apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

hmm. this is tough. how about placing a sectional sofa place against the wall and facing the wide entrance, so that one arm of the sectional faces the fireplace- create a cozy place to hang in front of it, without blocking the paths.

I have a similar problem in my home. I finally moved everything away from the walls, centered the rug in the room and then arranged the furniture around the rug. I think your sofa should go just opposite that main entrance, in front of the large window, but with enough room to walk behind. Then arrange the chairs, tables near the sofa to form a conversation group. You could place a desk below the window where the sofa is now, and maybe a single chair by the smaller door opposite the fireplace.

Could you place your sofa parallel to the fireplace? And then maybe do side tables or a console table instead of a coffee table?

Alternatively, you could put your wingback chair and maybe another one like it (or similar) facing the fireplace, with a small table between them.

Then again, you could always leave your living room space as is and put a chic round dining table in front of the fireplace. Maybe glass? Or if not, maybe with visually slim chairs -- no big chunky things? Sort of a small cozy dining spot. Perhaps with a chandelier? You could even ceiling-mount a rod perpendicular to the end of the window (at the end opposite the fireplace) and make a little room division. Not the whole width of the room -- just one panel wide, just to suggest a division.

This is TOUGH. Good luck -- and let us see pictures of how you solved the dilemma!

do you already have a dining area? how about purchasing a rug, two club chairs, and a small table to put in front of the fireplace? you'll have two seating areas, which can be kind of nice.

Sorry not to help... but where is your rug from?

another thought is to put a dining area in front of the fireplace, at an angle. A rug, rectangular dining table w/extension, pendant or chandelier, and some chairs.

Slide your rug in front of the fire place at the same angle as the fire place, then start placing your furniture around the rug. Things should just fall in place. Put your white table on the other side of the room where all the other furniture is.

Love what you already have! My suggestions have already been made--try an angled living area facing the fireplace; try a sitting area around the fireplace in addtion to the main area where your furniture currently is. In the latter approach, please do not buy two matching club chairs! Does your room look like you're a matchy-matchy person? No, it doesn't. Try the clubchair you have on one side and something much lower on the othrr side of the fireplace to balance it--an ottoman or an Eames chair, or Eame stools....

Oh I really like the idea of a dining table parallel to the fireplace! I am seeing a rectangular reclaimed wood table with light chairs (acrylic?) on one side and a long bench on the other. And to the person about the rug - I think I remember seeing that rug at Pottery Barn or West Elm a while back...I can't find it at either site anymore though.

Do you need the room to function as both a living and dining room, or ca it be just a living room?

I would find a very long sofa -- something along the lines of Montauk's Tufted, Montgomery, Wingback, Emmanuelle, or Catherine:

http://www.montauksofa.com/

Or the Naviglio by Seven Salotti

http://www.leighharmer.co.uk/Seven---Naviglio-Sofa-by-Seven/indexcpzz673p.asp

Centre this sofa under the window wall (away from the wall and the radiator), centred as well on a large area rug. Position 2 club chairs or side chairs perpendicular to the sofa on the long end of the room.

The long end of the room would look wonderful with built-in bookcases and cabinets -- that is, under the windows, and on both walls. Then you could have an interesting table serving as a desk so that the whole area becomes a sort of library/office. Your IKEA units and the 2 drawer units are too small for the space, and are cluttering it up -- a large, built-in solution would be best.

One way to integrate the fireplace even more with the sofa seating area would be to install fireplace fenders -- it provides additional narrow seating which would not impede your traffic flow. Here is an idea of a model that would suit your space:

(the brushed steel with pale grey suede model on the far left -- doubleclick to enlarge):

http://www.norfolkfenderseats.co.uk/brushed.html

The flow into the next room would be improved without the console table blocking the entryway... is that another living area or dining room?

I have a similar problem, corner fireplace, with plans to tear it out and put a new fireplace on a straight wall. In the meantime I've tried two things: one, placing wing chairs on either side that could face each other (or turn to face the other seating in the room); two, ignored it altogether. In my case it was best to ignore the fireplace completely, in terms of my furniture arrangement, since the fireplace directly faces the entry door.

I would either create a 2nd smaller sitting area with a fluffy flokati rug 2 slipper chiars or a chaise. Or, I would create a nice romantic dining area infront of the fireplace & I'd hang a chandelier above the table to define the space.

sorry--2 slipper CHAIRS

My husband and I have a similar room in our basement. Placing furniture where it will be used without blocking doorways is difficult. We have the couch in the middle, facing both the fireplace and a tv on an adjacent wall. On the other (narrow) walls, we have some decorative shelving.

I like Daffodil's and kahlil's suggestions. A small bistro table and matching chairs will be easy to move around, and won't take up too much space visually. In the other half of the room, move your furniture out of the square formation - it makes the fireplace seem even more out of place.

The rug is from Pottery Barn (Moorish Tile rug), but I believe it's discontinued.

http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/chicago/rugs-carpets/pottery-barn-moorish-tile-rug-046156

Option 1: put the wing chair where the tall cabinet is - across from fireplace. Flip the rug so it goes length of room, pull it out to center-ish. Pull sofa a 3 or so feet out from wall. Center Expedits on their respective walls, or get rid of one altogether and put the stadium seat and perhaps small dress on other wall.

try that...

Option 2: put the sofa in front of the radiator with rug under it, the wing chair in the corner by the window, again, remove and expedit, as the 2 make that look like an alley and really take over the room.

Option 3: still pull it all out from the wall and declutter the stuff around the expedits, and put 2 chairs and small table and small rug in front of radiator as a separate nook.

removal of green things on mantel will help, too, since that color is not picked up back in room...perhaps that collection can be better arranged on expedits and art can tie the color into the whole room. Or curtains. Curtains will help you a lot...

