Im sure you’ll be asked to provide dimensions & likely more pics. What can ( or want )to change. One of the talented designers on here will be able to help if you give more info.

i see several things that need to be addressed but I think that’s best left for Pro’s such as Jan or Beverly.

Provide us with a floor plan showing all dimensions including doors, windows, entrances to the room, etc. You didn't give much details, tells us what your needs are for this room furniture wise, how many kids, presuming there will be a TV, etc. Do you plan on using your existing furniture? describe what you have ... Pictures showing the entire room (all walls) would also help.

In addition to posting the floor plan, please post photos of all four walls straight on.

Hard to say with the info posted, but perhaps the furniture orientation should change and the TV/console placed on another wall.

Maybe not this....

AND more this?

Most obvious? ) You are under furnished in a lonely space? YES?

I'm taking a darn good guess below, as you have no fully dimensioned drawing.. with feet and inches to every wall, opening etc. It is RIGHT sized /to scale 13' x 20"

Start with a RUG you love 10 x 14, Ruggables is nice!

You have no lighting, no art, no coffee table,, no window treatment

The lucite console beneath tv? Wood, longer!

See what I mean?

Not all slammed in a corner: )!

Come back with VERY accurate walls and windows and correct my good guess

These pictures look like Realtor's pictures so I'm presuming this isn't your furniture. What furniture do you have and planning to use in this room? Post pictures so that we can see how you can use what you own or need to replace.

I'm wondering if this space is supposed to function as a dining area and living area as there is a ceiling fixture in the photo that seems to make no sense unless a table is to be placed beneath it. This is where actual dimensions would come in handy.

Please clarify.

If you look closely, I believe it was intended as living dining combination....: ) Seems a raised ranch.

I think this is one of many ways to do it, and they don't have another living space, and the "dining room" aspect is unimportant to the op. Kitchen through left passage

with beds down a hallway left of tv? Who knows...

Point is it's a lot under furnished .

decorated

If kids? That "new" media cabinet should replace what is there and provide some toy storage?

Definitely lose the boob light at the sitting area she has now

Besides a drawing with measurements, you need to stand on the staircase wall and photograph the opposite wall, which we can't see. Your photos only show three full walls, and just a small corner of the fourth wall. Designers need to see the entire space.

In the meantime, I see that you have the TV right in the walkway to the kitchen. That's one reason the current layout doesn't work. If we get a view of all four walls and measurements, it'll help Commentors suggest better layouts.

Also, do you have an eat-in kitchen table/kitchen island where you eat meals? How old are your children? The wall by the stairway that juts up from the entry, is that a closet on the other side? We need to know more about the big picture and what your specific needs are.

This^^^ is a coat rack at the foot of that stair

thats seems foyer entry.

^ The three seat sofa is on the 20’ solid wall( look at where the edge of rug is , relative to stair descent..

When the op returns we'd all like Dimension foe EACH of the two walls with openings to other areas,

and tell uds exact window width?

The certain issue?

The 20’ wall is solid, no opening and the house is a sort of split level:)? or I haven't been doing this for 34 years.

Yes, I guessed,.....an educated guess to scale.

For all the inquiring minds?

Just do this? below?

Fill in! all the question marks. : . when you are done getting ready for the Super Bowl party.

There you go! One of these days, I will wake and Houzz will have addressed the issue of PROVIDING more information to those with questions, as how to post your question and what to include to get valuable, and pertinent advice,

By the way? How many kids, what doesn't "work" ? You need more....seating, storage, what?

Hi everyone, I’m so excited that so many people were quick to respond and want to help.

I want to just update that I do not have blueprints and these are the realtor photos. But I will work on getting the measurements and present pictures of our space.

This is my first post and I am unfamiliar with the procedure of posting, so thank you to those who are listing what I need to provide in order to get valuable feedback

Be back really soon!

Okay, you can do a hand drawing and measurements from the blueprints. Do tell us ages of your kids. Add a photo of the entrance at the bottom of the stairs and the doorway to the kitchen. To have a harmonious house, adjacent spaces are important to consider when planning a room. Tell us what furniture you plan to bring.

UPDATED. Also included entrance photos and a special appearance by my 9month old pup Olive who so badly wanted to be included.

Cute pup. If the sectional goes in the corner by the kitchen, place a recliner in the opposite corner at an angle facing the TV. Leave room for a floor lamp behind it for reading.

A big ottoman with storage instead of a coffee table is comfortable and practical.

A big soft area rug makes a difference.

I guessed it all within less than six inches that don't even matter

Who works from none?

What would be the dream room, and .......what sort of style?

Do you have a budget

First? Get the TV DOWN!! IT Its nearly at the ceiling and the wire hanging is unnecessary and looks..awful?

