Hi,

Ive had good success with floorplanner. The basic account is free; its easy to use, just play around with the tools at first - but it really is fairly straight forward. It will allow you to build according to exact measurements. You'll start in 2D then click the 3D button to see your bookcases and fireplace with dimension.

I hope this helps. And good luck, have fun!

Thank you so much!

I do not think adding shelves here will not be an improvement. Why all the stuff around the FP. What kind of FP is it? Do you actaully use it ? IMO rip that sucker all out and then do something with the wall. I always ask what you have that needs display ? In most cases nothing that screams for being displayed . I need mor einfo before trying to answer.

To your question: I also have a fireplace that will have shelves and cabinets built-in. The Houzz photos were fantastic in showing me ideas and I built an Ideabook containing the saved photos. I now know exactly what I want. I mainly searched on "built-in shelves" and "fireplace" in the search box. Your type of fireplace won't come up, likely, but you could also search on something like "southwest" style (??).

The entire room is a terrible design. I just thought it would help bring the room to life.

Do you have more of the flooring? I would also vote to remove that fireplace.

The flooring needs re-done as well. But this is the entire room. The ceiling needs fixed. Trim needs installed.

This is the entire room. It’s awkward overall and I never know how to actually decorate it. I’m going for the farm house look.

I going to assume you don't want to remove the fireplace. Before adding shelves, remove the higher sides of the hearth, level it to the lowest level. Replace the fireplace screen with something less imposing. Refinish those hardwood floors. Smooth the ceiling. Then see how much budget you have left to do more. You'll need a new hearth stone so when you replace that, consider what kind of new mantle you might want to give more of a farmhouse look. Or, the current mantle might look fine. Refinishing the floors will give the room a whole new look. They will be gorgeous! Once you've done those things, you won't need shelves to change the look. Regarding DIY, it all depends on your skill level. 😆

Unless you are good at woodworking I would hire a carpenter to install cabinets and shelving. Love your real wood floors btw. There is obviously wear and some discoloration but they should refinish up nicely.

Tozmo1: Thank you for that photo. I really love that look And didn’t know if that was even possible. I do have someone coming to smooth out the ceiling and tape off the top where trim came down. Hardwood floors have been on my list to refinish for awhile! The whole house is like that so it’ll be expensive I’m sure.

I have a ton of ideas for your room! (that can be done slowly). The main thing is to have an overall direction, before making any changes and you mentioned farmhouse.

Fireplace: I’d paint all white (and walls - now is the time) which will make it feel less overpowering and room less broken up/fresher. Increase depth of mantle and accessorize (could add the piece that you have over sectional).

Suggest centering some prints over sectional that complement rug. On that topic, neutral drapes and new cushions will pull room together.

Blank wall and if corner between fireplace and doorway feels empty, could add a plant.

Maureen: I love that! The room was all red so I’m slowly painting it. I left one red wall and painted the others that tan color. The red and tan matched the fireplace. But I painted the fireplace, will paint the walls. My bf wants the tv above the fireplace again but I really don’t want to. His debate is window glare onto the tv.

Recommended height for optimal viewing below and an anti-glare film can be added (maybe test before final decision).

With the fireplace not being very attractive, a tv above vs accessorizing will not help.

Thank you, Maureen! I won’t lie- I did not expect everyone to hate the fireplace.

A fireplace is useful and I wouldn’t get rid of it. I really liked the suggestion to level the hearth at a lower level. TV over the fireplace is fine - a necessity in lots of living rooms, including mine. They have great mounts that pull down for viewing and tilt which could help with glare. If your budget permits, the Samsung Frame TVs look very realistic as art when they’re off. Agree on plant suggestion as well

If the fireplace was not in the plan to take out…. Love what @Maureen posted.

If you are keeping the leather sectional, I am guessing Bf won’t part with it. Then make sure your console under the tv fits the space, may need to be narrow or floating. Measure twice, buy once.

Steph, Don't read too much into fireplace comments. Take a look at Houzz comments when fireplaces are present in pictures. People often advise changing or removing fireplaces that aren't ideal but are perfectly fine with a few adjustments such as painting, which you've done. Pictures of a relatively empty room tend to highlight features that are not ideal, simply because there is no other place for the eye to settle. That said, I do think removing the raised side parts of the hearth will open up the fireplace, make it more fluidly part of the room and make the room seem larger too. A sledge hammer, safety glasses and some strong friends to tote the debris out of the room makes that an easy change unless there is some kind of ductwork in them. Sometimes fireplaces had vents to direct the air out into the room. I don't see any but check before the first sledge swing. You can still remove it, it will just require some attention to it.

You'll be amazed at the change smoothing the ceiling will make. I recently bit the bullet and smoothed the popcorn in two guest baths. Messy, but it makes the 8ft. ceiling look so much higher. That's definitely money well spent.

Keep us posted on progress.

We do want a new couch. The dogs got the best of that. So really I’m open for all suggestions!

This is the before so kind of helps where my mind was going. I can’t wait for the smooth ceiling! It will look so much better in my opinion. Thank you for the suggestion on leveling the fireplace. I really like that idea and the how to helps tremendously.

Post the dimensions of the room. You can even draw it out on paper and take a picture of it and post. Mark all doorways, windows, etc. You will get help with furniture placement.

The remaining stone (concrete?) bits don't work anymore. If you can't restore the rest of the FP, might as well paint those too.

I don't suppose you can get that paint off the fireplace?

Fori- I figured I would paint the stone just because I do not know how to renovate a fireplace and figured it could get expensive.

