I am having maddening difficulty coming up with an arrangement for this room that I am truly satisfied with. The room is a “den” next to my bedroom. I rarely use it, except if there is a party here and a group has spilled into the other room (like that ridiculously cool-looking room in Superbad where those guys do cocaine and Michael Cera sings “These Eyes” for them.) However I have been given a bigger and better TV, and will be getting a PS3, and want to set them up in this room.
It’s a good cozy room. My living room is at least twice its size, and I never use it for anything. Its only purpose is for people to gather if I have friends over. There is a TV there that isn’t even plugged in. There’s a big couch, and some other stuff. It is too much of a wide-open space for me to feel comfortable in.
The den is where I want to set up the TV and the PS3. The only thing is, I can’t for the life of me come up with an arrangement that puts me close enough to the TV, and at the same time makes the room comfortable and organized logically. The couch in the room is really comfortable and has a huge ottoman; I would like to be able to play PS3 or watch TV on that couch, but it is just a little too far away, and I like to be really close to the TV. As you can see from the diagram I made, I put the TV in the corner diagonally, and the recliner facing it, diagonally. This works, for playing video games on that TV, but in the overall context of the room, it’s just somehow not right. It makes it so that people sitting on the couch can’t really see the TV evenly. And it also kind of takes up too much space, I feel.
If I move the TV so it’s facing the couch, it can’t be seen straight-on from the chair. If I move it facing the recliner, it can’t be seen straight on from the couch. I actually wish the room was smaller so that I would be closer to the TV when sitting on the couch, and I could just remove the recliner entirely, or move it to the upper right hand corner and have it facing the lower left, and use it as a reading chair with no connection to the TV or TV-related activities whatsoever.
TV to right wall, where recliner is now, facing left wall. Left wall, from top: small end table (optional), couch, large end table (by window), recliner angled from corner. Chest on bottom wall, between recliner and fully open door. Speakers on right wall flanking closet (one at top right corner, bookcase moved toward left to make room).
That’s an awful lot of furniture for that room. First I’d get rid of the recliner, tall end table, ottoman, and chest of drawers. Then center the TV on the top wall with the speakers on either side of it. Then move the couch up more towards the center of the room so when you have people in there, some can be sitting on the couch, and others can be standing around behind the couch. I’d also place the bookcase horizontally along the bottom wall. Then either get a coffee table that has drawers in it to replace the chest of drawers you removed, or get a longer TV stand that has extra storage, or both if you can. I think for a space like this, you need furniture that serves multiple purposes, and you definitely don’t want to angle anything and lose precious corner space.
TV at the top right corner, diagonally. Sofa along the left wall. Recliner to the right of the sofa (from the POV of someone sitting on the sofa) – either along the bottom wall or floating in the room.
Get rid of the bookshelves and chest of drawers, or put one or the other along the bottom wall if the recliner isn’t there.
There’s definitely too much furniture in the room. I would get rid of the ottoman and the chest of drawers - maybe put them in the living room, which you said is pretty big. This is how I would rearrange what was left:
Put the TV and speakers centered on the bottom wall, near the door.
Center the bookcase on the top wall, where it is now.
Move the couch to the top half of the room, so that the front edge of the couch lines up with the start of the window (the right edge of the window as you face it) and the couch is centered between the left and right walls. This places the couch much closer to the TV than it is now, allows access to the closet, and leaves enough room for people to walk behind the couch to access the bookcase.
Put the large end table to the left of the couch.
Put the recliner in front of the window. I would angle it toward the TV a bit (maybe make a 30 degree or so angle with the wall) both for aesthetic reasons, and so that it would be easier to watch TV that way.
Put the tall end-table to the left of the recliner (as you face it), with a lamp on it for reading while in the recliner.
Finishing touches: put a tall, corner bookcase or some other small unit in the bottom left corner to store dvds and video games conveniently next to the TV. Put a tall, standing lamp in the top left corner and a plant of some kind in the top right corner near the closet. Hang something on the walls above the bookcase and TV.
