I say section off the room to make it more homey. Use the couch (or couches) in the center of the room (maybe place it or them diagonally). Have the couches face the TV, but make a reading nook in the other half, using those chair placed near the bookshelf. Adding lamps and lowering the overhead lighting is good too. You've done a good job with the place already.

what about moving the sofa all the way into the corner by the tv. shift the tv over (all the way against the wall if it fits) to face the sofa. in the front half of the room, arrange the loveseat and the two wooden chairs together for a sitting area. and the green chair maybe gets moved to another room (guest bedroom?)

I don't have any helpful layout suggestions, but love the color you chose for the walls. And that wall sculpture is fabulous!

make two separate seating areas: one for tv watching and one for reading/conversation. you have a lot of furniture in that room. can you remove some side tables and a chair?

if not: group at least two chairs (esp. the blue) and the bookcase at the front of the room with the loveseat and coffee table; move the sofa and one side table (on the same wall) to the back corner (put the black chair/ottoman in the corner)

First, how nice to have such a large space with so much light! I can understand with so much window space and little wall space that this room would be frustrating to work with if it's intended to be a multi-purpose living room/ tv-family room. You have some nice pieces, but I think part of the challenge is that you're cramming too much along the wall space. Every last nook and cranny is filled.

Here's my instinct for the space. It's large enough to create two areas. One focused on TV, the other more general lounging space.

Let's call the window by the door the "north window", and the window by the stairwell the "south window" for the sake of orienting ourselves. The west wall faces your foyer.

Try this:

Under the north window, place the larger sofa with coffee table perpendicular to the foyer, rather than parallel. Opposite the table, position the blue arm chair facing the larger sofa, on the west-ish side of the room, angled toward the north east corner (the front door). Put the media cabinet under the west window OR move the bookshelf to the northwest wall.

Put the love seat on the west wall, facing the stairwell. Use the black footstool/ottoman as the "coffeetable" and position the black chair angled toward the south east corner (where the TV is now). Purchase an articulating wall mount for your tv (Costco, $200) and mount the tv either on the east wall (stairs) or south wall(left of window) and extend the articulating arm out and angled back at the loveseat & black armchair. Put the bookshelf next to the south window OR put the media cabinet on the east wall facing the loveseat.

This leaves an extra chair -- I think you need to remove your project chair from the room and find another space for it in your home. It's a great chair, but you've got too many pieces in here, and there's no visual breathing space.

A personal opinion: I don't think your more MCM styled pieces work with the sofa set or end tables or media casegoods -- not that everything has to match, but your home is clearly more traditional than modern, and it's important to work with the architecture you have. That being said, those chairs are what you have, and they are the "lightest" pieces in the room, so they can float a bit. Use the sofas as anchors to weight the room into two different areas.

I have a room with a similar problem and it's VERY challenging to make the space feel cohesive, and yet make it work separately with two functional areas.

not decorating advice, but cute boxer.

I would put the tv in one of the corners closer to the windows so the tv is facing less windows. There will be less of a glare. Then as others have suggested section the room off the with the long couch.
I have layout problems too so I'm notm uch help but that is one thing I can see might help a bit.

It looks like you have 6 seating pieces (sofas and chairs). Any chance you could remove say 3 chairs and get another loveseat? Part of what looks to be going on is that it's really crowded with all the pieces of furniture (entertainment center, tables, chairs, sofas, etc).

It's a little hard to tell where pieces can fit. If you have dimensions of the room and the side of the wall with the entrance and the size of your sofa that would help.

I feel like you are trying to cram a lot of furniture into one small room. Is it possible to move something to another room- maybe a chair, a table or the bookcase?

I made a quickie mockup just using the paint program and loaded it to my flickr acct. Obviously, just guesswork on dimensions, but it helps with visualization. http://www.flickr.com/photos/73181201@N00/4428845750/

Here's what I did:

Move tv to the blank space opposite the staircase. Then move the couch against the staircase right across from the tv. Put the black chair & ottoman perpendicular to the sofa at a slight angle. Put the coffee table in front of the sofa and a side table by the chair if there's room.

Keep the love seat where it is and a table at either side. Then put the chair you are redoing against the windows with the blue chair opposite it against the half wall. People will see the finished product when they first walk in.

This way you have an area where you and your hub or the hub and his friends can watch tv and others can sit in the loveseat/chairs for conversation or reading.

I did leave out the bookcase because there was just no good space for it. Look at your stuff and see if you really need all of those chairs or tables (if not, I bet there are some other military families who do). Good luck!

Wow. Is less furniture possible? Maybe move one chair into a bedroom or get rid of it entirely?

