My living room has me stumped! Please help with layout suggestions

[DoingItUp]

Usually I don’t have any trouble knowing what to do with a room but despite living here 3 years, I still have no idea what to do with my living room. I hate spending time in there - the carpet (still) stinks of the previous owner’s dogs, it’s very cold in winter and I’m finding the layout tricky to work with. The house is on a hill so the living room is actually on the first floor at the back and the French doors at the side near the stairs, lead to a small verandah.

I plan to install bigger radiators, insulate the floor (cellar below with no ceiling) and square off the arch to install French doors to help keep the heat in. I’ve also considered putting in a faux fireplace to provide a focal point and an extra source of heat. The stairs are open so I’ve also wondered about using ceiling curtain tracks so it can be closed off with curtains but this would depend on the layout again!

The window is a triangular oriel window which I would like to change to a box oriel window seat but again not sure how to incorporate with the layout.

Heres a couple of photos from the listing and a rough floor plan. The room is 3.8m x 4.78m roughly and is currently open plan with the dining room. The red is the faux fireplace, yellow the window seat and green the sofas. Do you think either of these would work or do you have a better layout suggestion please?

I like the first layout with an L shaped sofa but I wouldn't bother with a fake fireplace.

Sorry, just re read the fire is for heat too. If you put it in the corner where would you put your tv?

I would hang the TV on the faux chimney breast above the fire. If I didn’t put a faux fireplace there, I’m not sure what would work in the space. I like the look of stand alone stoves but then there would be nowhere for a TV and I already avoid using the stove in the dining room for environmental reasons.

It is a bit awkward. I personally don't like tvs that high up.

We have ours wall mounted next to the fireplace with a freestanding wooden unit underneath. It's on an arm so we can angle it as needed.

We have a standard look for living rooms, we seem to recreate it wherever we live. Wooden floors, pale walls, big sofa, tv on wall.

Sorry I'm not much help! Hopefully someone more useful will come along.

Get rid of the dog smelling carpet.

Put down laminate or wood with a good quality thermal underlay.

That way you get three birds for one stone. A new floor, thermal insulation from the room below and doggy smell banished to hell.

I agree with @GasPanic re: getting rid of the previous owner's dog smelling carpet and replacing with wood or LVT etc flooring. Then you can add a nice big rug that extends under your sofa(s) which will add a further layer of warmth.

I'm not a fan of TVs or fireplaces in corners at an angle so that wouldn't be my choice. However I do like the idea of a faux fireplace and we have previously built faux chimney breasts at past houses. I don't like TVs above the fireplace though.

Before we opened up our living room into the adjacent extension (built by a previous owner) we had our TV in the recess next to the (working) chimney breast. It was wall mounted above an antique sideboard, but we found it a little high for comfortable viewing as it was a tall sideboard.

In our new set up we have the sofas - actually a 7' sofa plus loveseat - at the non-fireplace end, at right angles to each other with the big sofa facing a large window overlooking the garden. The new, larger TV is opposite the loveseat on a different, lower vintage sideboard. The loveseat is 'floating' in the middle of the two halves of the long room. It's not exactly ground breaking, but we're far happier with this than how it was previously.

If it wasn't for the huge window which takes up the full wall, we'd probably have built a faux fireplace on that wall, opposite the long sofa and maybe had a bioethanol stove in the opening.

can you get a biofuel stove to illuminate the environmental issues?

I’m absolutely desperate to decorate in here and remove the carpet but I have to decide on the layout first and get things like the door and window installed, radiators moving so it makes sense to get the chimney breast and window seating done at the same time. I also want to decide on sofas first so I can decorate around those.

I think the layout that works best for us would be the corner sofa but I’m also not sure on whether a corner fireplace would work. I was thinking a corner version of something like this in the pic but not necessarily industrial style and the seating bit would be longer and open up into the box window.

The more ‘traditional’ layout would be to have a square CB on the wall opposite the window and I could put a tv in one of the newly created alcoves which I’d prefer from a TV viewing angle. But that doesn’t feel like the best use of space and the big window would be behind you, meaning you’d have to climb over the sofa to get to the box window.

