So, we are about to close on our first home and I am trying to decide which room is going to serve which purpose. We are going to have a more formal living room upstairs, so I think I’ve decided on making the finished basement into a space where we can entertain and be comfortable. We want to be able to host a fair amount of people, and seat them in a way that they can all be comfortable and see the tv.

The basement is a long, rectangular shape. It has a fireplace at one end, with a space for a tv above it. There is also a wet bar which you can see pictured on the right. On the left, there are two doors (a closet, and one to a hallway with a bedroom.)

My question is, because of the somewhat odd shape of the room, what would be the best way to arrange furniture to seat the most people in view of the tv? We also have a projector that we could project onto the left wall, but I’m not sure how useful this would actually be.

As a side note, I also want to have space for kids to play and to organize some toys as I babysit a lot and we want to be able to have a space to hang out with parents as their kids play. I was thinking of putting some of those cubicle shelves with toys in the wall space beneath the stairs. Then they could play with it in the area in front of the wet bar / behind the seating and tv area. Is this a good idea/ use of the space?

Any ideas are much appreciated!