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Okay, we have been living in my house for about a year now and still are not happy with the furniture setup in our family/TV room. The house was built in the 50's so it is basically one rectagular room after another. I have taken the liberty of sketching the room out a bit (see thumbnail below)
As you will see, there are a multitude of obstacles. The back wall is almost entire glass. The fire place, which is red brick up to the ceiling is in a odd place (though I probably have it more centered than it actually is in our house).
Here is the criteria that we are working with. This isn't a family that doubles as a TV room. It is instead a TV room that doubles as a family room.
In other words, the TV has to be a center point. Don't want the majority of people watching TV with their heads turned sideways.
We understand that theoretically, the fireplace may be a good spot, however, most people I have seen that do this have the TV way up. We have not eliminated placing the TV on the fireplace but we have eliminated putting the TV way up. That is, it has to be at normal viewing level, which for some people would eliminate the fireplace as a place for the TV.
The room has an A frame wood ceiling that peeks at about 10 ft. For now, we have the TV (Flat Screen) on the wall opposite the sliding glass doors with a seven foot couch a few feet in front of the glass doors. Not ideal because of the glare and having our backs to the view but passable. We have a chair at a 90 degree angle to the sofa.
The room is about 22' by 14' and has two entry points (the larger one is connected to the foyer and the smaller one to the kitchen. Even though the TV seating seems to work okay, we simply have not been able to get the part of the room opposite the fireplace to work at all.
We do have a good sized living room that is our main seating/talking room as well.
So, with all that information in hand, what would you do with this room if you were starting from scratch?
You did not supply dimensions so I will just guess that there PROBABLY is room to segment this space a bit.
If I were TRULY starting from scratch I would probably ditch the sliders and put in a SINGLE French door along with appropriate sized windows. From the looks of the yard it is not excactly a view of the Pacific from Malibu so I am not sure you need tripple floor to ceiling windows... A nice normal sized window or two and a swinging door would give plenty of space for the TV where that lonely floor lamp and the slider are now.
If you don't want / cannot afford switching out doors / windows the next best thing is HEAVY light blocking curtains so that you can position the TV along that wall of windows without creating a nightmare. A nice curtain makes a good backdrop for the TV. You could probably align 80% of the seating toward that with no problem and then segment the other 20% of the seating to swivel between the fireplace and the TV. Right now you give up a TON of the room to "traffic corridors" along the front of the TV, along the loney storage console and floor lamp, in front of the TV and along the big slider. Anything that you do to "reclaim" that space makes the room feel much bigger. Really this is the kind of thing that stagers LOVE to do for real estate listings -- it is like adding 20++ sq ft to the room!
If I was really ambitious about "from scratch" I might try and move the openings to other rooms so that you don't have the nasty traffic pattern of three ways into / out of the TV room, but would need to see the overall layout of the floor plan and room dimensions to double check whether that makes sense.
Last edited by chet everett; 07-12-2011 at 02:48 PM..
Thanks Chet. Yes, as you can see, we are not even close to furnishing this room. We have basically mish mashed it together for now because really, we are at a loss for what to do with it.
The unfortunately layout has been a nightmare and unfortunately, we don't have the desire or funds to replace the windows (in spite of not having a view of the ocean).
As you may be able to see in some of the pictures, we do indeed have curtains that can cover the sliders. But as it is, covering the sliders already creates a sort of tunnel effect that isn't great. Or at least it feels that way after a couple of years of having an open window.
As for your suggestion, are you saying that we should place the the TV in front of the windows and close the curtains? Seems odd to me but we can certainly give it a shot.
FYI, the room is about 22' x 14'.
In the end, you may be right however. It seems the design as it is simply may not be funtional for what we want to do. We may ultimately need to do a reconstruction of some kind if are are to really be happy.
But for now, we'd like to make the best of what we have.
I think the house is pretty! I personally love being able to see greenery through the windows/doors, and I like the pretty hedge and garden. I also LOOOVE the plantation shutters on the door and the pretty ceiling. Having said that, I'm one of those who doesn't have a TV...partially because I wouldn't' have a clue where to put it.
Not having exact measurements and so forth. What about arranging furniture this way? Attachment 82312
The two chairs facing the fireplace could be swivel chairs so they can be spun around to face the tv.
Thank you so much for taking the time FW. What you have is close to our original design. And that, or a variation of that, is probably the best match. My only issue with it is that the bulk of the seating requires viewers to watch TV with their heads turned to the side. And as a person that watches sports for up to three hours at a time, this probably would not work.
Indeed, when we did that our furniture this way, I needed to bring in a chair to watch games else my neck would really hurt.
Again, I really appreciate the input. Just want to see what other ideas are out there that I have not thought about.
well i will say that the fire is definatly low enough that you could eaisly put the tv on the fireplace wall wihtout it having to be oddly high.
if your willing to change furniture how about a large sectional free flating in the room with one leg runnign parrallel to the wall where the tv is now 9facing out the windows) and the other leg of the L facing the fireplace/tv wall. a couple nice chairs or even some over sized ottomans then to form the U Shape placing infront of the windows, there easily moved and wouldnt blocj the veiw out of the windows..g.et something with storage in them to even tripple the use.
that pretty dresser/art collection could stay where it was with a sectional type layout...
It's probably too late. I can totally understand not wanting to watch TV sideways. There's another way to create two separate seating areas. Put the TV along the wall with the credenza. Face the sofa directly towards that wall, creating an intimate viewing area. Then place two chairs facing the fireplace like fallingwater recommended. You can place the cradenza where the TV is currently or you can put it behind the sofa as a sofa table. You may want to turn your area rug and move it towards the TV side of the room, further helping separate the seating areas.
The TV side of the room will be very cozy, like this:
If you want additional seating, you could add a loveseat or another chair at a right angle to the sofa on the glass door side----or even get a small sectional:
You can have the fireplace chairs facing away from the fireplace or towards each other.
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Actual pics of room
