SFGate

anne dee I think this room looks just great!!
Maybe the purple chair should be more substantial.

The back of the chair should be higher than the purple one. Perhaps a chair similar to the one in the pic may solve the distance problem to the coffee table.

Molly Elizabeth Design How many people watch TV at the same time in this room and how important is that?

I can't see the rest of the house, but I'd be interested in trying a floorplan where the purple chair and the fiber/wood drum table change places, the big chair moves to the opposite side of the window (angled facing where the spikey plant is now - a 1-person TV viewing spot), and the couch faces the window, creating a sort of "hallway" toward the door visible in the far upper right. (The couch is a good TV viewing spot when you lay out on it - with a TV over the fireplace you probably have to tilt your head up a lot anyway, so the reclining big chair or laying out on the couch may be a better angle anyway.)

finndian Thanks for the feedback Anne and Molly. I think I'd just have to try chairs and see what kind of battle they do with the big grey chair. BTW, that grey chair is huge!

More than likely it will be only 2 people at a time watching TV. I considered the other arrangement Molly and either arrangement has its drawbacks. You made the one drawback sound appealing... the corridor effect it creates and I kind of liked it as well. In that arrangement the grey chair can swivel to join the violet chairs.

Here are some pics for you to get an idea what the room looks like with the other furniture arrangement. The white chandelier is moving into the dining room most likely.... it use to be where the violet chairs are and that is too valuable a gathering area to clutter up with a dining table and chairs. The dining room is now to the left of the kitchen behind the staircase.

calikym Only problem is, when you're sitting on the couch, sharp viewing angle for the necks. The couch looked ok parallel to the TV above fireplace plus more people can make use of your tv and fireplace. Sometimes designs don't make practical sense even if they look best in a photo shoot.

lastplace I think you show try moving a few pieces for better balance in the room. I would put the beautiful tall plant on the other side of the room in front of the small window. The window is oddly placed, lost in the wall and the purple chair is to small for that corner. The plant is much taller and would probably love the light.

I would then move the couch and table behind it over to the right as far as you have the larger chair. This now opens up the area close to the window where the larger chair can go on an angle facing in. If it is too tight just pull it out and put the couch also on an angle. Purple chair and wooden end table can now go to the right of the fireplace. You have a great space

finndian Calikym.... there would be two people watching TV. One laying on the sofa and one in the big chair so it's actually ideal. Problem is the 7 or so feet behind the sofa (the corridor) that gets cut off from the room and is shadowed by the sofa. I guess I could use a console there or sculptural artwork on the stand or cabinet.... seems like a waste of space.

Last idea is to move the TV to a cabinet (pop up?) there on the art wall to the right of the front door so with the first arrangement that the big grey chair would have to swivel totally around to view it... get it? The niche over the fireplace can be closed and artwork put up.

finndian Lastplace the staircase is about 34 inches to the right of the console... it very tight now and cannot be moved to the right another inch. I will try the new angle tomorrow but it will be squarely in front of the stairs and by only 36 inches and will probably not work... I will try it though and let you know if there's any hope. I'd love to have another option.

karen paul interiors This is a macrame chair that also comes in other colors. I just couldn't resist. Sometimes it takes one item to "make" a room.

finndian Karen...that's a great idea. Although I'm a little afraid of too many eye catching things in the room. I tend to go over the top and I'm trying to restrain myself and you're not helping. :P I must have the macramé chair!

decoenthusiaste I think an injection of pattern on the floor with a rug and a few more pops of color would help. You appear to have three niches on the FP wall. The left one looks to be a closet for media and those two flanking the FP are very deep. I would suggest putting them to work as parts of your focal wall. I'd suggest lighting them, installing a false back if they need to be "slenderized" and adding glass shelves for decor items.
Living Room
Sky @ MidCity Lofts
http://www.houzz.com/discussions/347251/Family-Room-Fireplace--Niche-wall-Before
SYNERGY, Great Room

finndian Thanks decoenthusiaste... I thought I should tackle one issue at a time as I don't want to overwhelm with questions. Yes, the niches are going to have built-ins. This set-up really interests me... I love the technical aspect with the exposed wheels for the doors.



Once I get the best furniture arrangement down then I can get a rug if I can go with a smaller size then it opens up a wider range. Still not sure if sofa front legs only is acceptable or whether back legs need to be on as well since it is out in the center of the room.

Definitely need some color as well. Yellow really pops in the room and of course getting some violet to tie the chairs in. Orange is interesting in the room but in limited amount. Thanks for your help!

finndian Karen Paul interiors... love the macrame chair but its even shorter than the violet chair (by 5 inches) and a full 13 inches shorter than the big grey one. Seems like it might get dwarfed and lost over in that shadowed corner. I think it might work against my picture rail wall as more of a sculpture. I can get it for about half price used so I may just get one. Any other suggestions for a piece of furniture for that corner?

collettec You have a lot of cool colored furniture. I would think about possibly mixing it up and going for a chair in the warm neutral or the coral color I think I see in your accent pillow. Given space constraints one possibility would be an armless chair of some type. Perhaps a slipper chair. I don't think I would go for a round rug. I'm not really sure you need one here. If you do, perhaps a square or rectangular shape with some texture in a light gray or cream.

karen paul interiors Yes it is, but in the instance of a real character piece, it won't matter as it becomes more a piece of art that a chair.

peaceweet I would definitely put rug! If you want to keep the purple chair, use a similar (maybe pale) purple rug and it will complete the room.

karen paul interiors

If you want a "real" chair for that corner, you can find something that mimics the lines of your existing chair. This one is by Crate and Barrel and comes in a variety of fabrics.

finndian Ugh... whats killing me is arrangement first of all. Here are the two other arrangments with a dark desk standing in for the silver mirrored console I have my eye on.

