Difficult living room. Help!

[Mrscog]

Ok, So everything in our new house is brilliant, except the living room. We always knew it was the compromise, but now it's getting me down and we have some money ready to improve it, so I'd like to get cracking.

I've attached some pics (excuse the mess).

The challenges are - it's long and narrow - 7mx 3.3m. It's completely north facing, with the only possibility of light coming from the patio doors. I hate hate hate the brick fireplace (and there is probably scope to rip it out, although it will need building work and the chimney above dismantling (the fireplace is part of a single storey extension).

Another constraint is that DH will not consider having a TV in a corner, so in the final seating arrangement, it will have to be possible for at least 1 person to sit directly opposite the TV.

Most other things are up for change - all decor, furniture (we've never bought living room furniture before, everything you can see was free when we moved in together (although not all the toys). We are also going to change the patio doors as they loose tons of heat and we hate them anyway.

The room will need to house living room TV type area, and toys, and the piano.

What would you do with this space? colour? furniture style? layout?

I would move the living area to the end by the patio doors for starters. Paint the brick work for now to lighten things up - there are some threads in home decorating about paint washing brick fireplaces. Take the curtains and funny draped bit across the top down and put some lighter coloured ones up. Get some lamps to improve lighting - could be standard lamps or table lamps or a mix and consider some wall lights.

Do you have a dining room or do you eat in the kitchen? If you would like a more formal dining area, you could have a dining table and chairs at one end of the room. If that's not practical now, maybe once the children are older.

I'd wondered about that wowfudge, I'm contemplating a corner sofa on the left hand side of the door end, with the TV opposite. Hadn't thought of wall lights either, but now is a good time to think about lighting as we're having electrics done soon.

No dining needed, have a lovely kitchen diner (which makes up for the dreary living room!).

Get the fireplace skimmed and paint it in with the other walls and put up a big mirror The TV is very large I would get a smaller one and put it on a low table/stand.

Is the door into the room on the wall opposite the french windows?

Is the other part of the fireplace a wood store? Is it possible to get rid of that?

Was it originally two rooms? Is the fireplace central or off-centre? Does it work?

7m is very long. I was thinking you could zone the room in some way but if the fireplace is central it might not be so easy.

Mirror on fireplace (if we keep it) is a great idea noddy, hadn't thought of that one.

Unfortunately reducing size of TV not negotiable with DH - he is a film and cinematography nut. Maybe one day we'll be able to afford a house with room for a TV room and living room :D

ToBee yep - the door in is opposite - where I took the pics from.

bryte yes, it's a wood store, and even if we keep the rest of the fireplace I think it's days are numbered.

SwedishEdith yes it's central - it was originally a very small room - where there's the beam is the old back wall and the rest is a single storey extension. I personally don't think the fireplace works -it makes the centre of the room even narrower, and sucks more light out of the room somehow. We'll definitely paint it if it stays, but I'm really contemplating getting a quote to have it removed - we don't want open fires anyway.

What kind of colour would people go for in this kind of space? I'm thinking a warm white with bright shades of colour on blinds/lamps/cushions etc. Very neutral carpet?

Also, the pillar of bricks on the left hand wall is not structural, merely 'decorative' (lol), and can just be removed (the bricks are glued on!!), which will help!

The room is very long and could be divided into 2 segments. I'd have neutral hard wearing carpet throughout and a L shaped sofa viewing the TV area. I'd do away with all wall stuff (bricks, cabinets) because (have viewed lots of homes) the only way folk seem to get away with having a massive tv mounted on wall, is to not clutter the rest of the area up. A nice low handmade type wooden coffee table for mugs etc between sofa and TV wall would back it up nicely. You see some lovely custom made natural chunky wooden tables on Pinterest and ebay.

Getting rid of the bricks by fireplace is a good idea. What are your thoughts of installing a burner? This could be the feature in the 'second half' of the living room. Not sure what else tbh.

Liking your thoughts hex. In an ideal world I wouldn't be having the screen on the wall either but it's DHs passion, so the advice about keeping it uncluttered is v useful. Luckily he doesn't have loads of additional gadgets to house with it, so that's a blessing! The more I sit and look at it the more I think the fireplace has to go. The other part of the room can then have the piano in it and for the time being (we're still in the thick of the preschool years as dc1 is 2.10 and I'm 27 weeks pg with dc2) a play area with toy storage. As long as the 'lounging' part looks nice and the toys can go away when we have guests then I can be flexible for the time being. As I said, we have a lovely kitchen dining space which makes this room less important really.

The fireplace smokes, it does not draw correctly. I would get rid of it too. The TV is too high. It should be at eye level when you are seated. Some people put them above a fireplace, but that is too high. Decorators do that on TV!

There is a chandelier near the door. Maybe that was meant for a dining area? I would replace it with a fan and light.

A mirror can be used opposite a window to reflect some light back into room. If you get rid of fireplace, could there be a window there??

I'm not sure what you have, but I like French doors.

My DH made some terrific storage boxes. 14" square boxes or 28" x 14". Painted a light sage color. Maybe a dozen in total. My DH says three pieces of plywood's worth! That is 4' x 8' in U.S. He used 3/4" plywood for sides and 1/4" for backs. They can be arranged many different ways. We have one upright. The whole thing is L shaped for us. It's just a very flexible thing. We mostly have books on ours. I'll take a picture and try to post it. You have a lot of toys looking for a home.

