Living Room Furniture Arrangement (was Interior decorator on a budget)

Our living room is a bit of a puzzling layout, and I'd love some objective advice about how to better utilize the space. But, especially with two little kids, we would not be looking to spend a lot on the furniture and such- Ikea is a good fit for our lifestyle right now! Are there interior decorators out there who work with folks on a modest budget? Or some other type of person that could help with function/arrangement?

I'm sure there are plenty of armchair interior designers who would be happy to help you because their husband has forbidden them from moving any more furniture around the house even though it's one of their favorite things to do in the entire world.

I'm not even kidding, I love figuring stuff like that out. I don't know if I'm necessarily good at it, but I love it and I'd be happy to provide an extra set of eyeballs if you need them.

LOL @afa! That sounds great to me. I'm an excellent Pinner but never know how to execute in my own space.

THNJ-check with @shh

Post pics here. You'll get lots of advice.

+1 for @shh

Yes, post pics! I remember your floor plan from awhile ago with the weird sunroom situation.

Would be happy to lend a hand, Tarheels.

Might also recommend some other budget-friendly furniture sources in addition to Ikea.

Great!!! The room is an absolute disaster now but I'll post pics once we straighten up

Okay, here goes. As clean as it gets in our lives, LOL I'm going to turn this thread into a blog now. Thanks for any advice... and please be nice

This is the living room, looking into the room from the foyer. The couch is past its prime, but it's the dog's domain (hence the misshapen cushions!!). If/when we replace it, I want something in a fabric that's much easier to clean and has cushions that will hold up. But anyway.

Also, the coffee table at this point is sentimental, because it was one of the first things I bought myself for my first solo apartment in grad school - but it's totally impractical. So I'm open to replacing it with something with storage.

There's a radiator behind the couch, and to the left in the picture is the dining room. There is no storage at all in this room, but we don't need a ton either. No TV here, so it's mostly just a few kid toys (the playroom is in the basement).

This is the bay window which I love, but which feels underutilized. It looks great when we have our Christmas tree here, but otherwise has my son's "art" table. I've thought about a window seat of some kind.

The foyer is to the right in this picture.

Just to give a sense of layout, this is the dining room as seen from the living room. In this picture, the kitchen is off to the left. You can also see the old hearth on the floor from the fireplace that was sadly covered up; there's still a chimney in that wall where the picture hangs.

More layout. Foyer is off to the left here, dining room to the right. You'll see that we really don't have one large wall space here; one reason we don't have a TV up here, though not the only one!

And just for a different perspective, this is the living room as seen from the dining room.

So there you have it. I love the open flow of this floor, which works very nicely for entertaining. But because of all of the doorways, it's also a challenge to figure out furniture placement. I'd love more seating in the living room, but the standard 'U-shape" with a loveseat or chair next to the couch would block access to the dining room. Still, it feels like there's probably a way to use the space a little better. Armchair decorators, dream away

Our home includes two young boys and the dog pictured above. We don't have tons of extra money (who does?) but also I feel certain any particularly nice things would get beaten up by these three rascals. That's partly why I haven't pushed to get a new couch just yet!!

Also, just to answer what may be glaring decorating questions - we don't have a rug in the living room because our dog is getting older and we're certain we'd be dealing with cleaning up accidents regularly. We don't have window treatments because I can't figure out how to do them without covering up the beautiful moldings.

Oh and actually, another one - we used to have the dining room and living room swapped. That's why there's a chandelier in the living room and a ceiling fan in the dining room. We haven't gotten around to having the fixtures switched, but we may just replace the chandelier with another fan (especially since the damn shades won't stay straight!)

afa said:

I'm sure there are plenty of armchair interior designers who would be happy to help you because their husband has forbidden them from moving any more furniture around the house even though it's one of their favorite things to do in the entire world.

One of the funniest posts ever!

@TarheelsInNJ - please share what you feel are your needs objectives to solve for in living room. For example, do you feel you need drapes to provide complete darkening, or keep it warmer/cooler? for another comment you made- What do you actually need to store in living room? For example, custom constructed window seats can have built in storage below, or can do a DIY hack of Ikea bench seating with storage below? Or is increasing total seating in living room to create more of a conversation/group seating the goal?

Added seating: What if you did 2 couches facing each other, or a large bench across from the couch, if you felt it was important to have visibility from couch to foyer? You could also do a narrow console table behind the couch placed across from existing one. Also advise if want to bring a TV/entertainment into the living room.

@truegrid, I don't really feel we need drapes for any purpose, it just seems that's often something that makes a room seem "complete" so I mentioned it. Blinds aren't the most attractive but they serve us fine for now.

But in the living room, yes, additional seating would be great. Right now we can seat 4-5 on the chairs and couch. It'd be nice to have another seating option for larger groups, beyond pulling in the dining chairs.

