Help... awful lounge

[LiesLiesLiesLies]

I need the leather couches to stay. I hate curtains but these patio doors face the TV so hard to see TV unless dark outside. So need curtains but what colour? Hate the bookshelves but very useful. Should I paint them or remove? Also need to change the rug. Any ideas would be fab please?

Agree with previous poster - is that Isamu Noguchi coffee table an original Vitra, OP?

Did you pay £2,000 for it or is it a £300 knock off (like I have).

If it’s an original, I’d be planning the entire room around it and selling the sofas.

It's a beautiful room!

I'd also be either painting or removing the shelves and seeing about moving the furniture to face the lovely windows. Is there really no way to create passage space behind the furniture if you faced it the other way? If you do paint the shelves then you can dress them nicely.

Sorry, I meant the white rug, not carpet, don't know where carpet came from.

Get rid of the bookcases , don't paint them !

I'd paint the bookcases and the window surrounds to lighten things up. It's a lovely room. If you chose curtains in a light to medium weight fabric you could pull them right back when open so they don't encroach on the windows much. A dark, rich colour will help with blocking the light. I think it's a room that lends itself to a warm, cosy colour scheme so I agree with the pp who said the pale rug isn't right.

This is the room from the other direction. Building Work in progress so the Piano isn’t usually there. Planning on putting old style radiator there as hate the boxed in one under the TV! The cream wardrobe dresser isn’t usually there either & will be moved after building work. Behind the dresser is the door to the playroom. The thoroughfare is in front of the TV.
Yes, the bookcases are built-in with zero space left around the windows.
I think you are all correct about keeping the look warm & cosy.

The printer table won’t be there either!
I’m now thinking we remove the bookcases. They’re very ugly in RL and with them gone we’d be able to put a little table on the corner and bring the lonely sofa more into the room. Plus add some curtains that can be pulled back into the spaces where bookcases were.

I think the position of the TV is throwing the room out tbh - I'd group the furniture around the fireplace and put the TV on a piece of furniture in one of the alcoves. I hate radiator covers and have chucked a few out since we moved into our house.

Now you've posted some more photos, I can't quite work out whether your room leads to somewhere, apart from out to the garden, or is at one end of the house?

Lovely room!
I'd be inclined to paint the book cSes or get rid if you don't need the storage

I have white curtains with grey and black outline peony and when closed they still let loads of light in but they're lined so work well as curtains in the evening

I'd get a huge rug and for the price that other rug doesn't look that 'expensive' so I'd probably keep
Looking for a rug unless you're loving it loads!
I saw a stripe Paul Smith rug in my local carpet shop a couple of years ago it was bloody gorgeous!

I agree wowfudge - the TV wiring is on the wall so we had no options. I can see why it’s wired for there though. The sofas would not fit in front of the fireplace unfortunately as the room is longer than wide. The only way to arrangevthe furniture is pretty much as it is. The ‘alcoves’ either side if the fireplace aren’t alcoves - one is a door to the playroom (blocked by dresser whilst building work) and other ‘alcove’ has radiator with window above.
I was thinking of changing the colour scheme but I think cosy is good. Just need to make it more cohesive! And bin the bookcases!!!

Now googling Paul Smith rugs!

Ouch! Didn’t really want to spend £2k on a rug. They are cool though. Our current rug is fine I’m just bored of it as probably had it around 15 years!! But never in our lounge.

Ouch that's quite pricey .... ignore me

I bought a rug about 1.6 meters long for 250 and was a bit eeekkk about that!

I would put the TV on a unit in front of the radiator to the left of the fireplace. I'd put one sofa facing the windows with the route to the playroom behind it. The other sofa I'd put at right angles to the first facing the fireplace. I'd put the armchair further into the room facing the telly in its new position.

On the wall facing the fireplace a console table with a large mirror above it will help reflect light around the room and balance things out.

What I mean is I'd pull the furniture into the centre of the room.

Thanks wowfudge the room isn’t wide enough to do that unfortunately. My photos make it look a lot bigger than it is. Plus would it be weird to have a window & radiator behind the TV?