Try staining the flat bits darker? Or plan to once you get your color scheme worked out (and if staining doesn't work, then paint it too). It's not a bad FP, but definitely hard to decorate around. And kind of unusual. I guess if you come in with really cold feet, you can perch and warm them up. :)

Agreed. This house was built in 1957. So very outdated. I just feel like I’m putting bandaids on it at this point.

Partial make-over ideas...

If possible, I would lower both protruding sides of the fireplace down to the middle level.

Install a mantel, replace the ceiling fan, window treatment, accent pillows & throw as well as wall art. Buy a coffee table.

Lisedv- your design is so cute! But I can’t unfortunately mimic it completely. The window is the entire length of that wall just about. And the pictures on the wall is actually hiding a small round window 😅

Here’s to show the actual room

Perhaps you can install linen look white cordless roman shades on your windows with side drapes. As for the round window, instead of hiding it, paint the frame white and use it as a feature.

You can also paint your window frame white...

Before buying new seating, TV screen size will determines how far away the seating should be for the best viewing and avoiding neck strain (OLED can be closer than HD). You sit everyday, so get the BEST quality you can afford (scrimp on the rug, window treatments, coffee table). Seating area only needs to be 8ft for conversations, so 8x10 rug should work - unless your room is much smaller or larger) - but make sure you have 6”-12” minimum of bare floor between rug and wall (makes room feel bigger than if rug touches the wall). Don’t push the seating right up against the window or any other wall (doing that makes the room feel crowded and small). See if you have enough space to leave 30” or wider path between window wall and sofa. If you stretch out to watch TV, consider a sofa with reversible L or R chaise or a big ottoman. Decide if you prefer loose cushion-back vs fixed neater-looking cushion back, straight arms that are thick vs thin or rolled arms, wood or metal legs or no visible legs. You want a performance fabric (Krypton is one brand) in a solid color (patterns are expensive to match up and often don’t look as good when well worn). Then add an accent color with a sofa throw and removable covers for the toss pillows. If you eat watching tv, consider if you want a C style table or lift-top coffee table. If you entertain often, consider adding a side chair (usually people want their own space and 2 people don’t like to site side by side on sofa or love seat.

IMHO, paint all the walls the same color. I think accent walls look best on solid walls uninterrupted by visually distracting windows or doors.

Black out drapes are made for home theaters to stop sunlight glare on TV screen. They need to total 2X the window width when fully closed. That can get costly, so compare price with shades In blackout fabric.

After reading more of the above comments, I see you plan on changing your sectional. Consequently, I suggest you wait to choose a paint to coordinate with your new furniture, and I would paint all walls the same colour.

I agree with above^ just prime the walls for now. Paint color is last. Pick future, area rug, etc. then paint color.

I do have someone coming to scrape the ceiling and smooth out the tops where trim use to be. And then I plan to paint all the walls white or grey.

I don't have dimensions of your room nor fireplace but here is one idea with new furniture, etc...

Lisedv: can you just come to my house?!? I love this!! I’ll get dimensions to show you how awkward this room is!

If you send a floorplan showing all dimensions including doors and windows, I'll be better equiped to suggest something that fits the room.

Decide what you need or want first. I would probably do 36”-high wood or painted base cabinets with doors and enclosed shelving above reaching to no more than 72” height. Hang a painting over the mantel, covering the outlet. The black fire screen seems very heavy-looking. Look at bronze or brushed stainless fire screens for ideas.

Do you have a rug for the room? And I would install base-molding trim along the floor. You might be able to do the job, but frankly, hiring a recommended pro will have the job done right in under three days.

The room was all wood paneling that we ripped out and put dry wall up. We do need to install new trim on the base, door, and windows. I would like to do a lighter couch with grey tones in the rug.

Hopefully this isn’t confusing 😅

Following

Saw your floorplan today, here are my suggestions.

So that the sectional doesn't look so squeezed-in in the corner of the room, I placed the long section in front of the window. I would paint all the walls white, here I suggest BM White Dove but any paint has to be tested before painting the entire room (buy a large foam core board at dollar store, paint 2 coats, then walk around the room to see how the colour looks). I suggest to paint the walls in a Mat finish, the trim and in Pearl or Satin, and Eggshell for the fireplace. The same colour in different sheens will give the needed effect. For extra punch, you can paint your window frames in black for that Modern Farmhouse look you're looking for.

Instead of the built-ins, this time I show 2 ottomans with mirrors and sconces above. The width on each sides of the fireplace are different so I thought this would be better and also provides extra seating when needed.

Most items are from Target and Ikea, and reasonably priced.

Thank you, Lisedv!! The right of the fireplace has a heater in on the wall at the base. If that was removed or part of it they would be the same distance. Do you think the space is to small?

The space is wide enough to do a built-in. What I'm concerned with after looking more closely at your plan, and although I don't have all of the detailed dimensions for the fireplace, is the following:

The stone upper part seems to be about 6 inches deep (from the wall into the room). The built-in cabinet would be about 15 to 18 inches deep which means that the fireplace would be recessed between the cabinets. What make it even more odd is that the existing hearth protrudes quite bit section shown with the dotted lines). If you rework the hearth to become just 1 long shelf (section in grey below) it still extends further out from the built-in.

You can measure and put some masking tape on the floor, It will give you an idea of what it would look like with the "recessed" fireplace between the built-in cabinets.

Just found this photo of a recessed fireplace flanked by bookcases (not as deep as a built-in). However it is different from yours as it doesn't have all that hearth business in front.