# need new Living room layout, very confused



## fox_forma (Sep 21, 2009)

I have been trying to figure out the best way to set up the layout in my living room/den area and it is just racking my brain because of the layout. I think the main problem is there is already an entertainment wall built which kind of makes me need to fill it in. Currently I have one couch, a Recliner and a old chair in the corner with a foot rest. I need to make the furniture flow better and make more room for guests in this whole general area since the kitchen is pretty much right off of this room. There is also a fire place on the North wall that i would like to somehow incorporate with the flow of things but I don't know where to start. Any help would be great such as to go with a sectional, 2 couches + love seat, etc. Here is the layout.....



























This is how it currently is and there really isn't much seating and the space isn't being used properly IMO. I think a main concern is the doorway that leads to the laundry room is located right in the middle of the room so it throws things off. To add to all this hardwood floors will be getting laid down as well as new paint but thats another story.


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## fox_forma (Sep 21, 2009)

nobody???


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## hyunelan2 (Aug 14, 2007)

Without getting new furniture, I'd say your only option that's standing out is to move the couch to the blue wall [I think that's blue] and put the chair in the couch's place. That might give you some more open flow into the room. It would be nice to get rid of the couch and one chair and put a small (repeat for emphasis) small sectional in there. 


Center-channel speaker above the TV? 

My wife says she likes the couch where it is, since it divides off the kitchen/eating area into a separate space.


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## fox_forma (Sep 21, 2009)

I am all about new furniture, i might not have made it fully clear. I looked at some sectionals but the problem is where the laundry room door is would have to be where the sectional is to turn out towards the fire place and there is only a 12ft space there to work with. I found a sectional that was a three piece and the length on that side was 9ft with a love seat at that end. With the entertainment center on the wall perpendicular to the fire place it is making it hard for me to decide on a layout and still have room in that general area.


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## pyper (Jul 1, 2009)

It's a little hard to tell if this would work or not.

You could rotate the TV towards the utility room, and put the couch on that wall, with the chairs on the other. This would open the traffic flow into the room. 

The chairs and couch seem kind of too bulky for the space. If you do get new furniture, you might think about some less bulky stuff. 

To me, having the couch on that interior wall would potentially be nice since you could look out the window, at the TV, or at the fireplace. Then again, based on the position of the lamp, you might not use the fireplace. If that's the case you could potentially move the couch over right against it, but I don't know if that really gains you anything.


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## fox_forma (Sep 21, 2009)

confusing isn't it? We do use the fireplace, the lamp was just there for a little bit while I was moving in. I would like to rip the entertainment area down and be able to put my 52" TV in the corner of the room near the window but that thing isn't coming out for a while. I need to try and find a similar set-up and use that as something to go off of but so far no luck.


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## hyunelan2 (Aug 14, 2007)

I had the very same issue in my family room, of needing to fit a sectional between the front of the room and the laundry-room door. I found the one we bought at Turk Furniture (don't know if you have them where you are). It is 8'4" on either 'leg' of the sectional. It is also a 3-piece design, but each leg is the same length. Made by Broyhill.

This album has a couple of pictures of it - not the best, but I wasn't trying to take pictures of the couch:
http://www.diychatroom.com/members/hyunelan2-11130/albums/crown-molding/

Store picture:









If you've got a 12' space to work with, you should be able to do something with a sectional fairly easy. They also make the "modular" sectionals that I've seen a few places, where you can buy "per seat" sections and make whatever size/shape you want.


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## hammerandnails (Jan 2, 2010)

*layout*

Hi there! Like the colors of your room, but would have to agree, the scale of the furniture is too large for the room, and as one of the other people said, having the sofa between the living room and dining areas is not helping the flow, regardless of furniture size. Your best option is to move the sofa to the wall on the left. I know this doesn't give you the best view of the tv, but I am not big on making the tv the focal point of the living room anyway. It's too bad that someone chose to build that entertainment center on that back wall. It's gorgous, but it competes with the second focal point - the fireplace, making the whole room a bit confusing. 

Good luck!


