Q: My husband and I recently purchased a home, and I'm just having the most difficult time trying to get the living room to make sense. The front door opens into it, with no entryway to speak of. There's a definite lack of designated area for shoes, and guests end up tossing their footwear onto our hardwood floors.
The only solid wall in the space is right next to that door, opposite it, is a pair of double doors that open to a den/office/spare bedroom, a wall of mostly windows, and a tiny half wall along the stairwell (which is mostly unusable because of the coat closet which is across the room, opposite the front door). The space works fine, though not ideal, for just my husband and me, but it really doesn't lend itself to having guests over, which we would like to do more of! Any recommendations out there for making this space work?
Sent by Jillena
Got a good question you'd like answered? Send your queries and please include a photo or two illustrating your question, and we'll see if the Apartment Therapy LA team or our readers can help answer your question.
Must-See Small Cool Homes: Week Two
Beth's Romantic & Retro Residence
Good Food to Share 
The Big Book of Small, Cool Spaces 
Apartment Therapy Presents 
The Eight-Step Home Cure 
Shaw's Original Fir...
How to Make Easy 3-Ingredient Energy Bars at Home
How To Cook Tender, Chewy Wheat Berries on the Stovetop
On first impression, you're greeting with a big entertainment center directly on the left and an armchair right in front of you.
Have you considered mounting the TV to the wall or perhaps moving the TV to the corner? Or even mounting it to the shorter wall by the staircase?
I think if you can rearrange the room so that the sectional can move around to the wall that your tv is currently on and then you move the armchair so it's not in front of you when you first walk in, you may be on to something.
Add a shelf such as an Expedit to the left of the door, at a right angle to it, following the tile entryway, to break up the space a little, give the living room more privacy and a bit of entryway storage.
I agree with the above poster. Flip your bookcase to the other side of the window. Put the sectional into that corner. Hang the TV on the wall under the stairs. Put the chair in the front of the bookcases.
This will allow better flow through the room, especially into the den.
I would flip the sofa 180, and move the TV stand into the corner by the dining room(?). Leave the bookshelf where it is, and move the chair by the window. Then hopefully you'll have room between the back of the sofa and the wall on the left to place a narrow table to collect mail and keys and such. You could then have a designated shoe zone along the stair wall.
I'm imagining some sort of shelving unit right next to the door, basically right next to (or on top of!) the vent, and perpendicular to the floor. Have the shelving side pointing toward where a person would be if he just stepped through the front door, & then you have your shoe storage/landing spot. I like the ikea expedit series for an inexpensive, open solution which also functions as a type of room divider. Then, mount the TV onto the wall, approximately where it is now (hide the wires in the wall if you can, & then put cable box/dvd/etc) in the new shelving unit.
i'd also consider moving the armchair out of the room- i think it may be a bit much... if it's special, can you use it in a bedroom or something?
good luck!
labelle-wow, that was exactly what i was trying to say, & in about a tenth the words. amazing!
I agree with jenkwise's arrangement idea. I'd also add a large rug to help define the living room arrangement. As for the shoe problem, how about a small bench and a boot tray placed along the side of the stairs by the closet? You could add a runner from the front door to the coat closet to sort of lead people in and keep the grime off your hardwood.
I would probably move the tv to a corner entertainment unit in the corner where the lamp is so that you can arrange your furniture to be more inviting.
~ Sarah @ http://www.queenofdiy.com
You could simply place a basket behind the red patterned chair for you and guests to place their footwear.
This is a little off the wall, but have you considered re-hanging your front door so that it opens the opposite way?
Right now as guests enter they are forced straight into the living room. If the door were hung from the opposite side, they would be funneled into the space at the foot of the stairs. Then once the door was closed they could be ushered into the living room. That would provide the necessary psychological pause between the opening of the door and their insertion into the home proper.
I have a similar situation in my house.
1. Get rid of the chair. It is too big and doesn't work with the cleaner lines of the sofa and the mid-century coffee table.
2. Put a small Parsons table with a lamp and a tray on the staircase wall for mail, keys etc. Hang a mirror or some art above it. This creates a little entry area where none really exists.
3. Under the table put a tray for shoes.
4. Get rid of the bookcase and have a carpenter build a bookshelf/cabinet across the entire wall where the TV currently sits to organize all your electronics, books, DVDs etc. Keep the lines simple, like the Expedit references from earlier posts. Consider a two tiered approach to the cabinet/shelves so it doesn't seem so massive when you enter -- lower 1/3 section, 20" deep, upper 2/3 section, 12" deep.