I have this same problem, btw, and I went with option 3. Area there has to be uncluttered due to limitations on wall and floor space, so larger area away from fireplace has to be kept sparse, too, to keep the balance.

I used to live in an old house with this exact problem. Turns out it was an old parish house and the room is set up like this because this is the room they used to have wakes in (back when the body was on ice and they wanted the fire as far away as possible).

Our living room oblong and so we set the TV in the opposite corner from the fireplace. We then set 2 couches back to back in the center of the room. One couch and chair set faced the fireplace, and the other faced the TV. It was a very odd set up but it worked for my roomates and I.

This room calls for two sitting areas:

First is the one that you have at the end of the room: Sofa w/ two lounge chairs on either side around a coffee table.

At the fireplace, place your wing chair and get another wing chair or a Lolling Chair with a footstool in between facing one another in front of the hearth.

Q: Why is there a big white credenza blocking the entrance to your dining room?

A sectional consisting of one "loveseat" section and one "chaise lounge" section - e.g. the Ikea Kramfors or similar.

Put the "loveseat" section at right angles to the window, facing the fireplace. Along the back, a sofa/console table to face the other seating area.

The "chaise" section at right angles to it, the narrow end pointed at the narrow doorway. This leaves extra space to walk through that door and around the sofa.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/32509456@N03/4340559679/ shows one layout with the dimensions you've given.

If you can, I would widen the doorway to hall. It would make things seem more balanced and let you put furniture slightly blocking it.

Second, move the rug angled to the fireplace and put the couch on it. behind the couch put the pedestal table and put some plants on it.

Third, get a big round rug and put it where the other rug was. Put the armchair on it, angled toward the room. Add another armchair and a coffee table. This is now a reading corner.

Add curtains. The same long curtains to both sets of windows to tie things together. NOT brown. You seem to have pops of blue around the space so I would go with that.

The Expedits are very wide and heavy looking, I would replace them with less deep bookshelves. White like the table might look good.

Also, use some more vertical elements to accent your lovely high ceilings, like a tall vase filled with reeds by the fireplace on the dining room side.

I can't believe it... I have this near exact layout with the two doors and the corner fireplace! And, I have the exact same problem, no layout seems to really work. I am really looking forward to all the suggestions here.

Why not put the table right in front of the fireplace? It looks small enough to not fully block the entrances. Then you can just walk around the table instead of right in front of the fireplace.

OR

Bring your sofa out to where the armchair currently is. You can have it straight or angle to create more walkthrough space. Put the bench chairs in front of the radiator (?) about where the table currently is. Then move the large armchair by the fireplace near the large doorway at a slight angle. There will be space to walk through the furniture, and the chair won't block too much of the large doorway. Then put the table behind the sofa in front of the other windows.

First and foremost I would cover the fireplace with a fireplace screen as the darkness of the firebox contrasts too much with the lightness of the rest of the room. There are some beautiful decorative screens out there, although a solid white screen may work best in this space.

Also, the small areas between the fireplace and the two doorways would be a great spot to put a couple of artfully placed tall indoor plants.

Good luck!

I'm thinking leave the living room as it is and place a round dinig table with chairs in front of the fp.

I feel grouchy, because the problem you have... I wish I had it! What a gorgeous room!

There's too much big dark stuff down at the one end. With the 2 enormous square shelves, it looks like a retail store that sells accessories down there.

I know this won't be popular or even possible, but can you just remove the doorway/close up the wall? I'm not sure of the overall layout of the house, but that doorway seems more of a problem than the fireplace. Otherwise, I think djs' suggestion of two club chairs would work well. I do like your house/decor - very nice. Good luck!

I think this room should just be a dining room. Get a large antique formal dining table and chairs for ten, and place it about in the center of the room. Towards the back window, you could have a side board and shelves to display any ceramics you have. That way it would look less cluttered, and it would take advantage of the length of the room. Get a large rug to go under the table.

I think either a round or an angled rug in front of the fireplace would make a lot of difference. I'd leave a clear path running from the outside edge of the smaller doorway to at least the middle of the wider arch, and not put any furniture in that aisle. I think placing one wing chair facing the fire place with a small side table would be cozy. Then just treat the rest of the room like a second space, maybe using a sofa with it's back to the wing chair as a divider.

I would basically swap the couch for the small white table. Create a sitting area around the fireplace, the wingback and chairs/bench can stay where they are but angled toward the new sitting area. Then the space in front of the window can house a table, either the small white one with the bookcases as they are (as a library table). Or it could function more as a dining room, depending on space/ size of table.

I would put an L-shaped sectional couch facing the fireplace, with the long side under the triple window, and the short side extending into the room. Then make the area behind the short side of the couch the dining area.

If you don't want a sectional, you could do the same thing by using a normal couch as the "long side" under the windows and a loveseat as the "short side extending into the room.

One of the reasons the room looks off-balance is there is a lot of dark furniture crammed on one side and white on the other side. I'd paint the fireplace and the angled wall an interesting color and make it a focal point with some pop and interest. The white paint isn't cutting it nor does it 'disappear'. Add some artwork to coordinate, a fireside chair with a small table & lamp cemented with an area rug parallel to the fireplace. Other options are move your dining area here with a circular table for easier flow thru the room. Lose some furniture in the rest of the room - do you need 2 Expedits? Add some floor length curtains, even if they're not functional (just for show at the sides) with some pattern that uses the color on the fireplace. Cozy it up!

It looks like a lovely house - congrats on your first home!