Living room furniture / tv arrangement

danlightbulb

Hi all,
Just after some thoughts on how best to lay out this room. Whichever way I consider, there appears to be downsides, like glare from window on TV, or loss of focal point. Not sure whether I should try and restrict the amount of furniture here. On paper its a reasonably large room compared to many houses I looked at.
The room plan is below. Its 7.1m (23ft) horizontally by 3.4m (12ft) vertically. Two windows are on the back (north facing) wall both with radiators under. I intend to convert the left hand window into french doors so that radiator will have to be moved. The fireplace is on the right hand side short wall. The door into the kitchen is located on the left side bottom wall.

My initial plan was to use the left half of the room as a dining area, and the right half as the living area with sofas and tv. But I'm not sure where is best to position the TV and sofas given where the window and fireplace is. The TV will be at least 55", possibly 65". Fundamentally, do I put sofa under window and tv opposite, or TV under window and sofa on solid wall?

MovingForwards

Can you not put the TV above the fire?

Sofa facing the TV, just after the French doors and middle of the room, additional seating to the bottom, facing the window.

Dining area by the French doors? Gives you two rooms in one.

danlightbulb

Dont like TV's above fireplaces. Common in showhomes (typically show only small tvs too), awful in practice. 

Most living rooms in houses I've seen have been forced to put a TV in the corner, typically in between the fireplace wall and the window wall. Its ok for smaller TVs but not so much for large ones.

Ben1989

Why not TV against the lower wall (kitchen door wall)? If the windows are north facing is there really that much glare?

One big sofa against the window (offset for the radiator) and a smaller one centrally to the left which would create a natural cutoff between the living room area and dining room?

I think your only choices are the kitchen door wall or above the fireplace with a TV the sizes you're looking at. Is the fireplace a working fireplace?

danlightbulb

Ben1989 said:

Why not TV against the lower wall (kitchen door wall)? If the windows are north facing is there really that much glare?

One big sofa against the window (offset for the radiator) and a smaller one centrally to the left which would create a natural cutoff between the living room area and dining room?

I think your only choices are the kitchen door wall or above the fireplace with a TV the sizes you're looking at. Is the fireplace a working fireplace?

Yeah that was my first and probably obvious layout. Then I started reading about sofa placement and several sources said not to put a sofa under a window.

Its possible I could get rid of the fireplace altogether yes. Its a bit of an odd house for fireplaces - in the 3 original house rooms (now primarily bedrooms as its a bungalow) they have all been capped in the roofspace and blocked up internally, and in this living room extension they then built a brick fireplace for a gas fire.

On the one hand I like a traditional fireplace, but on the other hand this one is a bit rubbish so could be got rid of. I want the room to look homely though, not ultra-modern, it wouldn't suit the house.

Ben1989

My parents have removed the fireplace in their living room and plastered the recess. What they did is then put logs in it with fairy lights and it looks actually quite good. 

In our house we did the same and had the TV on the wall. We needed the space away from the corner and believe it or not we got used to it and doesn't look as bad as you might think. It will also allow you to watch TV while you eat if you need to (eg. football haha)

danlightbulb

Here is the room:

i think the recess behind that 80's fireplace could be very small.

Ben1989

For me it's crying out for the TV above the fireplace. Remove the fire and plasterboard it up keeping the recess if you want logs and things there.

Remove the brick and add a small fire surround to keep the character. It's also a handy way to hide cabling which we did in our house. Some sideboards either side to keep the TV box, wifi router etc.

I'm far from an interior designer, however

Doozergirl

Is there a specific reason why you want the patio doors on the left? 

Is that particular fireplace staying? 

I don't do TVs over fireplaces either.  That's for a permanent picture.  It's not optimum viewing height for a TV anyway, because you're very much sat down.  

danlightbulb

@Doozergirl i thought french doors on the left because that's the most obvious position for the dining table, and closest to kitchen door. You may recall from my other thread on this house that the kitchen has a side door that I may block up to improve the kitchen layout.
I don't know whether to keep fireplace or not. It might look better once I have put nice wood floor down and modernised the decor. 
I agree with your comments on TV over fireplace and that's why I don't like that option. It either goes completely and TV goes in its place, or it stays in some form.

danlightbulb

Apologies for crudeness of sketches but are any of these layouts any good?

If it wasn't for the fireplace I think I'd choose number 5, with double french doors to garden? If fireplace stays then I think number 1 is the natural choice but I'm not sure.

There is another room in the house that could possibly be used as a living room, dining room, etc as well. This room is part of the original house and is a traditional front room layout with bay window at front, fireplace on right adjacent wall, and access door in opposite corner. The fireplace has already been blocked up in this room, currently used as a bedroom:

I was mostly planning to put my piano in here, along with some seating and bookcases.