apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

I agree with the exercise equipment move. If you can move it (bedroom? office?) it would help. I'm sort of stuck because I only have a bedroom (too small for my treadmill) and a living room in my apartment in which to put my own equipment. So I understand if you can't move it. I solved the issue by putting my treadmill behind the couch. At least that way, people can't see it while seated and watching television. The bonus is that it's facing the TV, which helps motivate me to work out. Keeping it behind a decorative screen might also be an option, if you can put it in a corner somewhere and must have it in the living room.

While I do love the color of green you seem to have chosed for accent (pillows on the couch, art on the walls), you might want to mix in something brighter. Lemon yellow, for example. And a non-working fireplace is begging to be repurposed as a wonderful candle alcove. Just a thought.

If you're looking to save space, mount the tv over the fireplace. You can put the tv stand w/ the vcr in the fireplace and hide it with a darker fireplace screen. Move the couch on the wall where the tv stand currently is and place a mirror above the couch to reflect the light from the window that's now being partially blocked by the couch. Make some $$$ by selling the exercise machine on craigslist and go running for real outside. You do live in sunny L.A., right?!?!? Finally, put a large palm tree where the exercise machine once stood to remind you to get outside and exercise.

Although the fireplace doesn't work - you still need to treat it as a focal point.

Gregory is right: Get rid of the exercise machine, get a longer credenza for the media, use a large area rug to warm up the sitting area - Also should push back the sofa to unblock the fireplace, get an armchair and coffee table to round out the seating area and some end tables and table lamps.

Rather than spreading out the artwork, take the two long rectangular pieces and mount them one above the other - perhaps over the fireplace?

Then of course there's the typical: Paint/wallpaper/draperies...

You mention being restricted by the cable jack -- an option which would allow one to hide the cables and provide some decorative storage:

Employ a modular unit, low-level sideboard/credenza or media console to stretch the length of the wall. A back panel can be removed to provide room for periphery, while the TV sits atop. Crate and Barrel, for example, has numerous options - as does AT's own scavenger postings.

http://www.crateandbarrel.com/media-entertainment/furniture/1

http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/la/scavenger/scavenger-stickley-moroccan-fountains-bent-bamboo-danish-teak-and-chinese-ceramic-furniture-los-angeles-craigslist-079022?image_id=62401

Just a note...I never ever recommend mounting televisions above fireplaces for several reasons. Ergonomically speaking, the viewing angle from a seated position upward can lead to stress of the neck/shoulder muscles if viewed for extended periods. It also tends to be a poor choice for optimal image quality, since the upward angle affects what sort of picture is enjoyed. And if the fireplace is used, installing electronic equipment in proximity to heat/fire is not recommended. Just a bit of Unplggd-style advice :)

I would get more cable so I could move the TV around. Use the little staple things to run it along the wall.

do you have larger art pieces? Right now, everything is small on the wall. I would use a large piece over the fireplace. Feel free to break up the spaces too. Make an exercise nook and a TV wall.

Maybe move the stairclimber so it's parallel to the window/glass doors, then hide it with a folding screen - although you probably have it where you do so you can watch TV while you climb... if it's fairly easy to swivel, you could just swing it toward the TV when you use it, then put it back.

And maybe the idea that we saw on AT today - put the TV in the fireplace, then re-orient your couch.

If you really don't want to stretch your cable wire halfway across the room, think about getting a taller piece of furniture to put the TV on so the large, white wall is balanced.

I think grouping the artwork you have is a good suggestion. The room is lacking a focal point, so orienting the couch to face the fireplace would be a good start.

How about some floating shelves? Or perhaps some bookshelves to display some colorful items?

I have 2 white Ikea floating shelves for sale, they didn't fit in my new/smaller apartment.

We need more pictures! And is that a sliding glass door behind the workout machine, or a window with vertical blinds?

If you're a renter that can't paint (like me), I'm guessing that the living room is the only place that your workout machine will fit and/or that you watch tv while you workout. If that's the case, maybe you could put the workout machine lengthwise against the window and screen it off with a dramatic drape or pretty folding screen where the ceiling drops. If you can't fit it that way then you could angle it towards the tv and create a little workout alcove with a screen or curtain. Either way you hide and separate the ugly machine from the rest of the room.

Do candles, flowers, a vase, statue, or even books in your fireplace -- there are a ton of great ideas out there for non working fireplaces. Make it pretty and decluttered so that it's not a sore thumb, and there is a focal point in the room other than the tv for when you just want to sit and talk.

I would also do something different on that wall with the tv --the candle holders and mirror are too small for the wall, but they also look like they get in the way of the media center. The whole wall looks off balance.

If you want to keep your old media center, I would make a curtain to hide the electronics, and do some cord control. Then I would treat the long wall that the media center is on as though it were two walls. One half of the wall belongs to the living room and has the tv and electronics centered on it, the other half of the wall has a dramatic piece or grouping of art centered on it. I have a long wall sort of like this in my apartment, which runs from the living room into the dining room -- big walls need big statements or even really great pieces end up looking dwarfed and dinky.