I guess there’s down sides to both layouts. I feel like I’m missing something that would work better than both these hence three years of indecision

I think you need to consider closing off the stairs. Heat rises and all the heat you are getting from your radiators will be going upstairs. I also agree that replacing flooring and using a thick underlay will make a huge difference.

There seems to be an opening onto the stairs so I would make a faux window there to help with heat retention.

My tu'pence worth!

Double down on the doors leading to the small veranda - by that I mean make that whole wall glass with central double French doors opening to the veranda. That becomes the focal point of the room - and work back from there into the room. Standing at (my 😀) glass wall, looking into the sitting room up to the dining room - loose the oriel and window seat. Have a well appointed window that is sized and placed to compliment the glass wall. Your sofa now goes here, now giving you a large "free" wall for the likes of fake fire, tv, etc.

Close off the stairs OR open them entirely and make a feature of them (but have a door at the top to keep heat in). If you open them entirely you could create a real sence of space with the glass window and visible stair.

Square off the arch into the dining room and put floor to ceiling wrap around book shelves with closed door storage underneath at hip height (xmas ornamnets, clutter etc).

Underfloor heat would make it incredibly cozy.

You have a lot to play with there - I would love to get stuck in! 😁

I also want to decide on sofas first so I can decorate around those.

This is not a great idea op. Work out the space then do your furniture. There is so much available for every space imaginable you will not get stuck.

Designing walls around sofas will be an expensive mistake.

*sense

I know what you’re saying @Yewtown but I would hate to close them off as it would alter the feel of the hallway which is really quirky. I had planned to put something in the opening, a fish tank would be my first choice but probably won’t work with the height.

Those are really interesting ideas @4plusthehound. I love the sound of a glass wall - unfortunately, that side of the house is a little overlooked by the neighbours so I intend to put up a fence around the veranda area but then the view might not be so good! I will definitely check whether the stairs can be opened up though, I think that will solve some of the problems with the end of the room feeling a bit like a hallway and will open the opposite corner for furniture. The storage ideas sound brilliant too! I just mean I don’t want to decide on colours and flooring before the sofas have been bought but obviously I can’t choose sofas before I’ve decided on the layout.

Was about to make some suggestions but not finding your plans very easy to work out.
Could you add door curtains in front of the openings to make it cosier in winter?
Emily Henderson (designer/stylist) has loads of good advice and examples of resolving tricky layouts
https://stylebyemilyhenderson.com/blog/the-5-go-to-no-fail-living-room-layout-configuration-options-to-make-the-most-out-of-your-space

If finding a space for your TV is an option you could look into having a pull down projector screen instead, which gives you a bit more choice with your layout.

Silly question maybe, but have you properly washed the carpet or is dog stink in the underlay too?

When we moved in, there was a faint smell of dog wee and when we took the carpet up to replace, one corner reeked. We had to get the smell out of the floorboards.

That link was really helpful, thanks @trickyex. I will have a play around to match those layouts although I noticed there wasn’t an option for a corner sofa - maybe the sectional layout covers that? I’ve considered a projector too but placement still might be an issue.

@Irequireausername I had them cleaned when I first moved in. The smell was so strong that I had migraines for the first week. Weirdly, I couldn’t smell the doggy smell when I viewed. The subfloor is chipboard so I think the whole thing will need replacing.

Projector under the window?
Do search the EH blog as there are loads of entries looking at living room issues. She is very practical/helpful.
If you can add a more clearly labelled plan I will take a look and maybe current photos?

https://stylebyemilyhenderson.com/blog/how-we-watch-tv-our-living-room-projector

This.

I had open stairs in a cottage sitting room, we had them boarded off with plaster board, curtain across the bottom opening. It made a huge difference.

Is it worth looking at putting in a ceiling in the cellar? With insulation? Not sure if it’s possible.

Underfloor heat would make it incredibly cozy

Might be tricky with the cellar underneath. The OP will need a lot of insulation under the heating system, otherwise she'll end up heating the cellar, not the sitting room.

I did wonder about the view.

we had that problem so we put one way glass and extra tall fencing that we planted. So it now looks quite lush even if the space is quite small.