You need storage!

What is hanging from the ceiling ? : ) ..NO.

This down here : ( : ( WAH and double wah

: (

We need you to tell us, what you're willing and able to do. Does as\ll the furniture need to be covered with sheets. Can the play kitchen go anywhere else?

Could yu do a larger rug? What about toys? What could you spend now, and six months from now and a year from now?

@Larissa Larissa

Question: Is you L-shape sectional reversible?

Where is there a sectional currently?

The OP stated that the sectional has been ordered and will arrive presently.

Only a few Houzzers will understand these words: I will now call this Nora Jr, Thread.

I will guarantee the 89 x 145 sectional is a chaise..

I have these words: Wha and Double Wah.

Someone above asked if the sectional can be reversed. My guess is no. Meaning the ONLY other place would be to block half the window , and move the TV to the 108" wall. Triple wah.

@simply natural has it shown here, 100%............as purchased, but no ongoing issues will be solved.

"Only a few Houzzers will understand these words: I will now call this Nora Jr, Thread.

I will guarantee the 89 x 145 sectional is a chaise..

I have these words: Wha and Double Wah." LOL!

Sctional are verfy hard to place well in most any room. Your long, narrow living room seems to be no exception.. Will suggest that you sell the sectional and buy a sofa. That, at least, will give you more flexibility with placement. Will also suggest that you consult with an interior designer since you are having so much trouble with furniture placement.

^^

Well? Sue me but it is true. , and it is beyond frustrating.because they are almost always purchased with NO plan for the room as a whole. They are trip to I painted myself into a corner, and the seating now OWNS me and my room,. I am not saying these darn things are a never ever purchase, but they are not an it will always work purchase, either. It CAN BE fixed.

Scroll up above Diana B lol. No , I am not insane. ......but I would lose my sanity in that room as is and I would not live with it. Sorry, no, my head might explode : )

Ps? I put your "home command center of messy" closer to your kitchen and out of sight to all but the commanders in chief.

In a heartbeat. save me from my sectional.

Want more den/living room? Don't NEED that much command behind the new "tv wall?Shrink it two feet!

24" x 60" "desk " and three feet to back up a chair. TADA.

New size of den/living room ? 13'6" x 16' !

Want more display, and less "toy and junk storage? on the former tv wall?

Have it!

I love a good sectional but what the sectional looks like and how it fits in the room does matter. I think there are many things that can be done to make this room functional. I would also clean up the entry and figure out how to navigate that too. Closed storage or redoing the closet or whatever. And it is true the office in the living room isn’t the best. Is there any other place for it?

Note to anyone following this thread: Always show all four sides of a space that includes doorways, windows, adjacent rooms. Always mention if you're using real estate photos and furniture isn't yours. Always mention purpose of the room and how many adults and children will be using it. Commentors need all this information at the get go. Always mention what furnishings you have or already bought.

On to solutions:

--Move your TV to the accent wall after removing stuff from that wall. You can add some things back later.

--Buy affordable storage pieces to place below the TV for kids' toys and books. (Wayfair, Ikea, box stores) Storage can be a low bookcase across entire wall or Ikea type pieces, enough of them to go across the wall. as below. If you have open shelves then get attractive baskets. You cannot have a cozy, functional space unless kids' stuff gets put away daily.

Like this, only two storage cabinets side by side:

--Float your sectional so that you create a walkway behind it so family can walk to kitchen without passing in front of the TV as you have it now. With sectional facing accent wall, this will create an "island" you will anchor with a large, comfy wool rug kids can sit on. Don't put anything on the wall where you have TV now since family will be walking back and forth to the kitchen in the "walkway" behind sectional.

--If your TV winds up being too big, get a smaller one, or float the sectional so short end faces the kitchen wall. You didn't tell us what side the "L" faces.

In photo below, notice the passageway behind the floating sofa facing TV. You can see chairs at the other end of the room where there's probably a table. This setup should work even with your new sectional. Hopefully you can line it up so that you can keep your desk where it is.

Condo Glow Up · More Info

--This floating sectional setup give you space you can use for a round dining/crafts/board games table and chairs in the corner near the kitchen wall. Or a temporary place for the children's mini kitchen/easel/kids' furniture until they outgrow it. Wayfair sells storage benches, which you may need to make this room neat and comfortable for yourselves and when you have company. Drop a pendant over that corner to light up the corner and define the space.

Entryway downstairs:

--It's great that you have a lower entry for coats, shoes, etc. However, it's not a welcoming or efficient entry to your new house. Here's what to consider once you have the family living room to your liking.