5. Once you have the new built-in, do not cram it with books etc. (a la your current bookcase), add some art and ceramics and let the space breathe.
6. Hang some art on either side of the window.
7. Add an area rug.
It's hard to tell from the photos how much space there is on the wall under the stairs, but if possible, I agree that the TV should be mounted on the wall under the stairs. If there is empty space under the stairs, perhaps you could cut into the wall and make a storage cubby or cabinet for things like a DVD player. Or depending on what is in that wall and how deep it is, maybe you could even make an inset area to put your TV, rather than hanging it on the wall. I would turn the sofa 90 degrees, with one side along the wall with the entry door and the other side along the wall with the window. The bookcase could go to the other side of the window. The armchair seems a bit too bulky, so I would exchange it for a smaller chair, and put that opposite the sectional, near the opening to the other room (office?).
For visitors' shoes, you could have a small shelf at the end of the sectional, right by the door. This could also function as a spot to put things down when you come in.
I agree with MBK1 as the quickest way to do this... take out the chair at the bottom of the stairs, replace it with a round table and a tray underneath for shoes.
I have a couple general suggestions, though I'm not sure how attached you are to the furniture you have now... anyway, some things you might consider for the future:
- Replace front door and the overhead light fixture/fan. I know you didn't ask about it, but they are very "builder's special." If you want to personalize the space a bit, find a nicer light fixture and front door. Avoid the gold-tone metal & oak combo, which looks very dated.
-Get rid of the sectional & chair. They don't work in the space. Buy a smaller sofa, and either place it against the window & buy a chair to go where the L of the sectional now is, or place sofa where L of sectional now is. Center seating around the coffee table as a conversation area, rather than setting up the whole room around a TV.
-Instead of floor lamp, try several table lamps on end tables on either side of couch. Create several points of light around the room, and avoid using the overhead.
-Put up curtains on the windows. I would also paint all the trim white.
-Consider painting the room a different color. A dusty blue would be nice.
-Consider an area rug. Especially because the space isn't very clearly defined (odd shape) a rug will really help ground it and delineate a clear living area.
-Add plants. You could put a tall one in the corner where the floor lamp now is and another small one on the coffee table or a side table once you get some.
-Put up art. Try to find things you really like instead of just filling the walls with posters. You can get nice stuff on Ebay, or look around at local galleries, crafts fairs, or antique shops. You could put things above the tv or on either side of the window.
- Consider moving the bookshelf to where the lamp now is. I think that would make it look less like everything was squashed into one corner.
Good luck!
First thing - if you don't want shoes on your hardwood floor, either invest in a shoe rack to sit by the door or try taking the shoes to a coat closet of sorts after guests remove their shoes.
Find a small, narrow table and put it to the left as you enter the front door. It can act as a place to set keys, purses of guests as well as separating the space as a dedicated entryway. Then put mats or trays for shoes under the table or somewhere close by so that people know where to put their footwear.
I'd combine the suggestions of Team Builder and LaBelle: swap the positions of sectional and shelf, put TV on the wall under the stairs, possibly using a closed cabinet (with holes for circulation of course, but less visual clutter), and put an Expedit (2x4, probably, I guess 4x4 would protrude to much into the room and almost hit the stairs) next to the door.
Maybe you could close the backside of the Expedit, but not all on one side: I'd close the lover 4 cubbies so they are closed towards the living area and open towards the door - nice space for shoes! The upper 4 cubbies I'd leave open towards the living area so you can use them for storage or decoration and will be "shielded" while sitting on the sofa from people coming in.
You could even put some nice wallpaper or poster on the board covering the back of the Expedit and use it for decoration.
I'm not sure about that heating vent (or what is it next to the door on the floor?).
Is that a closet you said over by the stairs? Could you live without it? Seems like a lot of space taken up in the room for just a coat closet. Aside from that, I like the ideas of moving the sofa to the other end and putting the tv under the stairway if possible.
My suggestions list.
1) TV stays against same wall but must be hanging to it. Media centre moves to shelves on bookshelf or lower cupboard.
2) Two shorter book cases could flank the window. One of them, close to TV, with cupboard for media centre.
3) Two sofas to face each other, one under the window and one with back towards entry way.
4) Narrow, console table at the back of sofa, facing entry way.
5) Low, coffee table/biggish orroman at the far end of same sofa, opposite end of TV. Possibly with wooden legs to visually lift it off the floor and maximise perception of space.
6) Hanging pictures on top of book cases
7) Table lamps on top of book cases.
8) Rug beneath sofas to delimit space
Hope this helps