What does your living room look like?

My husband and I are currently looking for a house to rent. The majority of houses we've looked at are terraced and inside have the same layout as every other one. So, I'm assuming there are plenty of people on this board in the same type of place.

Most of them have very small living rooms with a fireplace on one wall and a radiator on another wall. I can't picture in my mind how we'd manage fitting furniture in these places and if we did, how we'd arrange it. I wouldn't want to block off the fireplace and I also couldn't put a couch against a wall with a radiator on it. So how could I possibly get a TV in front of a couch? lol

This might sound stupid and maybe I just have no imagination, but would anyone be willing to show me a picture of how you set up your living room if you live in a place like this? We've got a large sofa and 2 sofa chairs. I have a feeling either one of both of the chairs may end up in the spare room.

It seems to me that a lot of people here use love seats and chairs to furnish their living rooms because they tend to be small.  In the first house we rented, we ended up putting our very large leather couch in front of the radiator--leaving a couple inches in between.  I'm not sure if that was good for the couch, but we had no choice.    In the house we live in now, the living room is very long and narrow with a fireplace & door in the middle.  Very odd.  We put one couch & tv on one side of the door and the love seat and chair on the other end of the room.  It seems to work, though it looks kind of odd.  Good luck!

Yeah, we looked at a couple furnished places (not realizing they were furnished) and they both just had a love seat and a chair in the living room. Really nasty looking furniture too...It seems like they'd have better luck renting the places out without furniture because I wouldn't rent a place with furniture that gross, but aaanyway....   We have really nice furniture that my father-in-law gave to us when he bought some new stuff so we won't want to get rid of it. I guess we'll just have to find a way to make it work! I thought we might have to put it in front of the radiator too and just leave it pulled out from the wall...

We have a big chair up against the radiator and it's no big deal - honestly! 



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We moved our radiator.  Thank god for handy FIL!

We have a big chair up against the radiator and it's no big deal - honestly! 

Oh, Anne!  I just want to curl up in that chair with a book and a cup of tea.  And maybe a cat.  Looks sooooo comfy! 

You describe our living room exactly. The fireplace has already been removed and that is the home for the television. I often sit and think it is a shame the fireplace is gone---but at the same think, I don't know how we could do it if it wasn't.

Helena

Anne, that looks so nice and cozy! I can't wait for my invite to visit...

We have a tyical end terraced house with the big bay window in the front. We have a curved radiator that goes along the wall so its really nice. In front of that window we have a three seater sofa. This leaves a small space between the bay window radiator and the sofa for the heat to escape. Next to the sofa on the right we have a small round glass table with a lamp on it. Against the wall next to that is a chair with a pic over it. Next to the chair is the living room door. On the next wall, the one directy in front of the three seater sofa is another chair set in the centre of the wall. Next to that in the corner is a TV on a corner stand. The last wall has the fireplace on it. We have a very cheap fire surround and a marble hearth. I have large plants covering up the fireplace as we wont be using it until the kids are older. Next to the fire place in the corner of the room I have a corner curio cabinet. All in all I think we good made use of all the available space and it doesnt look cluttered.
All walls are painted burgundy and we have brown leather furniture.

This is a modern flat that we rented unfurnished.  It's pretty classic 'modern' - a large rectangle w/a bay window at one end.

No fireplace.

It's painted magnolia and full of books, the PC, a TV, a stereo, a dining table and kid's toys. 

We have some plants hanging from the ceilings safe from kid's hands and the cats.

In a fit of new homeowner buying frenzy -- I think we got too much furniture when we were buying/ordering living room furniture last spring!  Anyhoo, we have a really nice 3-piece set -- raspberry red fabric, very cozy.  We really could have done without the big sofa, but that's up against the longest bare wall in the living room & that's the only place it can go.  That faces the wall with the ('living flame' gas) fireplace, in the center of the wall, with floor to ceiling built-in bookshelves (yaye!) to one side and then just a matching indentation (of the wall) on the other side.  The short ends of the room -- one side has the bay window and the radiator -- we have the chair up against that (similar to what Anne has shown) and the loveseat is up against the wall facing that which kind of blocks the bookshelves on the adjacent wall.  (We have an end terrace house too.)  It's tight pack in the room with all the furniture we got.  (Did I mention that we stupidly forgot to measure before buying/ordering? We were clueless.)

