I think this is the most frequently asked question - for very good reason. Where to put a TV when there is a fireplace. I'm not really sure, but I do have a question that might help other's in their suggestions: Is the staircase incased in walls or open on some or all sides to the room?

Does the TV need to go in this room? Can it be put in another room? That would open the possibilities of furniture placement and creating zones for activities that you and your family persue. Personally, I just find that a TV in the main area of the home usurps all other activities.

Hang the TV on the back of the staircase wall (assuming there's a wall), and then do two sofas or a sofa facing two chairs perpendicular to the fireplace.

We're struggling with a similar layout on a much smaller scale. I hate having the TV on the same wall as the FP (we don't have a family room, it's an 1100sf house).

I've thought about it some more... and come up with a possibility. Put a sofa opposite the fireplace, centered between the left edge of the fireplace and the stairway behind it. If there is an awkward place in the DR where the sofa sticks out, place a little table there with a light. The sofa could even move forward so there is walking space behind it along the stairway edge. Matching loveseat to its right facing the windows on the opposite side of the room. A couple chairs in the corner to the left of the fireplace with a small table between them. So the LR is situated off-center with the coziest seating to the right, and you can easily walk around the corner from the DR. It will be asymmetrical to the center of the fireplace but not feel improperly weighted because there will be flow and seating all around.

For the TV, create two sets of shelving on both sides of the fireplace that can hold a whole assortment of things large and small, perhaps with closed cabinets underneath. Design the shelves with some irregularity so that you can place your TV in the right side, close to the sofa seating, and not have it feel out of balance with the left side. Or maybe only low shelves along the bottom (running the entire length of both sections of the wall,) with TV on the right wall, counterbalanced on the left a large piece of art or mirror.

I like the sound of 'HOMEBODY' suggestions. Nice and clean looking I think. Not much help an I?

Thinking about decor and style is important, but before that it is essential to think about how you want to use this room. Is it for a single, couple or family? Do you entertain alot? Do you just want to watch TV in this space or do your want to connect with family and friends? Furniture placement and arrangement is based on this, then decor and decoration derive from that. The arrangement of the space should serve your needs, not attempting to fit your life into the set-up of the room. Good Luck ! :-)

I would put the TV to the right of the fireplace. Possibly two matching shelving units on each side of the fireplace would work, and place the TV on a swivel platform. Have a couch facing the fireplace making an "L" with a loveseat or a chair (two chairs?). The space looks plenty large enough for this arrangement given that the windows are 8' in length.

You will be able to swivel the TV for watching from the couch/loveseat area but it will be out of sight from the dining room. This arrangement assumes there is equal space on either side of the fireplace. You could do something similar with the TV to the left of the fireplace if this is not the case. If the TV has to be there maybe an arrangement with doors would be best so the TV doesn't invade the dining room.

You definitely seem to have a large enough room to create more than one zone. Ask yourself about what functions you hope to get out of the room, then determine the plan, the pick the furniture. You'll definitely need to float a lot of furnishings, so make sure there is room in the budget for a large rug.

I'd flank the fireplace with two larger armoires, one containing the TV.

You don't say enough about how want to live in this space for me to suggest a layout. But I can tell you this: you must arrange the furniture such that the 24' long living room is divided into two separate but connected living spaces. Otherwise, the room will seem cavernous (yes, even at 11' wide), oddly formal and disconnected, and not homey.

Ok, I'll suggest: One option would be to center a seating area in front of the fireplace - with a couch perpendicular to the fireplace, and a chair or two across from it. I am assuming the staircase is partially open, else it wouldn't be so wide, unless your drawing is not-to-scale. So I wouldn't put a couch up against it...but I wouldn't do that even if it were a closed wall. The key to furnishing a long room and not make it one long corridor is to pull the major furnishings away from the walls. Since your depth is only 11', this limits your options to do this. Your fireplace provides an excellent focal point for arranging a seating area as I suggested above. (Another more-boring option would be to have a couch face the fireplace, with enough space for a walkway behind it to get to the far end of the room. But this placement, with a couch going with the long width of the room, does not break up the space. If you do this, be sure to place some other relatively long piece perpendicular to the couch to break up the space.)

I wouldn't put a tv in here personally, but since you, like most people, want one, I'd put it on the wall across from the windows. If you go with a seating area areound the fireplace, as suggested above, you could see it from the seats facing that way, and from the other if they swiveled or were easily turnable. This gives you a long distance to the tv, which only works for large tvs, but that seems to be the trend among tv-watching folk these days. If that works for you, you could have that wall be a built up wall containing also shelves, a desktop, storage cubbies, etc. This would make the second area of the living room, beyond the seating area in front of the fireplace. If that TV placement doesn't work for you, place the TV on a low console on either side of the fireplace, depending on whether you want it nearer or further from the dining room. I would leave the area in front of the sliders relatively free...it seems like there are all those sliders there because there is a yard or patio out there...and since your table blocks easy access out the sliders near it, make the access easy from the living room.

You need to figure out what you want by answering these questions for yourself first. How big a tv do you want, and how far away from it do you want to sit? (Those two questions are intrinsically related.) How high do you like your TV - at an ergonomically correct eye level when seated, which means on a tv stand no more than 24" high, at table or desk height of 30", which allows you to see it from more places in the room, or even higher, at the neck-ache inducing over-the-fireplace or big ol' armoire positioning? Do you want to be able to watch it from the dining table? If so, will you be putting another screen in your kitchen viewable from the table? Since you want to watch TV in here, you will need to configure your room around the TV viewing preferences, so figure out the answers to these questions, and everything else will follow from there. Sad but true fact of living room furniture placement.

This room would be so excellent without a TV, and with a nice stereo.

OK - float all furniture. I'd put two lounge chairs (perhaps with ottomans) angled inward on the left side (under a window?), then leave the space in front of the fireplace open with a nice rug in front and some floor pillows, then create a conversation area to the left, with a sofa running parallel to the right wall (again, floating), with a small coffee table and two small lounge chairs to complete a small conversation area - think Eames LCM or vintage Larsen "penguin" chairs or something to that effect.

The right side is kind of closed off anyway, so keep the left side lighter with lounge chairs. If you must, and if there's a wall around the stairwell facing the living room, hang the idiot box on that wall over a credenza.

Could you put the TV on a wheeled cart or in an easel? I would put a sofa opposite to the fireplace, a couple of chairs on the sides, if you want more sitting space, and the tv on the right corner of the fireplace, that way, it would be visible, looking good, but not being the main focus, if you want to watch it while lying down on the sofa, just move it closer to the fireplace for the time being.
A different idea, put the sofa with the back towards the sliders and the tv on the opposite wall, a chair or two opposite the fireplace. It's a more open way towards the dining area.

Do you need seating for 10, or can you put a round table in the corner and create additional seating (possibly a couple of big comfy chairs and a small coffee table, maybe a bench too to create more seating) directed more towards a TV (or even a reading lamp and a shelf with books in this area)...more of a great room living space...

Look forward to seeing what you come up with!