Do you have a long Edwardian/Victorian living room?

[Lifejigsaw]

Hello, please can you help!

If you living in an Edwardian/victorian house with a long front room with no fireplace/chimney stack, how do you furnish it? If you’re happy to share pictures please do!

I can’t work out how to have nice bookshelves with no alcoves! This is my first house after years of being in a small flat so want to make it perfect!

For many years it seemed as if the other half of our long room was wasted space.
We had the living area, TV, sofas chairs at the one end where the large front window to the street was located.

At one point we had a dining table in the second half, by another large window, and that worked for a while, extra work for me ferrying plates and food back and forth from the kitchen, as I had recently sacked the parlour maid :)
We had wondered if originally it was always meant to be a dining area.

In time an antique sideboard with large wall mirror replaced the dining room set.
We had a long bookcase attached to the wall which was useful for the DC's books as well as our own.
The room still looked quite empty even with plants, mirrors, and two large windows.

Finally, my DH separated the room in half by putting up a wall with a near ceiling to floor double door that could be opened when needed between the two rooms, which has been very nice at times to give a larger feel.

He installed near ceiling to floor wall cabinets with very large drawers, on the other side of the living area, along the entire length of the new dividing wall, to accommodate a lot of stuff!

Now the TV / sitting area is much cosier, not to mention warmer, and the second portion of the room which was supposed to be a sitting area for one of the DS's, became instead a room for his piano, three guitars, and a table with 2 sewing machines, lots of light with two large windows,and overall, we are much happier with it being two rooms.

Thanks @repeatingabaselessclaim, I’d love to have a small cosy sitting and considered splitting the room, but there would be no light to the far end as there are no windows. A shame as I really want a corner sofa which would be easier if the wall was back in between!

I will need a dining table as the kitchen is long and thin with only a space for a 2 seater down the end.

At the moment I think I either need to put some shelves in the alcove (around a radiator there) and then having a dining table, then side board/drinks trolley, seating area. Or put the sideboard in the alcove, then use a freestanding bookcase to split the the room almost. Something beautiful that would look nice from both sides. But I’m not convinced.

what do you think of these?

I would try putting the dining table in front of the window. A big round table would work well there, but try it with your existing table to make sure you like the layout before buying a new one, since rectangular would be better if you keep your dining area at the back. The main problem is the walk to the kitchen, but I don't think it's too bad.

You actually need less light for the living/TV area, so having that at the back would be OK. I'd probably put a huge showy mirror in the alcove, to increase the light that does get there. You could have your corner sofa, another chair or sofa, and then put the TV on the wall against the stairs. Having it at the back means you don't have the hallway door in the middle of your living area, which would feel less cosy/a bit unsettling.

Once you've tried it and decided you like it, I'd consider putting in a very wide archway between the 2 areas, just a bit behind the door ie giving more space to the living area. Not really separating it into 2 rooms: maybe just 70cm wall on either side, and 50cm at the top. I wouldn't put in doors, it's just to give a bit more visual separation.

Thanks @nordicwannabe, I also like the idea of the dining table in the window. Where would you put bookcases in that scenario as that’s my big issue.

sadly the table will stay rectangular either way as I have a beautiful expensive table already!

I would go for a corner sofa and use it for room division with a sideboard on the other side. I'd keep the living room next to the window for ease when using the dining table and personally natural light in the living room is more important for me. I can visualise a nice piece of art on the wall behind the sofa with a downlighter highlighting it and adding cosy light at night.

I'd have a big table lamp on the sideboard and a nick nack or two. Then I'd have dining behind. Opposite the table I'd have bookcases (in the land where we all have unlimited money I'd go for built in with drawers or deep cupboard at the bottom and then glass fronted cabinets above with lighting inside for a variety of books and nick nacks).

Maybe a little chair in the bay on the opposite side to the sofa.

Forgot to add image...

I have one of these living rooms and I have not found the answer. My best advise is to zone more clearly. Not sure what the middle piece of furniture in your diagram is but you need to make it part of the TV area OR the dining area not both. Try and create two square zones.

Use rugs.

My built in bookshelves are all along one wall on one side of the door. (so on the right hand wall by the dining table in your diagram) and that helps create a 'library/study' zone.

Agree that the TV area should be on the dark side, not the window side but I can see that's an issue with the proximity to the kitchen plus I then suspect you'll have passersby watching you eat.

Homes and Gardens always has handy listicles for these sorts of problems.

Yes! In the time it took to type my post you nailed it.

I totally agree with using the corner sofa for room division with a sideboard behind it. We have a similar room and realistically one end of it feels a bit wasted and is currently just DDs' toys and space to play. We had the dining table there temporarily when we were redecorating our dining room and that worked better.

We have a huge rug in the seating half of the room and a two seater armchair/snuggler in the bay window which works well.

You could put your bookcase beside the TV in the living room. Or alternatively in the dining area, if your table isn't too big.

How big are your bookcases if you already have them, and what are the dimensions of your table? Also how big is your TV/ how far from it do you like to be?

Build or buy a fake fireplace and chimney and install bookshelves on either side.