Good Questions: How to Arrange the New Living Room?

Kate, an editor at AT's blog all about tech at home, Unplggd, is moving. She and her husband will be in the new place Saturday and she's looking for advice on where to place the furniture. She's provided all the details:

Furniture/Items for Living Room:

Couch - 93" x 43" (that's about 7.75' x 3.5')

Loveseat - 70" x 43" (that's about 5.75 ' x 3.5')

Ikea Lack TV bench - 59" x 22"

West Elm Coffee Table (in Green) - 36" circle

1 Floor lamp

TBD - end tables, lamps, speakers

Expedit Bookcase - Will either go horizontal or vertical on the bathroom wall to serve as a landing strip.

Here are the considerations:

The cable outlet is in the lower left hand corner of the living room (indicated by the TV box on the floor plan), so if we move from that corner, wiring of some kind will be involved...but so will it also be with speakers, at least until we buy a system to make our speakers wireless

The heat source for the room is the baseboard on the wall with the window, so putting our electronics along that wall is asking for trouble

The wall that divides the kitchen from the living room seems like a good place to put it, but does seating work that way?

J loves to sit closer to the TV, because it's a relatively small TV

Eventually, we'd like to add a desk to the apartment to create a home office of sorts. In my mind, I keep picturing the corner near the cable outlet, placed on a diagonal and facing towards the room. Don't know if this is realistic.

Kate also posted her query on Unplggd, but wrote to let us know that any ideas from the AT:Chicago design hive mind would be greatly appreciated! Please let us know what you think in the comments below....

Comments (5)

Your layout is almost identical to my last apartment, except my bathroom is where your walk-in closet is and I had two walk-in closets where your bathroom is. The living room was also 12x20. I had set it up with:

-An L-shaped sectional facing the wall where your TV is, with the chaise part of the L against the window;

-A low credenza on the wall where the TV is, with a flat-panel TV on it;

-2 bookshelves to the right of the credenza (so closer to the entrance to the bedroom)

-A big plant in the corner (to the left of the TV credenza)

-An armchair anchoring the open side of the L

-A wall unit against the kitchen wall.

With your furniture I would put the couch where mine was (back to dining table, facing TV wall), get rid of the loveseat and find 1 or 2 chairs to finish off your seating area. I would then put the desk on the shared kitchen wall.

You will need an end table to put next to the couch with a lamp; the floor lamp will probably look nicest along the wall. Plant or something else organic (large branches in a vase?) is a nice way to add interest to that corner, and I had an uplight behind it to add nice shadows to the room when entertaining.

This room screams (to me) for an el-shaped sectional, the long side running along your long wall, with the back of the shorter section facing the entry. I guess the same could be accomplished with the longer sofa and the shorter loveseat. I'd also (if space permits) back the love seat or shorter section of the el with a sofa table, which can also be used as a computer desk/bill paying station, and creates an entry where there is none now.

I'd put your TV/electronics on the 7' wall between living room and kitchen (if you guys can't figure out rewiring, who can??!), and place two upholstered arm chairs with a side table in between them on the window/AC wall, facing back into the room.

Good luck.

The room screams sectional to me too. Of course, in my case that is why I wouldn't do it. I'd create two parallel lines with the loveseat and sofa facing each other. Sofa under the front windows. Both sofa and loveseat starting just past the TV bench. (Allowing room to move past the loveseat to the dining area.) TV on bench between them on the wall with the TV outlet. Coffee table between tables a bit toward the TV. You may even have room for a small desk behind the loveseat to stare out the window and procrastinate doing any work!

"The room screams sectional to me too. Of course, in my case that is why I wouldn't do it."

Meee. Ow.

That was not meant to be mean. I only meant that I hate doing what is expected. It's an overall personality trait. Lots of folks see it as one of my personality flaws. They may be right. However, it is one of few predicters of my choices.