Remove hallway closet doors and create something like this--bench, hooks, shelves. (There are countless YouTube videos that show you how to do this.) Start to train your family to put their things in designated spaces the way they do at work and at preschool. Everyone has a hook, a shoe shelf sectionor basket, and a basket for mittens and gloves. Very young children are proud of putting things away if you make it a game. You shouldn't be doing all the pickup, and it starts at the front door and any other entryways your family uses. You're in a new house, so get everyone started on new habits.

Open closets, with doors removed, make it easy for family to put their stuff away and find it before going out. You already have a stuff out in the hallway, Instead, create an open, well organized hallways space out of the existing closet so you're not tripping over stuff, yet it's open enough so the family will use it.

If the sectional is reversible they can do something like this.

^^^

Agree!! ......IF they didn't have toys, IF they didn't have just this one room, IF it's reversible and IF they didn't "need a command center", and have a dog and a lot else: )! But they do. And they will for a while............? Easy bake mini kitchen and the weeny little chair and the desk area suggests nothing but a not enough room for all problem for at least another six years.

Me? I? I'm from the school of "Divide, and Conquer. or lose your mind" lol

A two day erection of pony wall and electrical could solve a whole lot. jmo

There are many easy ways to have a space with toys and kid things well hidden and organized as well as a toy kitchen or other standalone thing. You have kids, it isn’t a secret. The main thing I would want out of this space is the desk.

On the OP's photos, the desk looks big but on the floor plan, that wall is only 53 inches wide. What I'm suggesting is a desk with storage to help with the clutter and a kid's play area with storage behind the sectional. The play kitchen doesn't appear on any of the suggested plans. So waiting on an answer to find out if the sectional is reversible, some are.

As an experiment, could you scoot your second sofa to face the accent wall, leaving enough space behind it to create a walkway. Sofas will be perpendicular to each other. (Let's just pretend TV and console aren't on the middle wall) I want to see if the configuration I'm suggesting is workable and how much space you get at the kitchen end of the room.

You'd loose too much space leaving a walkway behind this sectional ( not 2 sofas), TV and sectional end up too close.

@lisedv: You're probably right. Big sectionals really limit layouts. Ditto 65" TVs. Homeowners and furniture buyers can now use AI to create simple layouts using room and furniture measurements to create layouts and/or avoid buying too-big pieces.

following along

OP words:

" We have 2 young kids who like to be in the main area, and we are an exhausted mom and dad who also like to claim the space after bedtime."

"every-time we sit down, we are struggling to feel at peace and calm. We have tried many variations, but none of them have seemed to work."

_________________________________

Perhaps that is a function of too much clutter, of disjointed furnishings, ( yes you have a sectional coming, I will hope it isn't gray and hope it isn't a chaise. Perhaps POST a link to the actual seating? )

Perhaps the lack of calm comes from.......:

As you're setting in for some quiet tv, you are staring into the "hole passage" to the pantry, crowded by a toddler kitchen. Perhaps you see that " command center" with the calendar of things to do.....endless reminders, and the junk pile on closet top. ? Maybe the paint is unsettling and I ( sorry! ) can never understand the need for an accent wall, when ART is an accent to any paint color rolled on all four walls. You've got a not great view of descent to the shoe rack , so there is that issue as well

I'm reading these ( important) words:

"We have a long narrow living room, but feel very limited......by the U .Shape. of. It"

Your "U shape" interpretation is seen by you as that, because of the tv location, flanked by a stair descent and the exit to the poorly located pantry door.

The room isn't a U anything: ) It's a long narrow room, 20' 6' x 13' 6" with a direct traffic route to a kitchen, needing a minimum three foot passage to kitchen and grocery drop.

Make U ..........disappear, Make visual reminders of an exhausting day, yet to come, disappear,

Don't descend stairs to night night time, to be smacked in the face by a shoe rack! : ) ?

Your home did not come equipped with abundant storage.

Technology and an electrician affords you no need for the cable box and its wires in view, or an oddly placed tv near a ceiling line. Roku, Amazon TY and more. The U you are seeing, goes away with a relocation of the tv. The 108" wall is TOO far from window wall for even a decently sized 65" tv.......

What if the current tv wall looked like this, toys , (those little farm people that can destroy a foot )books in those baskets.

( Etsy table 72" long)

What if TWO of these were butted together for additional toy/cuddle blankets storage, and closed..you and dad out your feet up with a glass , a tray, a candle and its you "coffee table" at the sectional...

You create a NEW wall for tv.....NOT to the ceiling

and the you and you are now in a living room, sans evidence of chores, and children.....it is not a U it is for y.o.u

and it's as darn easy as some darn drywall and a few studs. ?

Not a piece of kiddie clutter in sight for the NIGHT ?

I will add, no child has died without a play kitchen,... (at least not to my knowledge.........: )

Life is choices. Might be even more fun to help mommy in the real kitchen..