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## Cecosugi (Feb 27, 2009)

I'm just going to throw this out there. If you don't really want to put your tv in that built-in area, what if you put your couch (or a new one, I'm all about new stuff, too!) flush against the built in? You could still use the storage for all the stuff you need to store or display. 

Then you could maybe put the tv diagonal, by the laundryroom door.

If you need someone to take that beautiful couch off your hands, just let me know. :yes:


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## Snav (Aug 20, 2009)

How in love with you and that built-in?

It's a gorgeous area and I think that filling it with your dvd's makes it look junkie.
It has beautiful lighting and large, open areas - I would fill it with artwork and make it a centerpiece in your room. Figurines, dishware of some type or just pictures on stands and hanging up.
If you don't have this stuff but don't mind owning it - you can always find some awesome stuff at resale and 2nd hand stores. Especially pictures.

A sectional sounds good - or you can just get a set of tranditional furniture (love and couch) and put one in front of the built-in wall (after you art-work it up) and another on the wall next to it - leaving the room open. (an L shape - or even parallel/across from eachother || with the fireplace being a focal point)

I would hang the tv (since it's a flatscreen) on a wall and build or buy a small stand that would match your art-decor/paint for your cable/dvd player and all that. In fact - if you didn't want to put the tv somewhere else you could leave it where it is and still art-work up the built-in.

Such a beautiful room! Put those dvd's away  At least craft a few doors for the bottom-cabinets and put everything down that, that would really clean the area up.


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## DIY newbie (Feb 13, 2010)

Me personally... I'd mount the tv on a tilting wall mount above the fireplace and rip out the built in. Put the couch against the blue (?) wall and the recliners on the side. I prefer the more open flowing space to anything else. 

Another idea to toy with would be is there another way to access the utility room? If there is another way you could seal off that door and create another door in a different room to that area. Even if you moved the door down the wall closer to the kitchen it would give you more wall space to put a couch up against.


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## welshseahorse (Feb 19, 2010)

That is kind of a strange space that seems clumsy with the door to the laundry area and the room spilling over into the kitchen and dining. The question you should ask yourself is if you want the fireplace or the TV to be the focal point of the room, or if you can combine the two.

My biggest piece of advice is to separate the living space from the dining room and kitchen with something other than the couch. Either build a wall or structure like a large bookcase or get a folding screen that will make your living room have four actual planes to work with and the only contention will be the fireplace and the laundry room doorway. Also, maybe try to face the couches and chairs toward the windows; if you have your back to the windows it can create a feeling of insecurity and unrest. Getting a sectional and placing it in the corner where the built-in currently resides would probably be a good idea.

Best of luck!


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## fox_forma (Sep 21, 2009)

Wow, totally forgot about this as my comp crashed a while ago and I lost all my favorite's. There are many points I agree with as some of you wrote. The DVD's look like crap where they are, I know that but we needed somewhere to put them for now. I was going to add doors to the bottom of the entertainment area to conceal most of the stuff but keep pushing off what I am even doing with the room and entertainment center itself. It almost got ripped out a few times but I would never go through with it. 

I would like to move all video and equipment out of there but there really isn't anywhere to put all of it. As for putting the Flatscreen over the fire place, I thought about that as well but I think it would look out of place because of the location to where the seating would be in reference to the laundry room door. It would have to be in the corner somewhere between the fire place and entertainment area.

Right now the whole house interior is getting re-painted then the floors are getting done. From there I guess I will decide how the final layout will end up.


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## cellophane (Sep 29, 2009)

SketchUp is a good way to visualize the space without actually having to move around furniture.


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## idealady (Mar 16, 2010)

I used Icovia when I did the layout for my very small home office. Seeing the layout on the page, with all the furniture to scale, made a huge difference. Instead of cramming the furniture against the walls I ended up bisecting the room with my desk. It's counter a intuitive, but surprisingly comfortable and pleasing furniture arrangement that I would never have come up with if I hadn't played around with the pictures on paper.

I don't remember the url (it's not icovia.com...) but it should come up with a web search. BTW, I didn't sign up for the planner, I just did the layout online and printed it to pdf.


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