Here are the boxes we have. 12" deep.

Mrscog, I think you're right about the fireplace - in this long room it's all you really see. If the only heating sources in there is your rad, is that enough?

You'd definitely get away with having a toddler/young child space if you sectioned off the TV part of your lounge. An L shaped sofa is definitely the way to go, and do away with the unit underneath the TV. You could then lower the tv if need be. What's the wall like where you've taken the picture from (am assuming the wall housing the doorway to that room)? Any shelves or alcoves?

Neutral and different textures all the way. Seagrass carpets are extremely tough and long lasting and bring some life to a neutral floor that softer carpets don't. Clever shelving and lowlights attached to these shelves bring mood and intimacy to a long room. Are you a member of Pinterest? Some gorgeous ideas on there. You can add splashes of colour with artwork, soft furnishings etc.

Going back to the other part of your lounge - some clever storage ideas and comfy seating and a low table will be a good place for your LO's to potter. Again, Pinterest is brimming with ideas.

You have a few options for the patio doors but either way, the best curtains Ive ever seen are again a natural hessian type fabric, made to measure from any good fabric shop. Tue them back with rope like tie backs and they frame a window/french window beautifully.

Lose the fireplace
Make the seating down near the windows - cosy arrangement?
Piano and toys back near the door in.
I'd make the patio doors into French windows.

We've done similar.

Make sure you post after pics..

Could you have the brick fireplace removed without knocking the whole thing down? We had a huge brick monstrosity but replaced it with a much smaller limestone fireplace and hearth for around £500. Re TV, you could run a low bench along the long wall and put it on there if sticking it on the wall doesn't suit. I can see the corner sofa thing working if you decide that's the right end for the tv.

Re toy storage, the usual thing is to shove as much up against the walls as possible to max the floor area. However here it would make the room even narrower, and you can't very well use expedit etc sticking out as a room divider, as it would cut out the light. How about defining a toy area with something like this www.ikeahackers.net/2011/08/rolling-play-table-for-busy-kids.html where you might put a dining table? Maybe add a tub chair or 2 in corners, and a bookcase along the wall? It would define the space and break up the 'long and thin'ness without taking away the light.

What period is your house? I'm going to go against the grain, but I think rooms without fireplaces can look a bit box-y. I think once the funny side bits go, if you skim it & paint it, get a nice mantelpiece & mirror it could look really nice. There are some gorgeous tiles out there too and you could really make a feature of it, with lovely sofas at that end. I wonder if corner sofas are going to date soon? They are lovely and cosy but coupled with that huge telly seem a bit bachelor paddish to me, but I'm a bit of a traditionalist. I like the idea of seagrass carpets, think I might steal that one. I would then have the end away from the patio doors as more of a playroom with piano & lots of built in storage.

speaking from experience ask your dh where he wants tv and speakers.

if he's the same as my dh then there is an optimum position for these things, and in some cases what is aesthetically pleasing is not acoustically pleasing

some of you may go nuts suggesting that a room is based around the telly and speakers, but like your dh, this is my dh's passion. listening to music and watching a film is a joy precisely because of where everything is placed.

although if he starts talking about improving the acoustics by adding sound absorbing panels to the corners of the room step away, far away. that's just the beginning of a long slippery slope

Ha your is like my room. I have started a similar thread!

If it was my room, I would remove all those bricks from the fireplace but I love a natural fire. We dont use ours much but they are great. Something like pic 1 would be lovely. I would replace those sliding patio doors with french door that open out into that garden. No way would I have that room carpeted. Wooded floors all the way. Walk in and out of the room in the summer. Oak Flooring. Set the TV on something like this. Dont wall mount. Id buy it white to keep the room light. Speakers either side, can hold AMP SKY DVD and CONSOLE, wires under wooded floor to the door, speakers either side of the main sofa for perfect surround sound. ( Just like my room )

Paint colour, no idea as I am struggling myself. It will look great at the bottom end but dark at the top end. The room wouldnt cost that much to paint compared to wallpaper so Id be tempted with F&B pavillion gray. Looks great with white doors, skirting white furniture etc,

I like that TV stand a lot Paul 090971! And the fireplace. Hadn't really considered a hard floor, but that might work well actually. I could have a rug for the winter I suppose to keep it cosy.

we have to know, what is wrong with having a tv in the corner?

Fireplace has to go and I think it is important to keep the separate parts of the room so a corner sofa would work well. Nice and light on the colours and lots of free standing lighting so you can light it attractively.

I don't mind the look of a TV in the corner sherbert but DH says it makes the surround sound less effective...

Still working at the moment, but when I get a min I'm going to sketch some ideas out :)

I'd paint the brickwork too. Here is a good blog for ideas on colour.
www.mariakillam.com/category/top-10-posts/

HTH

We have a not dissimilar room. We replaced the fireplace with a hole-in-the-wall gas fire so that helps to make the room feel a bit wider. Except when there's a fireguard in front of it half the year Would agree with swapping the room around so you get a nice view of the garden from where you sit and you can play away from the patio door drafts.