But she looooooves it!!!

Okie dokey and tata when she's sleeping.Easy peasy.

( also a last minute OMG stash spot for "surprise guests" and yank it closed.

You are exhausted and not at peace because you have two kids! I say this as a mom of three. The years they are young are a lot! But having a spot for everything and a tidy space did help my calm. That was all done by closed storage, everything having a place and home and so on. Kid stuff too can easily go away neatly!

^^^

Agree and could date myself by regaling tales of three kids in a tiny house, all sleeping in one bedroom....., Our mom having no car, dad at work blah blah and NO tv beyond Captain Kangaroo.

But? You have tools on the tv! : ) Play the pick up HIP HOP owl..

Rotate toys. It does not require the landscape of a Toys R Us to amuse children, and in fact overwhelms them to whiny. They also love to help you do nearly anything!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5O7ZqFCePJk

Pull all your seating together around the rug. No need to have the love seat so far away. the sectional will help, but until it arrives, put that love seat perpendicular to the sofa on one side or the other. Add a chair or two to the other side. Use the space near the window for a reading nook, shelving/storage, plus desk.

I call it .....I really could use another "room" and have but one room. Or....... I just want to look at all four walls and all four look nice.. I just want some peace!

Purchases, design....without a big think through often mean you haven't solved the problem, and 99% of all design is first......solutions, to. problems, In this case a form of visual exhaustion.

Follow for a moment?

I would get this down below/above:........

Why? It allows me to create the "hidey hole" command center. I'm buying a "wall" that requires NO construction, and I can make a little "office" which is really all I need for the purpose of command./run the household

It will sit parallel to my 108" wall, and forward of that wall by 42" essentially in line with the entry to my pantry.

Holds up to a 75" tv, .It's my room divider/conqueror., with storage to boot. Another why?

The new sectional jammed to the kitchen corner, makes other solutions to other issues more difficult, and doesn't give everyone the best view of my 65" tv!! and it just emphasizes the "U shape" that makes me crazy.

( 76" h, 80" w 18" d ) "TV wall" below

https://emmamason.com/aspenhome-maddox-80-console-w-back-panel-in-biscotti.html?vfsku=180458&vfsku=EM.I644.280.I644.280B&gpla=pla&gad_source=4&gad_campaignid=21869028943&gclid=Cj0KCQiA7rDMBhCjARIsAGDBuECWLBg_tzJrr6m2HSK6xL2ntq3qsb5TELUZIkVTRbO7PpC8q8p_JcIaAhzgEALw_wcB

Behind this and OUT of my sight, especially in the evening, is command! and chore list, and grocery and who need be where and when..

Behind that new wall...

Where the tv used to be? let me add the " and light" window, reflected in a nice big round mirror as we will get the adjacent view,...and hide those tiny toys

I need a place for my feet, if it comes with the bonus of hiding junk for kids? even better and two of them equals a cocktail table, no hard edges, wipeable, and easy to move for play time,Easy with a tray for mom and dad and a candle/wine

With a 9 x 12 rug, ad a move of my ottomans I've got that soft, very generous play space, Evening and kids tucked in,,,

Light a candle, settle in and not one calm disturbing thing in sight but my puppy: ) and I have a Lliving room, that is larger than a whole lot of brand new spec build, open to a kitchen.

Two below.....and same size coffee table/storage result!'

I could have had my taxes ready ..lol The op "problems "thus solved ...mine remain hahahahah

Has this setup been suggested and/or ruled out already (quick sketch w/my thumb on iPhone)? Pros: seating area close to the window & play area clutter behind couch while watching TV; cons: kids play area adjacent to desk.

^^

It hasn't been suggested, but math wouldn't let it work well. , The long wall is 20 1/2 feet and the long size of new sectional is 12 feet and it is a 65" tv, on a 53" inch wall, and would hang off about 6" You need 5 ' for desk and chair .( to back up ) and the view on entering would be.......ugh, the command center: ) Good try though, especially on a phone !!! The new bar napkin : )

OP hasn't been back/provided more feedback .....maybe waiting for her sectional to actually arrive in the house

Followibg

Fair points Jan— I was envisioning the TV on a console at a slight angle to accommodate the 12 addtl inches, but with young children you really want a TV that size to be bolted to a wall. I definitely think your plan would be ideal without needing structural changes, I would just want to make sure that console/ wall is sturdy enough to be freestanding with a giant TV mounted to it.

^^

Well ..........? I guess that's more parenting issue than one of design? If you could topple that whole thing over, maybe you belong outdoors: )

TV'S today, even large are not heavy, and that hold to a 75", she has 65"

She's got plenty of iideas all above , so who knows what eventually happens. Lots of times, we never hear a word.