Help me with my living room dilemma...

[sassytheFIRST]

3/4 of the way through a major refurb and now turning our thoughts to the living room. It is long and narrow ish (20ftx12), with a chimney and a door at one end, big windows at both ends.
We may move the door to half way along the room and will prob put a log burner in.

The main issue we have us that the room is not cosy and can feel a bit like a drs waiting room with furniture around the sides. Thought we'd solved it by bringing one sofa in at right angles to fireplace, thus dividing the room into tv area (with ottoman seat and bookcases at far end for a reading area - ponces ).

But our house is slightly lower than street level and having the sofa there does feel a bit like goldfish in a bowl (street is quiet, admittedly...) at a loss now.

Wondered about film on the bottom row of window panes? Dh suggested net curtains or voiles... We've thought about screening externally with tall bushes or willow fences under the window.

Well done if you've got this far and TIA for any ideas

Hmm - I'd go for u-shaped at one end of the room with rug(s) and tables to break up the 'lined against the walls' feeling, but with the open end of the U facing away from the window IYSWIM?
How about rather than fencing outside you go for some strategically placed planting (in pots) instead? Or you could go for either the film on windows or new, sandblasted, windows at the front.

Other end gets to stay as 'book-room'/snug with fireplace (and drinks cabinet). Moving the door will help too. What have you got on the walls at the moment?

[Studiously ignores the "net curtains" comment... ]

U shaped is our plan. Trouble is, the position of (a) chimney and (b) electrics means that the sofas need to face the front corner IYSWIM. Neither chimney nor electrics are now movable.

Plants in pots is VG idea however...< muses>

I have same shaped living room with chimney and the 2 large windows too. I've put 2 sofas in an L shape by the chimney which allows a room divider of sorts. Main living area to front and all DS toys behind the sofa (for timebeing, once extension complete I get that space back and plan on a snug with double doors to patio). Vertical blinds in house when we moved which I actually like as can slant them to allow light in but keep passers by from seeing in.

we have net curtains in our lounge bay window - they annoy me because i would so like to have the window just as a window BUT we have completely plain ones and don't have them bunched up loads so they are sort of just single flat thickness if that makes sense. We have bushes/hedges growing between garden and pavement so that helps but I equally don't want to be hemmed in and block the light out.

you can get the window films which are good, we have stained glass ones on our front door and they are frosted too and seem great but then that blocks your view out of the window. We avoided blinds due to small children and the expense with it being a big bay so were more complex than curtains.

a log burner will make it feel more cosy, a nice rug would help and perhaps a couple of throws. making a room look cosy is literally just a visual effect. the magazines seem to say that using different textures is the best way to do it so have a fluffyish rug, some furry or velvety cushions, furry or wool tartan blankets/throws etc.

Would shutters work instead of nets?