In the first picture what do you guys think about cutting all that living room real estate out of the equation by placing the sofa with its back toward the picture rail?

The second picture would is of the TV moved and placed in a pop up console... the TV would rise and lower when needed. Artwork or a sculpture over the fireplace instead. Purple chair probably doesn't work there but maybe two x-legged stools or a bench??

finndian I swapped some chairs around. If I can get this to work I think I'll get the most bang for my buck with the TV on the opposite wall like this in a pop-up console... a white bench stands in for the console in the pic. I think better side tables would go a long way and a different chair. Opinions of my furniture arrangement?

carole loads of good advice already,but the plant really needs the light,so whichever changes you will make do put the plant closer to the window.....

curacaoblue I think it is sooooooo much better with the tv on a console and off the fireplace

finndian I'm now showing all 3 sofa placement options that people questioned me about. Now I'm asking for opinions again in order to put this to rest so I can get on to the business of selecting a rug. Yes, my poor plant can be moved, this is more about major items especially placement of the TV.

finndian Curacaoblue... I'm liking too. It gets the TV out of the room with the pop-up mechanism in the console and gives me another place to hang art over the fire place.

Molly Elizabeth Design With the TV out of the room, I think I like the one with two chairs in front of the fireplace (I might switch them - easier to see over the purple chair from the grey chair to the TV). It looked like you had multiple purple chairs, and they could be cute there as a pair, and swap the grey chair to the other area ... but I'm not sure if it would fit in the other area, and the purple ones maybe aren't as comfy for TV watching.

decoenthusiaste Too bad the purple chair isn't a swivel, but I like the arrangement with the TV off the FP wall. I think you can move on the the rug. homedecorators.com has a great selection.

finndian Molly, I'll try swapping for the 2 purple chairs and see how it looks... I do have 3. The purple chairs can come out of there entirely and be replaced with a swivel of some sort although actually the gray chair out in the open that way shows off its bold lines more than it does in the corner. decoenthusiaste, I do believe I can indeed move on!! I do feel like I'm utilizing every inch of living space with this arrangement.

Rug size is now my issue. Do all 4 the sofa legs all have to be on the rug in this layout? I've seen two square matching rugs used side by side for two separate seating areas.... like I have. Or would you do two different complimenting styles?

decoenthusiaste As long as they compliment, you can do two rugs. The larger the room, the larger the single rug should be. I think the room will seem more anchored and less choppy with one rug. You can just put the front sofa feet on it or the entire sofa. If you shop locally, ask to bring rugs home to try out.

collettec Of the three different arrangements you've shown, I like the third one, with the two chairs facing the couch the best, if the seating is comfortable enough for tv watching. Checked through your earlier photos that you posted and saw two rugs in earlier photos, one a solid purple or gray and the other appeared to be a larger ikat print in a lighter color. I really liked the photo of the ikat rug with the darker chairs for the space. Is that something that you have that you could use, something you were trying out or are you looking for something different?

lastplace have you tried the couch on the window wall facing the tv

finndian Lastplace... thats a window seat. Here it is from the outside.

finndian Emzc... all the rugs with the exception of a too small little brown one are all photoshopped onto the floor. I'm about to try to nail down the rug size and style in my next round of posts. I appreciate the input!

lastplace wow what an amazing room you have, every wall have something unique

carole really like to bigger rug with a pattern for your room,like the one you picked before best because of all the colors coming together!! and like the last rearregement of furniture..

Noorlena Love your furniture pieces

debouma wow! your furniture pieces are very nice and unique. love the new location of TV. But the house has too many accessories. After you place the rag, remove all accessories and rearrange all over again ensuring that they arent too much. it makes the house look cluttered. takes away from the furniture instead of adding appeal..

finndian Thanks Carole! here is the rug photoshopped in the new arrangement. This is shown as a 9x10.5 size... 9x12 would take it just 4 inches short of the back legs. There's a six inch border on the two sides other sides.

finndian debouma and noorlena... thanks for the feedback. I really appreciate it!

carole yes,that looks good,wecentred and all!!but now it seems to have lots its brightness,not sure why?maybe it needs a bit more bleu somewhere,would you want to change your LondonEye picture for something more colorfull and a few more accentspillows??purple and bleu ??

finndian Carole... love the pillows! The piece over the fireplace is really just a placeholder artwork but I am a 15 minute walk from Santa Monica pier where there is very colorful ferris wheel... so perhaps I should look for a nice piece colorful piece like that.