Can you not get a sofa across the room in front of the fireplace? And another along the side in a sort of L shape?

A pp is right the tv location is throwing the room off as there are two focal points - the tv and the fireplace.

I don't think it's weird to have a sofa facing the window- I think it's stranger having the sofa facing away from the window personally. When the TV is off everyone is just facing the wall (like when you've guests round) I'd put the tv in the corner between the fire and window. I'd want sofas facing the window, fire and then tv.

I'm an expert in arranging furniture in rooms with lots of doors / passageways. It does depend on how much money you want to spend but your services ie wiring and heating are in the wrong place which is limiting the layout of this beautiful room.

Stop stressing about wiring, if this is a forever home then get an electrician to rewire and stick a picture on wall where tv used to be. It will be easy to put wiring in one of the alcoves as they are external walls.

Heating is a bit more work but how about a tall radiator vertical further along the back wall so same high output but less floor space. And an additional rad on rear wall where opening is. Again, this isn't ridiculous money.

Then largest sofa on rear wall looking out to windows, smaller sofa pulled forward and tv in alcove. If there is a window above alcove I'd be tempted to brick in.

You'd prob get change from £1.5-2k for this.

Could look gorgeous.

Do you need the bookcases for storage rather than display? You could do an entire wall of curtains, which would be drawn back in front of the bookcases when opened so not taking any more light from the room. You then slide the curtains along when you want to access the shelving. Also the 'up/down' blinds on the doors themselves to shade TV as needed. Ps amazing space, am suitably jealous. Colour wise I'd go for muted creams and greys with sage and green accents, plantation style if you know what I mean. Crikey that's long! Hth

Rug widthways in front of fireplace
Big sofa facing fireplace
Move TV to right of fireplace
Keep Chair where it is
Bookcases and second sofa to playroom

It will make it look more roomlike and less thoroughfare.

Can you try it that way so we can see what it's like?

I think it very much depends on what kind of style you're aiming for in the finished look and how much you want to spend? Is it your only living room, apart from the play room? Is it going to be used at all times of day or mainly evenings?

I'd go for a Colonial style with adjustable shutters covering the windows and as I like the bookcases and radiator covers, I'd paint them in with the colour of the walls. I'd second a pp and go for a good depth of colour in a sage type green or greyish blue.

I'd try the sofas in an L shape close in to the fireplace with a rug and a trunk as a coffee table, using your existing coffee table as a lamp and books table in one of the corners perhaps. For the time being could the piano go underneath the large picture on the wall where you currently have a sofa and maybe lose the chair to another location.

You'd also need to leave the furniture in its new locations for a week or so to see if you like it, give the new layout a chance so to speak.

New colours, cushions and lamps would really revitalise the room, it's a lovely space.

Definitely ditch the bookshelves as they will prevent a decent curtain. I also would never have a blind on a French door- looks weird IMO. The bookshelf should go where the closet is with the speakers squashed in. That corner is all wrong sorry.
The rad cover would annoy me. I'd be inclined to get a plain flat panel rad and paint it in.

pumpingRSI your diagram is great but our room has a door by the side of the fire leading to the playroom. Where you’ve put the TV is another window with a radiator beneath.

mariannere the closet is temporary! Don’t worry. We’re having building work done - it’s currently blocking the door to the playroom. Of course the corner won’t be like that

RSI You'd prob get change from £1.5-2k for this - I think it’d cost a fortune to take up the oak floor, re-route pipes, reposition radiators and re-lay oak floor. Especially where we live. But the radiator under the window could be removed completely and perhaps the other one made larger. Love the room you posted btw!
The downside to the sofas facing the fire and patio doors is that from the main entrance, kitchen & other rooms the first thing you’d see is the back of a sofa !
Someone suggested just one sofa. We’ve a big family and need all the seating.
I do get all your points about the sofas needing to face the patio doors and I’ll see if there’s space tomorrow and post photo.
I was initially asking about painting or removing the bookcases and I’ve now definitely decided to remove them. So that’s one decision made.