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This is my first post and I'm not sure if it's the right place but I need major help with my living room. It's a weird layout and I'm not sure where to put my couches, end tables, tv, etc.
Money is tight so getting new furniture isn't an option for now and so I'm trying to make what I have work.

the file attached is the dimensions to scale. We have a 13'x16' room with two windows (one a large bay that I'd love to be the focal point) and the brown line is a half wall or pony wall.

Here's the furniture I have:

One standard couch
One standard love seat
two 2'x1.5' end tables
one 3'x3' ottoman coffee table
Then there is the 42" flat screen

We had the couch sitting in the bay facing the only full wall and the tv on the full wall but I hate not being able to see out the bay window.

Now I'm thinking maybe get a swivel mount for the tv and put it in the corner of the wall with the bay window... but then it will just look stuck there...I'm so confused.

Any help would be great!
Thanks, Jessica

I think your problem is that you are under-furnished for such a generously-sized living room. And, kudos to you for being so detailed in your question and posting the floorplan.

One suggestion: place your love seat in front of the bay window and the longer sofa under the picture window, at a right angle to create an L-shaped arrangement, with one side table on the left side of the loveseat and the other side table between the loveseat and sofa. Place the coffee table ottoman between the two couches. This will be your main seating area to watch TV.

On the blank wall opposite the bay window, place your flat screen on a console table or preferably inside a large wall unit/media center with storage. Then add two arm chairs; one on either side of the TV wall unit. Or,you could have one arm chair and one chaise longue flanking the TV wall unit. With this extra seating area, you can now read, relax or talk on the phone while facing the bay window and enjoying the views.

Hope this helps.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: aychihuahua,

Thank you very much for your response! I'll have to try that layout when my husband gets home to help me move the sofa (It's HEAVY lol)

One of the reasons we don't have a lot of seating in here is it's the only family/living room and I've got 3 kids under 5 years old and I've left a lot of floor space for their playthings but it makes the room look awful :/
They've taken over my dining room too but that's a project for another day.

Your absolute best bet would have been a sofa on the long wall, and two swivel chairs in the bay. This way you would have been able to turn the chairs when you wanted to enjoy the view. The TV in the bay window corner would be a mistake. The bay seems to be the one strong architectural feature of the room and to break up its symmetry with the TV would be a shame.

Jessica, for your back's sake (and hubby's back), please use those "moving men" pads to rearrange your furniture.

I hear you about the kiddos. You do what you have to do. They'll be big before you know it, and then you can add more grown-up furniture. Hope it all works out.

Great question and info. The challenge for a 13' x 16' room is that it is large enough to seem spacious, but not big enough to float all furniture away from the walls nor is is a comfortable spacing to line them up on the walls. On top of that, you must work around 1/2 walls and doorways. (I have a similar space with even tricker entries and half walls and glass silding doors).

I agree that the one plain wall is the best wall for the television when wall mounted (see below for option to explore) - and that, being across from the bay, you will need to give it some visual weight with shelving, artwork and make some balance. Gallery style walls look amazing around flat screens as if the flat screen was just another photo element.

Back to furniture layout if the tv stays on that wall - With what you have listed, I would suggest an alternative to Aych for you to try - take a little bit different tIack to make the bay window area a discussion space separate from the media. I agree you will want to add some pieces before you are done.

I would pull the long couch into the room facing the television so that as you walk into the room through the doorway, the back of the couch is just ahead and runs into the end of the picture window (well, an end table there). Imagine an end table at the "right/bay" edge of the picture window and the larger couch coming off of that into the room with its back to the bay window. Try the loveseat under the rest of the picture window and shift the television to the pony wall side of the end wall. Add the ottoman to the center of the L - shifting the L that Aych suggests towards the tv wall and leaves the bay empty behind with clear and decent access out of the media "pit.

I would get a console table to place behind the couch here and center the last end table on the bay window. Now borrow from the rest of your house or invest in some of these options for the bay.

My preference is two wonderful recliners or chairs and ottomans, depending on your style choices (or what will help DH be in a buying mode - maybe one of each!). More options - a writing desk angled on the side behind the couch (with a pretty straight chair / even a slipcovered or spare dining chair can work) and one larger lounging chair and ottoman on the side nearer the room entry, or finally, try a smallish round table and straight chairs (use like a game table, for projects or during a party, snacks).

Think about lighting for nighttime - the console behind the couch, new writing desk or game table in the bay offers an opportunity to place some low lamp lighting here, or add floor lamps adjacent to the chairs.

Maybe add a tray with handles for the upholstered ottoman so it becomes functional for food and drinks, but the console also helps serve the couch for that.

The delight of the bay is to sit and reflect, read or knit or converse, something that isn't really terriby compatible with watching television, and your room is big enough for two distinct zones. If you center the whole L on the picture window, you will have enough room behind for access to the bay. Alternatively, if you center your long couch on the picture window then bring your loveseat into the room on the L, it may narrow the area left at the bay to be inaccessible and the eye cares that the big couch is not centered, a lot more than it cares about a loveseat- particularly when the end table is kind of hidden away behind.

Of course, you will want to push and pull and move things around in there to see how this might work and feel to you. You may find another place in your home for the loveseat altogether and replace it with another chair or pair. Then you have even more options.

NEW TV PLACEMENT OPTION
One other thing to consider - they are showing great wooden tv easels these days for flat screens. You could use something like that in front of / along the pony wall (which is tough to use for anything else). If you went there, you could center the long couch under the picture window, place the loveseat on the plain wall with a console table behind it to set it in the right alignment to the couch, and still use the bay as one of the options - that might give you the feel of the biggest room, and viewing from all seats - plus, all your seating would be able to enjoy the view from the bay.

Hope this was helpful in trying out some new things - you obviously have a beautiful space with some wonderful architectural elements. I'm sure you will have a beautiful room when you are done!

This message has been edited. Last edited by: LibraDesignEye,

quote:

Originally posted by Charles D:
Your absolute best bet would have been a sofa on the long wall, and two swivel chairs in the bay. This way you would have been able to turn the chairs when you wanted to enjoy the view. The TV in the bay window corner would be a mistake. The bay seems to be the one strong architectural feature of the room and to break up its symmetry with the TV would be a shame.

Thanks. I agree with that totally. I hate asymmetry and the tv in the corner would drive me crazy but I just wasn't sure what else to do with it if we have the loveseat facing the window.

Matt's (my husband) solution to the asymmetry would be to build corner book-cases/media cupboards in both corners but I think that the TV would be too large for that solution without making the bay window appear overly deep.

As for the chair idea that would be lovely once all my little ones are out of the furniture destroying stage and I can get new pieces

Hi Jessica, I'm trying to post a very simple floor plan, but this site is telling me it's too big.Which is kind of crazy because it's a quarter inch scale pencil sketch. I'll keep trying.

Thanks Charles. If you can't get it that's ok. I think I have an idea of what you were talking about.
I used the paint program on my computer to make the drawing I posted. I'm not sure how to resize a scanned drawing but maybe save it as a .jpg
Then it would be the same format that worked for me.