Family Room - Layout 1 or Layout 2
After the first social gathering in my family room for the Super Bowl last night, I realized that the layout of the furniture STILL does not work. I did a little more rearranging this morning and would like to solicit opinions.
Requirements/Notes:
- Large pieces must stay - there is no room in the budget for new chairs/couch, etc.
- The recliner must remain in pretty much that position as it is the "man chair"
- The ultimate plan is to put two built ins around the fireplace to house the TV and offer bookshelves. But that is about 5 years in the future after a ton of other things are done around the house
- The family room is open concept and I want flow into the room from both sides of the kitchen island
- Loveseat or couch must go against the wall with two windows to hide all the cabling and wires for TV.
Layout 1 is the image in another discussion (http://www.houzz.com/discussions/312775). This worked well for my family. Pros was that everyone had a table area to put things (glasses, books, remote controls, etc.) Cons were that the room seemed off balance still, person in striped chair had to crane neck to watch TV, big dead empty space in front of coffee table.
Layout 2 is attached. Pros (IMO) seems cozier and more balanced. Cons is that the people in the recliner and striped chair lose a table. Any small solutions for that? The wall on the other side of the fireplace is now a dead space. Any temporary solutions for this until the built-ins come into the budget.
Overall problems:
- Dead space between coffee table and fireplace. I would love to get a huge coffee table, but that's out of the budget. What about two small stools, or two matching poufs (in orange for a pop of color), or two storage ottomans.
- Space behind the back of the couch. I had thought about a console table or a low bookshelf. I am just not used to having a couch back exposed. So I feel like something needs to be there to "complete" it.
Requirements/Notes:
- Large pieces must stay - there is no room in the budget for new chairs/couch, etc.
- The recliner must remain in pretty much that position as it is the "man chair"
- The ultimate plan is to put two built ins around the fireplace to house the TV and offer bookshelves. But that is about 5 years in the future after a ton of other things are done around the house
- The family room is open concept and I want flow into the room from both sides of the kitchen island
- Loveseat or couch must go against the wall with two windows to hide all the cabling and wires for TV.
Layout 1 is the image in another discussion (http://www.houzz.com/discussions/312775). This worked well for my family. Pros was that everyone had a table area to put things (glasses, books, remote controls, etc.) Cons were that the room seemed off balance still, person in striped chair had to crane neck to watch TV, big dead empty space in front of coffee table.
Layout 2 is attached. Pros (IMO) seems cozier and more balanced. Cons is that the people in the recliner and striped chair lose a table. Any small solutions for that? The wall on the other side of the fireplace is now a dead space. Any temporary solutions for this until the built-ins come into the budget.
Overall problems:
- Dead space between coffee table and fireplace. I would love to get a huge coffee table, but that's out of the budget. What about two small stools, or two matching poufs (in orange for a pop of color), or two storage ottomans.
- Space behind the back of the couch. I had thought about a console table or a low bookshelf. I am just not used to having a couch back exposed. So I feel like something needs to be there to "complete" it.
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I agree that a larger, maybe square coffee table might be better. The one you have sort of doesn't "serve" any of the chairs well. I would probably just make a larger top for the table myself until I could buy a new larger table.
Have you thought of putting the TV where the armchairs are now and moving the arm chairs to flank the fireplace at an angle? The fireplace becomes more of the focal point then also. A larger square coffee table down my the couch and loveseat (?) end would work nicely then.