Here's what I did with my long wall

One half:

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=1691697&l=e790d38678&id=500186656

The other half:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=69096&id=500186656#/photo.php?pid=1682767&id=500186656

Together:

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=1691698&l=0d4e880923&id=500186656

There might be other better ideas, but without other pics I'm not sure if any of this would really work.

What about turning the elliptical machine 90 degrees so that it fits into that nook and window panels of some type to close off the nook?

If the elliptical must stay, I definitely suggest hiding it with a decorative screen, as ThatGrrl suggested. They sell some very pretty ones at Pier One. I feel that your room needs more light, a larger tv stand, and punches of bright color.

I would:

Replace the TV-stand with a twice-as-wide sideboard with doors to hide the clutter.

Put the TV on said sideboard plus a nice lamp and a plant.

If the exercise machine must be in the living room, I would hide it in the window nook and pull a curtain in front of it. Preferably I would put it somewhere else.

Get some more colourful pillows for the sofa. Red for instance, to contrast the green plants on the sideboard.

Remove the little pictures on the wall behind the TV. They are too small and not very colourful. Is there a wall behind the sofa? I so, I would put a bigger piece of art there.

Just put a spotlight on the versaclimber and let it be the star!

Ha, I used to keep my printer under my TV too!

I echo everyone else - the alcove is a perfect place to hide the exercise machine while it's not in use. Get a light, transparent curtain and it will be enough to visually "screen" the machine but still light enough to let light in from the patio. As a bonus to that, you can keep your blinds open while the curtain is across, and let more light in the room.

Ikea has some fantastically cheap, very looong curtains if you're looking for affordable. I have a similar patio door, and instead of messing around with installing curtain rods and all that, I just stuck in a shower curtain rod! Perfect solution for a renter who doesn't want to make many holes in the place. Just measure your door first to make sure the shower rod fits.

As far as art goes, I would say if you're not going to center the TV, don't have centered, symmetrical art. Sit down with a piece of paper based on your wall, and draw the TV on it where it will be. then cut out little squares the size of what art you have. Play around with how that looks while the TV is in place, and imagine that the TV is part of the design so that everything balances against it. And a low, think bookcase would really help with those wires, or you could even hide them with the baseboard-type covers.

I agree with kelley too. I'm thinking you like to watch TV while you're on the machine so what if you get a panel or a room divider that can be pulled aside so that you can see the tv?
Definitely wider credenza for tv.. maybe a fun rug, a coffee table, colorful pillows. Take off those things above the TV and hang artworks/prints.. Don't be afraid of color and just have fun :) !

Think about your pallet. Right now, you have a lot of neutrals broken up by a few random spots of color and black. The neutrals aren't coordinated enough to give you a nice serene monochrome feel, but you don't have a schema of accents or contrasts either.

When I was stuck with an unfortunate renter's wall color, this is what I did. I found a paint chip that closely matched the color of the wall, another that matched my largest/most important furniture pieces (dark brown wood). And then I played around with paint chips until I found colors that complemented these. I ended up choosing colors I never would have thought of: a combo of cocoa and a bold orange color to complement the yellow/ivory wall color and dark wood furniture.

If you're stuck with having the TV where it is, center it in the square-ish space between the doorway seen at the left of the pic and the point at which the ceiling comes down a foot to the right of the pic. Arrange any decoration or shelf (find another place for the mirror) centered in this space and leave the wall area under the lowered ceiling either blank or with something long/dangling.
Space permitting, move the exercise equipment directly in front of the fireplace facing the TV, thus preserving your view of the TV from it and opening up the path to your window (or sliding glass doors? I can't tell -- without knowing what's outside the window and how much light you get, it's hard to know whether it is a space/view worth emphasizing.) If you don't want a coffee table (I don't see one in the pic), then get a throw rug for the middle of the floor which will help you to define the space and the focal point of the room (in your case, the TV?)

I'm a renter too. So I hear ya on the cable jacks keeping you from making a room what you want it to be. We got around this by buying a longer cable and running it under the carpet. You should be able to pull it up fairly easily at the wall. The tough part is getting it to feed as far as you want it to go. We got a long pole that is called "fish stix" made by a company that makes fishing poles. It flexes so it will go under the carpet to push the cord where you want it to go. Then you can just put a piece of furniture in front of the cable jack and no one will be the wiser. You can just pull the cable back out when you move, and push the carpet back down against the tack strip. Don't let a cable jack limit your creative genius!

I would also recommend getting some curtains/drapes. That would definitely help take some of the focus off of those awful blinds! (Whoever thought those were a good idea?! Yech!) :)
I also like the rug idea -- and if you found something to color coordinate with the drapes, I think you could pull the room together well.

You've gotten a lot of good ideas in the comments. I think you need to look at books or magazines, and look at furniture, etc. in stores to get some ideas about what you LIKE. This room doesn't seem to have any personal detail at all to me. If you have to keep the exercise equipment, put a screen in front of it. But you'll have to find a screen you like. I think the most effective rooms are always the rooms that contain the things that people enjoy having around them.