We don't need much storage, really, but with the kids it does seem things accumulate. But we don't need, say, floor-to-ceiling bookcases. The idea of a window seat intrigues me, but I also wonder if there's a less permanent solution- i.e. something we could move out of the way for the Christmas tree.

I just want to give the room an overall second look, before just buying another couch of the same size because it's what we have, you know? The room's "purpose" is as a living/sitting room so I'm really open to considering any type of arrangement. At the moment we don't feel the need for a TV in this room.

TO explain, the idea of the console is that it can both provide a view for those entering from foyer, however, it also functions to keep it separate (with lamp, and other decor), so people can come and go without it being on display to anyone in living room - assuming this is the main entry and exist to house.

truegrid said:

Added seating: What if you did 2 couches facing each other, or a large bench across from the couch, if you felt it was important to have visibility from couch to foyer? You could also do a narrow console table behind the couch placed across from existing one. Also advise if want to bring a TV/entertainment into the living room.

Interesting. I don't love the idea of walking into the back of a couch from the foyer, but I've never thought about a bench! Would you do that instead of the two armless chairs? Not sure if it is clear that those flank the foyer wall/entry facing the couch.

truegrid said:

TO explain, the idea of the console is that it can both provide a view for those entering from foyer, however, it also functions to keep it separate (with lamp, and other decor), so people can come and go without it being on display to anyone in living room - assuming this is the main entry and exist to house.

Oh, I understand now! That would eliminate my "looking at the back of the couch" concern.

And now for perhaps the dumbest question but - how does one have a lamp in the center of the room? Where do you plug it in? I always wonder this when I see pictures in catalogs as well.

What about benches with an upholstered top and storage inside under the bay windows to serve as a less permanent window seat type of a situation? I have a bench that I bought at Costco relatively cheaply that we store all of the kids board games and puzzles in the living room but we can also pull it away from the wall for extra seating to create a u shaped conversation area if needed.

I think if you add a couch across, can look at 2 chairs with a table between them for the window alcove. It would increase total seating to at least 6, possibly 8 - 3 a piece on couches, and 2 seats. Can then always have chairs you can pull in on the dining room side, or again, small ottomans or benches , to increase total of 10 for seating? The chairs and table in the window alcove can be moved for xmas tree.

By the way, I have a bay window that has ledge for seating, and I still place the xmas tree in front of it. It might mean that the primary seating area and table are shifted closer to dining room. (might need to share dimensions of the space, to see if this can work)

I also thought that the corner with the single chair would make a good place for xmas tree, if you wanted to be able to do window seats with storage that are permanent. I am also certain talented cabinetry people can create window seats that are movable.

Without the dimensions, my reaction is the armless chairs flanking the entry are too far away to create the sense of conversational seating close enough to the couch. They seem more to seem like standing as sentry guards to entrance into the room. Have you had people sit there if its a large gathering, and talk to others seated on couch?

@truegrid that's probably my photography giving it more generous dimensions I should be a real estate photographer! The room is about 13' deep, and because of the radiator behind the couch we lose another 10".

How about leaving a couch where it is currently, and getting two substantial arm chairs in front of the bay windows with a small table in between? Your current armchairs might work in that configuration too, but they seem to be a little off in scale to couch. An oval coffee table and a glass fronted cabinet placed at an angle in the corner between the foyer and dining room. Doesn't increase your seating much, but would make the room feel more intimate.

This picture may give a better perspective on the couch/chair placement. I can't quite get a good angle.

Oh I think Betsy would be able to work with you. She's great.

http://www.betsyoldinteriors.com

How does the heat work with the couch in front of it? Are you hoping to move the couch away from the heater, or is it alright being blocked? I have a thing about furniture in front of radiators, but I have a lot of "things" that are kind of ridiculous.

As much as I would HATE to block off the bay window because I love bay windows, I feel like the room might work better if you put the couch in front of the bay windows and then have a couple of nice cozy chairs flanking the radiator. The radiator is what's killing it for me right now. Do you normally have the blinds open for the bay windows or not? If you don't use the view, honestly, I feel like having a couch there might not be a deal breaker, especially if you get a more low-profile couch (or even a loveseat that fits right in that nook??) so you can still look out the window while you're lounging on the couch. The Ikea Karlstad couch/loveseat (I don't know what the dimensions of your space are) might be perfect....it's not even 3' tall so you'd still be able to look out the windows, and it is wonderfully washable (J puked on ours 3 times the other week and those washable slipcovers are fantastic). The legs it comes with are terrible, but you can get either the metal ones Ikea sells or there are some really nice midcentury legs people sell on Etsy that can make the couch look pretty great.

OR as crazy as it sounds for a living room........ do you *need* a couch? If it's more of just a sitting/gathering room, how about having a great cozy window seat built into the bay window area and then a couple of chairs flanking the radiator? I feel like there's not enough uninterrupted wall space for a full sized couch....

The beauty of this plan is that you can move all your current furniture and see if you like how it feels before you commit. I LOVE MOVING FURNITURE AROUND.