Have you used real scaled furniture to see how it works with traffic flow? You have major pathways through the area that are going to be restricted if you choose the giant lounging bed sectionals that have become so popular.

I realize this, but not quite sure my husband has grasped it yet. I told him he is going to have to get his giant sectional for the basement whenever that gets finished.

Why is tv going over the fireplace?

Having a TV elsewhere will take up even more space for furniture placement I think

Asking the obvious, do you need a fireplace?

Can't see the rest of the plan, but depending on house orientation and size of the windows, your family room could be quite dark. Also you don't have 18ft once you take away the space for fireplace framing and hearth. Once you add in the walkway on the left and bottom of the room, you don't end up with a very "great" room. Do you have another living area on this floor or is this your only living area?

Post the rest of the floor plan so we can see how the living room relates to the rest of the floor.

In absence of a full layout i would definitely vote for a big window on the exterior wall instead of a fireplace. I’d also be happy to skip the fireplace as i don’t use them but they are a nice focal point.

Always good to place furniture in the space before it's built.

From looking at your plan, I believe this is what will be built. Maybe not what you would want.

You can probably get away with a sectional and a room with 2 focal points if you don't mind having entrances to the room on the edges. I would try to shift the door to the hall so it doesn't restrict your space too much.

Here is an example of a living room with focal points on 2 walls. I would not want a large blank wall in my living room so maybe something like this would work for you.

PIc

We have our tv on mantle and love it. Make sure your mantle is low enough and seating is far enough away so it’s comfy, also make sure your insert is wider than the tv. We went off script and didn’t list to the ID on this and it was a mistake, it’s fine but we would be amazing if the fireplace were wider. In terms of location it’s hard to tell without seeing the rest of the plan but my gut says more windows on the wall where fireplace currently is and fire place on right wall

Or you can do what we did and get a MantleMount.

I think this depends on your tv viewing habits. We watch a lot of TV throughout day and moving it up and down would be annoying. For us having it at the spot we want works best. We do have it on an articulating arm though we never move it.

A friend’s house has the tv above fireplace and flanked by windows. At certain times of day, the bright light at the windows makes looking at the tv uncomfortable to impossible. Which direction do those windows face?

I think this depends on your tv viewing habits. We watch a lot of TV throughout day and moving it up and down would be annoying. For us having it at the spot we want works best. We do have it on an articulating arm though we never move it.

The mantle mount can be moved up and down very easily. Most of the time we're fine with it up. We bring it down when watching a movie or a longer show.