Our room is almost exactly like yours. We have a five year old and two year old. We have our couch floating in the middle of the room, facing the fireplace. The TV/media center is in the corner to the right of the fireplace, at an angle. There is a wing back chair and ottoman against the 9 o'clock wall and a club chair against the 3 o'clock wall. There is a tall bookshelf with paned glass doors to the left of the fireplace. There is an oriental rug in the middle of this space. All thi, with some occasional tables and a coffee table, makes one area in the back half of the room, if you are standing in the kitchen.

Then, there is a wooden play table against the back of the couch, kind of like a sofa table. On the 3 o'clock wall, there are ikea kids storage units. Troflegar or something (I forget the name, basically white frames with different sizes of multi-colored bins). There's also a play kitchen there. We have a half wall cutting the entry to the kitchen to about 10 feet. There is another storage unit against that wall. There is a neutral tan/cream Berber area rug anchoring this area and by the sliding glass door, there is a bin for shoes and a bin for balls and outdoor toys.

When we first moved in, we tried it as one big area, but it really didn't work for us. Even if you don't want to do a play area, I think you need to break the space into two areas.

For us, the kids really like having a dedicated play space with a big open area in the middle, I like that I can see them from the kitchen, and I like that after they go to bed, we can sit on the couch and not see the toys and other kid stuff behind us. From the couch, it's a grown-up room.

I figure we'll keep the play area for several years, and when they get older and don't need a play area, it will become something else. Maybe home office/homework area, or reading, or craft, or whatever. Or maybe one big room, by then.

Anonymous wrote:OP here. There is 18' open to the kitchen (the breakfast table part.) The slider is on the kitchen edge of the 3 o'clock wall. I'm not sure we can mount the tv - the fireplace is floor to ceiling brick and wood burning/full masonry outside. If we could actually do that, where would we put the sofas? One with its back to the kitchen?

You can. We did, and ours is field stone--real stone from the 70s, big full stones. Took a mason 2 days, and you can't see the difference at all.

I'm in the same situation but with an even bigger, blank two story wall. Anyone have a huge painting or tapestry they want to sell?

OP here. There is 18' open to the kitchen (the breakfast table part.) The slider is on the kitchen edge of the 3 o'clock wall. I'm not sure we can mount the tv - the fireplace is floor to ceiling brick and wood burning/full masonry outside. If we could actually do that, where would we put the sofas? One with its back to the kitchen?

If having a tv over the fireplace doesn't float your boat, you could try putting it in a corner on one side of the fireplace and put your sofa at an angle.

I agree that it sounds like you should get a flat screen and put it above your fireplace. I don't think that your sofa needs to be against a wall at 6:00. As long as you have enough room for traffic, I think you'd be okay. You may want to draw your floor plan and bring it with you when you go furniture shopping. It helped me immensely to do this.

At 6 o'clock is there a 1/2 wall or partial wall? Are you saying there is 18' open space to the kitchen?

At 3 o'clock is the door closest to the kitchen or closest to the fireplace?

Where are you going to put your sofa?

You don't want the tv over the fireplace? I know DCUM hates that but it is the most practical.

A couple of ideas. B/F you invest in the media furniture, figure out the distance of the tv from the sofa. This is a good guide: http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/the-distance-from-sofa-to-tv-135983

The other thing is glare. Putting the tv on the opposite side of the sliding doors might create a lot of glare. I cringe a little at this idea, but you might want to consider getting a flat screen for over the fire place rather than investing the money in the furniture.

You have a really big room. PP's idea of putting breadboard on the bottom of that wall isn't a bad idea to break up the blank space. If you don't end up with furniture/tv on that wall, you can think about bookcases or storage (make sure you latch them to the wall if you have small kids). Ikea has a traditional line if you want to save a little money there:
http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/S09001868/

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP,

If it's 18' on one wall, what are the rest of the room dimensions?

Yes, this is key. If the room is 18' long, then it probably should best be divided into two smaller groupings, rather than be considered one large room. Can you have, say, a sitting area, and a play area?

The room is roughly square, 18-19' in each dimension. Lets say you are standing in my kitchen looking towards the family room (which is open to the kitchen.) The fireplace, flanked by 2 windows, is the 12 oclock wall. The 3 oclock wall is the blank wall with the TV. At 6 oclock there is no wall...its the kitchen. And a 9 oclock there is a sliding door to the deck and then a double window next to it.

I agree its a large room, but I don't think its large enough to separate into 2 spaces. Was thinking of maybe floating a sectional or 2 sofas though. This would be at 6 and 9 oclock.

Anonymous wrote:OP,

If it's 18' on one wall, what are the rest of the room dimensions?

Yes, this is key. If the room is 18' long, then it probably should best be divided into two smaller groupings, rather than be considered one large room. Can you have, say, a sitting area, and a play area?

Board and batten on the bottom half of the wall maybe?

OP,

If it's 18' on one wall, what are the rest of the room dimensions?

I have a similar wall in my family room and it happens to be our tv wall and we desperately need storage. I plan on using a combination of Ikea Besta cabinets with the shaker style doors to create a wall full of unified storage to include about 6 feet of tall storage in the middle with doors, 4 feet of low storage under the tv on one side and a 7' wide built in desk made from low Besta cabinets with a custom granite (if I can find a reasonably priced remnant) or Formica top on the other.

Strongly considering one of these. Both available with/without hutch piece. Thoughts?


http://www.belfortfurniture.com/item.aspx?itemid=440640777&itemnum=CT1077%2b1077H-AQW

http://www.belfortfurniture.com/item.aspx?itemid=259477427&itemnum=WCK1036%2b1036H-DRF

We have a pretty standard 90's colonial layout with the kitchen open to the family room, both on the back of the house. There is one 18' totally blank wall in the Family Room (no windows, doors or fireplace) that I'm not sure what to do with. It is the obvious place for the TV, which right now is sitting there on the tiny TV cabinet we brought with us from our townhouse.

So, we are debating getting a built-in to span much of the wall ($$$), getting a nice, modern looking entertainment center with hutch, or getting a long console without a hutch and wall-mounting the TV. The latter 2 ideas (to which we are leaning due to cost and fear of the "permanence" of a built-in) would then probably require other accessories on the sides of the TV. I'm not sure I'm skilled enough to do one of those wall collages and not have it come out terrible.

Our design taste is more Pottery Barn/Ballard than it is Crate and Barrel/West Elm, if you know what I mean.

WWYD?