Small & Awkward shaped living room

[ConveyancingHelll]

We’re thinking of buying a place that has great space in kitchen/dining room and upstairs. But we want a separate living room (currently kitchen/diner doubles as a living room. ‘Bedroom 2’ is the only other ground floor room.

But it’s an awkward shape as shown in the image. We’d ideally like to open up the fireplace as a feature and hang the TV over the mantle. But I just can’t envisage how I’d configure the room. There doesn’t seem to be any way to get adequate seating in there in a way that would be conducive to facing the fire and TV is there?

Any ideas about configuration?

Not sure if the wall that the door is in is load bearing or not but have also thought about knocking that wall to provide a bit more flexibility. I’m not wild about walking straight from outside into the living room though.

Welcome any ideas! It’s really the only downside of the property.

Change the door to a sliding door or pocket door perhaps. Take out the cupboard at the side of the fireplace and see if you can open up the area under the stairs too, see if you can get that area big enough for a sofa or a cuddler. You certainly aren't going to be able to fit in a huge sofa but theres enough space for a couple of small sofas and maybe an armchair. So hopefully one in the under stair nook wall, one on the door wall and potentially a small armchair in the bay window.

I wouldn't have the TV above the fireplace though. I'd be putting it in the corner by the window, diagonally opposite the door and on an angle into the middle of the room. So then it can be seen from the majority of the room.

I don't think taking out the wall gives you more flexibility, you still need a path to the back of the house so it wouldn't solve any furniture placement issues.

I would knock out thw cupboard and the understairs bit, then you could have a sofa in that wall and one facing the fireplace.

Agree with pp though. Tvs above fireplaces are too high. Have it at the side instead.

Thanks for responses. Knocking out the understairs cupboard could be a good idea, but I worry that having a couch in there could feel quite cramped?

One thing I've been wondering - how do people think it could look if I installed a built in TV cabinet under the stairs, maybe incorporating some shelves in the alcove, so that the TV could sit in that corner - with a couch placed against the window.

It would need to go for 'snug' vibes. I don't think we'd get another armchair in with that layout but that could be OK if we have a full size couch.

I think a built-in TV cabinet under the stairs in place of the existing cupboards might work. I'd prefer that to putting a sofa there...or the TV over the fireplace.

I definitely think a pocket or sliding door into the room would improve your sofa/space options.

What are measurements AB&C in the image I am uploading?

I don't have exact figures yet - to eyeball though, A is about 2 metres, B is about 2 to 2.5 metres. C is about 1.5 metres.

Realistically then only a 180-200 cm sofa on one wall and either a snuggler on the window or two compact chairs. Unit/ cupboard in the corner could be knocked out and a low cupboard and shelves above custom made to fit a tv that swings out on a bracket. Keep a couple of fold up chairs under stairs, or a beanbag/ floor cushion. Also have a compact footstool/ coffee table which can double as seating. Lamps/ small side tables where the round red blobs are.