Small awkward "L" shaped living/family dining room combo. Help needed!!!
Hi my name is Ashley and boy do I have a design dilemma! I live in a 1965 single family home with a semi open floor plan. Here are my dilemmas: front door opens into the middle of my living room, a small dining/ living room combo, a broken fireplace, an awkward corner, and an old school wall heater that is in the way. My front door opens right into the living/family room so there is not a defined entry into the house. Our family/living room feels like two space because of the front door. The family/living room flows into the dining room making an "L" shape. Our fireplace is broken so I tried to repaint it and stick some candles in there but I did not really achieve the look I was going for. I have a wall heater and an awkward corner that prevents how I can place my furniture. I think I need help making defined "zones" in my house and I think my issue furniture is furniture placement. Can anyone please offer suggestions?????
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I can see the two couches in a L arrangement with one back to the dining area. Paint the interior of the fireplace black. See if you can get the TV mounted in the center and hide the wires. I think you need more storage for the electronic equipment.
If this is your place, I would build out the half wall corner to better enclose the kitchen.
I agree that the space to the right of the door would make a good area to designate as a play area. An area rug with little roads and houses printed on it will make this obvious. The rugs are available at Lowe's and at Home Depot. Use low shelving for the children's toys and materials, so they can put things away independently. If you use bins, put a color photo on the bin to indicate what should go inside. This is helpful for the children, but even more helpful for babysitters, visiting aunts, and so on.
Photos three and four show a curtain being used to define a space, and photo four shows a partial wall in a room where the front door opens directly into the living space.
because they can be moved and rearranged as your needs change. You can use one as a room divider next to the front door. Ikea also makes excellent storage solutions for kitchens, such as spice racks. I know it is hard to find time to organize when you have kids, but when you have the new storage units, it will be much quicker to sort, put away and discard.
Billy is good too because it is inexpensive and has lots of options, and they will never discontinue it, although pick a common finish--white or brown/black, maybe one of the common wood tones. I bought alder in Expedit about 6 years ago and can't match it now. They mix pretty well too. Use the medium cube or the tall narrow Expedit as the room divider and put cubbies in it for mittens and such.
Their catalogue usually has a lot of ideas for making the most of tight spaces--maybe a bit cluttered, but more realistic than most.