We still have to get something sorted out for our TV & stereo, which right now sit on the floor along the wall indentation on the other side of the fireplace (by the chair).  What I want to do is switch around the chair & love seat to opposite sides of the room...chair by the bookshelves, love seat in front of the radiator & bay window.  And somehow figure out the entertainment center spot (on the bookshelves?) in the process.  For his part, hubby is resistant to change -- even though what we're doing now with the room doesn't work entirely.  But we want to re-do the room anyway -- paint, rip out the nasty carpet (I want wood flooring), reinstate a REAL fireplace with a nice surround & mantle, new light fixtures, curtains, etc.  We'll prolly do it all at once -- rearranging furniture & so on.

Oh & I hate how the houses here -- every room has doors on it, like a bunch of tight little boxes stuck together -- one room to the next...versus more open floor planning.  We will probably leave the door that leads from the living room to the small front entryway & to staircase, just for purposes of retaining warmth in the living room.  But I am insisting that the door from the living room to the kitchen has to go!  Plus the doors both open IN to the living room which takes up that much more space we don't have.  Phooey!

Sorry for the long post, but you did ask...

Oh & I hate how the houses here -- every room has doors on it

In my house, the entire ground floor is completely open-plan... there are no doors except for the front door to enter the property, and the back door leading from the kitchen into the garden.

The lounge is rectangular... with the front door and a window at one end, and the kitchen at the other end.
In front of the window are 2 knee-high off-white painted wooden units that house the TV/video/hi-fi stuff. 
Along the right-hand wall is a 3-seater reclining sofa in dark blue leather, with a small coffee table in front of it, and a mini filing cabinet at the side, used as storage and a table.  Next to this is the computer, on a desk with a dark blue top & silver legs.

Along the left hand side wall is the staircase, with an electric storage heater on the wall just in front of the staircase.   Underneath the stairs (where most folk would have a cupboard) is the dogs bed, and a butterfly (fold-away) dining table & chairs that we have never used!  (we just eat sitting on the couch, in front of the telly).

And beyond that is the kitchen..

I remember reading that part of the reason for so many doors is that there has to be x amount of doors between the kitchen and the bathroom.

I remember reading that part of the reason for so many doors is that there has to be x amount of doors between the kitchen and the bathroom.

Weird. I was surprised to see in a couple of houses that you had to go through the kitchen to get to the bathroom. I thought that was really strange!

Thanks for the comments! Sounds like we should be able to make it work with a large couch. I was a bit worried. Some of the living rooms have been smaller than others so we'll try to get one of the bigger ones. That'll probably take away some of the kitchen space though. Man, these houses are small! lol

Carolyn, I don't like how all the rooms have doors either. And I can't stand how every door in England opens up into a room instead of towards a wall. Drives me nuts! lol

I remember reading that part of the reason for so many doors is that there has to be x amount of doors between the kitchen and the bathroom.

That's interesting, but our only bathroom is upstairs - on the first floor.  Well there are 3 doors between the kitchen and the bathroom anyway -- if you count the bathroom door itself.  I wonder how they worked that out (x number of doors between), particularly when you consider that many of these (old) places didn't have an indoor bathroom to start with.  Our home was built circa 1850, but the overall structure (row of terraced houses) was originally a mill.  No idea when it got converted.

  Carolyn, I don't like how all the rooms have doors either. And I can't stand how every door in England opens up into a room instead of towards a wall. Drives me nuts! lol 

Absolutely!  Makes me wonder what whoever designed the places were thinking?!   Or maybe that's assuming too much...