white curtains and natural woven wood roman shades on the windows, and I might be tempted to remove the double entry doors and install one door with a window in it or replacing the front door with glass French doors for more light in the room, instead to give you more wall space on the window wall in the living room. Removing all the doors on the TV unit and using the open space for books will drive the library theme for the room. Puck lights would be nice too. See below. They are using ornaments but books would be great and solve your storage problem.

I am sorry, I have not been up to par. not unusual at this time of year. anyway, I still think that some room changing might still be in there. you have active noisy events in rooms where quiet ones are going, but i will leave that for you to sort. So I still vote that the tv and books are on right wall. sofa in front of window facing it and then the chairs on one side. I would fill that whole wall with shelves. perhaps, some smaller furniture would be better like danish modern. despite how it looks it can be quite comfortable.

let me know if you want me to toss or look up.

You have a living room and a family room and a "dining" room. Use the family room as the all purpose dining, make a library in the dining room. get a console and flat screen on the back far wall of the living room. Put a sofa on each long wall, and two chairs at the entry to the room for openness. There's your seating for six.

Stop trying to put the books and the tv together in a unit of any kind. Any make sure you NEED TO KEEP all the books.

Just want to share a random bit of book advice... @85% of your books will fit fine on shelves that are only 6 inches deep, almost all will fit on 8 inch shelves. Learned this many years ago when I worked at a bookstore in a very space challenged major city. In my library I have tall narrow shelves on two long walls and short,deep shelves on another wall. The last is for the inevitable oversize titles. Good luck with your rooms.

I just wanted to compliment you on your window treatments - I have the same ones in my street-facing master bathroom. The texture of the paper towels adds interest, while still allowing natural light to filter through, and the painters’ tape adds a punch of color. Genius!

umm, i do recomend you measure your books. I too like books and have had a hard time with new shelve not being deep enough.

sorry it's taken me a while to respond--busy week. i don't think i like the tv in the new arrangement. while it feels more cozy to me, the tv is now broadcasting toward the entire home (instead of toward the window) sometimes competing with the kids on the other tv and i just feel with the sofa and table there the room feels too closed off. so i will rearrange back to the first arrangement. and i think i am ready to get rid of the entertainment center. i like it so it's not just look - there's the tv - i liked that i could have other things there too so it wasn't just tv. i also thought it was ok as we have cathedral ceilings but it does seem to overwhelm and say "look at me!" when i just want it to blend in. i am attaching two photos of consoles i am looking at. i know they should be 25% wider than the tv (so that would be 60") but it can be longer, right? i like the longer ones. they are not as high. i don't know how to link the photos. maybe someone could teach me? these are photos i took with my phone of the computer. hopefully you can get an idea. i was trying to get away from all brown so am looking at the gray one. what do you think?