decorating a rectangular livingroom - DIY Chatroom

elmn · 07-09-2009, 05:45 PM

I need help with placing the furniture in my livingroom. One wall is covered by a large window 8', a 3' entry way, and a 2.5' short wall. Another has the frontdoor which corners with window, coat closet, a short wall that hold a mounted big screen TV, and the entry way into the dinning room. The back wall is 20' long. The last wall is 13.5' long and the openning leads into the dinning room. I have a 7' couch, end tables, coffee table, two small chairs, an orential rug (8 by 10), and an entertainment center/fake fireplace that sits under the TV. Any of these things can move except the TV and entertainment center. Any ideas would be helpful.

gma2rjc · 07-09-2009, 09:20 PM

Got any pictures? That would make it a LOT easier for us to help you.

elmn · 07-13-2009, 04:45 PM

pictures.doc I have attached pictures. Let me know if you can not open the attachment.

elmn · 07-23-2009, 01:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by gma2rjc

Got any pictures? That would make it a LOT easier for us to help you.

I posted pictures for you to look at.

gma2rjc · 07-23-2009, 06:43 PM

It's hard to tell from the pictures. Sorry I'm not much help. Hopefully one of the people who do this for a living will see this thread.

calnelson · 07-29-2009, 05:08 PM

Hi there, wonder if you have chairs other than the rocker? It would help to have at least one more chunky chair to help balance the couch's visual weight. The rest of the chairs and tables are "open" and the room needs a little grounding. If you put a chair where the rocker is and pull it closer to the couch (maybe one chair on each side) it would define the conversation area more.

diy'er on LI · 08-12-2009, 11:39 PM

we also have a long and narrow living/dining room. I would guestimate that ours is 8' by 25'.... an extreme rectangle.

It's hard to tell from the pictures, but overall, your layout is similar to ours. we did a lot of careful planning to create seperate living zones in the room, and balance the weight of the furniture.

Our room is very modern, and has silver grey walls, and black/dark furniture with white carpeting. the furniture running along the long walls are all low profile and very long (a 4 seat couch on one side, and a 20"x 80" bookcase/TV table on the other). the visual weight of the big black couch is balanced by a maching loveseat under the window of the short wall. the sitting area is definied by a grey graphic rug that both couches sit on. In the dining area, the glass dining table is very narrow. It can expand to be long and seat 8, but most of the time is kept small. It has 8 matching aluminum chairs that being silver, visually don't take up much weight either.

I think our room looks more square becuase the matching love seat and couch trick the eye into thinking they're similar sizes. Is it possible to replace that rocker with a matching or complementary chair/loveseat to your couch? I would also put that chair on the same rug as the couch (right now, the rug is shifted somewhat away from the rocker...). that way, the rug defines your sitting area.

not sure what the white and green? rug is doing next to the rocker (in pic #3). If it's not defining a sitting / eating area, it should likely go somewhere else in the house. On that note, if it's a suitable size for the dining table, maybe put it under there so you better define the eating area?

hope this helps....

elmn · 08-25-2009, 12:13 PM

The rug looking thing by the rocker is a black and cream colored tiled entry way for the front door. This room does not contain a dinning area, this room is all living room. The dinning room is in another part of the house.

I was considering a larger arm chair to replace smaller rocker. Now I am wondering if I should not get a small table to go behind it. I just hate blocking the window.

Tsal · 08-30-2009, 09:59 PM

Hi Elmn,

By the looks of your room you have quite a bit of space. I would start with having the two arm chairs and your side table by the front window. That would make for one conversation grouping. It would take the entire focus off of the sofa and make a more comfortable space. Then I would move the sofa away from the wall a bit and center the rug so that it is between the two longer walls. It would still allow a walkway, but would not look like a thoroughfare. Next I would take down the smaller pictures from over the sofa and lower the larger one about 2 inches. I would also center the picture over the sofa. The smaller pictures I would group together in another space.
Have you thought about painting out the living room doors to match the paint?
Just my 2 cents worth. Take it or leave it. Tsal