Thanks for all of the suggestions. It's late and I just saw this post now, so I will definitely follow up tomorrow. The thing with all the seating is that we love hosting large groups (his unit and their familes and lots of children. One comment had been the lack of seating, so I tried to rememdy that with craigslist finds and I think in whatever next housing we are in, hopefully not military, we will be able to utilize it all better. I really like HeyNowTex's layout and will see what I can do to a) convince the hubby we NEED a change and b) implement that layout. I think the larger sofa will fit on the wall by the stairs and just never thought about it. I will definitely follow up when a) it's not so late b) i've had a chance to try some of the suggestions and c) not have been drinking cocktails with my girlfriends :)

Thanks Mikroma, the boxer is Ozzy and he loves the be in the middle of everything...including any pictures I try to take. Millie is the other boxer and she is off in the hallway somewhere.

Look forward to seeing what everyone else has to say and I will be back to follow up tomorrow sometime

Kat

Oh and Lella, the wall sculpture is actually from Crate and Barrel and was around $80 I believe. Not bad in my opinions. It's one of the only non-original pieces in the room, but I felt like it fit the style and for the price was really reasonable.

I think I would try putting the TV where the bookcase is, and move the sofa in front of the staircase to face the TV. Then all that area is for TV watching only. If there is room, I would put the bookcase at a right angle to thee sofa.

Make the rest of the space into a conversation area, but since the bookcase will be facing it you can easily grab a book to read.

I would also get a cover for the blue chair. It stands out too much, not in a good way.

"thee sofa"? oops. that means you also own "thou loveseat" LOL

Thanks Perkiplus. The blue chair is definitely a work in progress...except that no progress is being made because I'm still working on finding someone to reupholster it. I like it's size and shape and it's a pretty sturdy chair compared to what is in stores now, and it was free from my mom. So yea....the blue isn't what we want, but it's just hanging around. I tried a slip cover for it but it was so HUGE on the chair it looked really sloppy and I'm not skilled enough with the sewing machine to make one myself.

Ok so I just measured the room, it's not exact but the dimensions are approximately:

Wall with the opening and staircase:

short wall by the door 81"
opening to foyer: 41"
wall with stairs: 97.5"

Short wall with TV:
corner by stairs to window: 54"
window: 75"
window to corner with bookshelf: 31"

Long far wall:
Corner with bookshelf to window: 90"
Window: 41"
Window to front corner: 90"

Wall with 2 windows and loveseat:
corner to window 1: 26"
window: 35"
space btw windows: 34.25"
window: 35"
window to corner with short wall: 31.5"

The dimensions to me are slightly strange. Nothing is really symmetrical, but it is what it is and as far as military housing goes...it could be a lot worse.

My measuring is also slightly off...I know...I did the math, but the walls are long and it's just me here holding the tape measure which makes it a little more complicated. I think it gives you an idea though as to the size of the room...it's around 13 feet by 18 feet...I think. Again...just approximate.

I agree with two sitting spaces if possible - considering the size of the television, obviously it's important to you.

Maybe tuck the TV in between the two windows and have the sofa and love seat angled towards them. Then place a chair or two in an empty corner - then try to find a place for the extra chairs in other rooms. The room does have a little too much furniture and unless you're a family of ten, you probably don't need it all right there.

I have had the same problem moving from location to location over the years..until I discovered this awesome and free room planner on the Bassett Furniture site where you can plan out your room and then save, print, or email your designs. Quick easy and fun! Here is the link: http://www.bassettfurniture.com/tools/room-planner.asp
Thank you Bassett furniture!

Ok, so I have moved the big couch and tv as in the suggestion by HeyNowTex. It is kind of nice to see the TV from this angle. It's a much better picture quality, I am just a little afraid that it's too big to sit this close. I'm not sure if it will just take getting used to, but I don't know if I like having my back to the rest of the house when sitting in front of the TV. I guess once I get my artwork back up on the wall it might help.

Unfortunately there wasn't room to put the black chair and ottomon (or any chair really) in the area with the TV. It blocks the entrance to the room too much. So instead I have flanked the TV on each side with a chair angled in.

On the other end of the room, the loveseat is still in it's same spot under the windows and the bookshelf is where the long couch used to be. I really like having the entertainment center and the bookshelf on the same (long) wall. It fills it in nicely and kind of anchors the side of the room.

I am thinking maybe 2 small area rugs might help section off the 2 areas visually. Just going to keep an eye out for something.

I also need to find a light for the corner with the big couch (where the TV used to be) because it's really dark. Do you think a tall floor lamp or something mounted the wall would be best?

I will try getting it cleaned up some Saturday and post some pics to my flickr page and post the link here.