Is this size living room too small?

Chuzzle

Currently we have a living/dining room and I'd like to put a wall up to seperate them. The room at the mo is approxiamtely 22ft long by 9ft 5 at its widest going down to 8ft at its narrowest. I'd like to make the living room 12ft 6 x 9ft 5 but hubby says this room is too small for us to do anything in. Not sure what he thinks we'll be doing other than watching tv :rolleyes:. Ideally I'd like to make the room wider but this is not possible but I think the length of 12ft is fine.

Just cos I'm a nosey so and so what do you all think and how big is your living room??:D

ETA - we are also hoping to turn the kitchen into a kitchen dining room. The front door and stairs are and will remain seperate to the living room - so (if this makes sense) you walk in the front door into the hall and from there you can either enter the living/dining room or the kitchen and from the kitchen you can walk into the dining room part of the living/dining room, back door is currently straight into the dining room portion. IF the wall gets put up you would only be able to access the dining room bit from the kitchen or the back door. HTH

a_j_mair

id agree that it may make it feel very small compared with what you are used to at the moment

our living room is approx 13x13ft off the top of my head, is a really good size but kitchen is a bit small

ic

My living room is 13 foot square, but its a typical two bed terrace, so there's a 3 foot square porch in one corner for the front door. This means a thoroughfare runs through the living room from the front door to the dining room at the back, leaving a useable living room area of 10 foot x 13 foot, in to which the chimney protrudes by about 10 inches on one wall. Personally I do think the room would feel small if it were walled off to this size, just having the space behind the sofa for the thoroughfare makes the room feel open and large.

Obviously the trick will be in keeping the room open by using the right furniture, having a flat screen TV, etc. Could you not just put in doors so you can open up the space should you need to, say when you have lots of people round?

a_j_mair

double glass doors between the rooms is a good idea but rember you need the un obstructed space to be able to open them

Chuzzle

I do sort of agree it will be a "cosy" sized room, but I thought if we had a corner settee and the flat screen tv in the corner opposite the sette (diagonally across the room iyswim) with a coffee table in the centre of the room it wouldn't be so bad. with a half glazed door and the window is a good 7ft long the natural light wouldn't be too much of a problem - oh and I've added some more info to my first post.

Oldernotwiser

It might be a bit on the small size but could well look better than your present arrangement. We had a long, thin room like yours and it often felt like a railway carriage!

Doozergirl

I'm just trying to work out how I'd fit the lounge furniture into my daughter's bedroom (similar size) and I'd really struggle. There's no doubt that it's about as small as a living room could be. Mine is 15' x 18'

I love having a kitchen diner but in the same situation as you, I'd either make the whole thing open plan or cope as it is.

Chuzzle

Thanks for your thoughts so far guys.

When we bought the house 13 years ago the wall was there dividing the two rooms and for 5 or so years we did live like it and I really didn't have a problem with it. Then one day I went to work and came home to find DH had taken the stud wall down! The kids are now older - his excuse at the time was it made more sense having room for the kids to play - they are 16 & 11 so don't really play in the same sense as younger kids! I like the idea of having a seperate living room as at the mo when I have my radio on in the kitchen you can't hear the tv - even when I turn my radio down

pie81

Why not try pinning a couple of big sheets up to divide the room and see how it feels?

becs

I personally wouldn't do it, our house sounds very similar layout. When we bought it there was a wall in ours seperating living and dining room giving us a living room the same size as yours would be. The dining room could only be got at from the lounge though as no access to the kitchen. We knocked the wall down and put in a double doorway from the kitchen into where the dining room was. Admittedly we did then have a large conservatory built on the back which is now what we use for a dining room and second living room. The house feels so much bigger and lighter now. We can easily have 3 sofas in the living room now if we wanted so plenty of room at Christmas etc whereas before with 4 people in it felt very overcrowded! It is a matter of personal choice though, some prefer smaller cosy rooms whilst others like me prefer space around them. You say you could put a corner sofa in there but could you if you needed to put any other chairs in there if you have a lot of people around?

gabyjane

Hi well our lounge is 15'3" (4.65m) x 10'10" (3.30m) roughly a bit bigger! (took that off estate agents site as one the same as ours for sale!)

We have a corner sofa, a desk, a bookcase behind the door and our tv on the wall..it looks lovely and big enough for us to all not feel cramped up! it's all we need from a lounge really so we are happy with it.

Like somone else said i would pin a sheet up (someone i know did this before they changed their room) it helps to give an idea of space..good luck x