Long, narrow living room !

Going crazy because of our long and narrow living room!

It's 320cm wide by 8 meters long. It has a large window at the front but because of an extension at the other side it has very little light at the other end.

We brought our huge (but seriously comfy) sofas from our previous house but we're thinking they're too wide for our narrow room.

Looking for advice on how to organise the room in terms of seating areas. Thinking of going to an interior designer.....

any advice out there gratefully received!!!!

You don't mention whether there is anything else such as a fireplace in the room. I would get a very large mirror and put it on the wall opposite the window to reflect light in the room. Also painting the room in a light pastel colour brightens it considerably. I don't know about the suite but I would imagine an L-shaped couch that would fit at the end wall and in one corner would use up less space and also shorten the room a little bit. It's hard to make suggestions when I don't know if there is a fireplace there but even with one I would think the L-shaped couch could work. A couple of occasional armchairs could be used as well.

I agree on the large mirror thing, although it's meant to be bad for atmospheric and energetic reasons to reflect the natural light back at the window so I would try to angle it so the new reflected light isn't facing directly out the window. also artificial natural lighting can be good! a lovely tall room(Floor) lamp. Wall lights give the long what I image cold feeling of the room some warmth and it won't seem as long and drawn out" A nice corner unit will make the room seem more square! and using a brighter colour on the shorter walls will highlight them and make them appear more even with the other longer walls!! Much like dressing your body for it's shape you dress a room like wise! my English,,,eeek clearly I wasn't concentrated too much writting this! lol

Artifical Natural that's a contradiction ha ah! but natural looking light is what i meant! lol

Tks for the replies!

It's 8 mts long by 3.20 mts wide. There was a fireplace but as it faces the door to the hall it was a really odd place so we took it out! There remains a chimney place though.

In short at one end is large window to front garden. plenty of light here. To other end there are side opening wood/glass doors to extension (not built by us) which is dining room. Dining room has french windows to garden - we added - but little light enters the living room from it as it is a step down from the living room.

At the moment have two seats at the window - for reading. Have sofa set at other end but are around the tv - pretty ugly. Also not a lot of seating here (enough for 4 people) as sofa and armchair so huge! That end is beside the doors to dining room so have nice view on garden but because there's a step down to dining room little light get into it. Dark! I hate dark rooms!!!!

Can't have a mirror opposite the window as there are doors through to the dining room at the end of the 8 mts long room!

Have lighter colours on the end walls and wall lights in various places. Have tried lots and at this stage thinking of calling in a professional because considering getting two sofa sets (for each area of the room) which are narrower than those we have. We'd be spending a lot on re-fitting the room so want to get it right. LOVE the sofa set we have but it's too big.

Can you knock any wall into another room to make it more open plan and therefore giving you a larger room.

I would have considered this but the problem here is that the room we could knock into also has very little natural light !!!

The people who lived in the house before us did a couple of bizarre extensions!

I had similiar problem with original family home I am currently renovating.It is 6 metres+ long ,not sure of exact width.There was an old range jutting out taking up lot of floor space.The advice I got was to get rid of solid fuel range ,knock wall surrounding range to go back into original fireplace [1935 house] then put in small stove in area where original fireplace was. The existing range was opposite entrance door so space to pass was a real problem. I was advised by architect to build a small alcove on opposite wall from fireplace ,possibly put mirror in alcove to give room greater width.I have completed fireplace but not alcove yet.
There is a sun room adjoining one end of room with 2 small doors leading into lounge.The advice was have windows on these doors clear glass and window overhead doors to maximise light entering room. Not sure if this advice is of help.

I have a long thin sittingroom like yours - although it sounds like it probably gets more light. I put matching navy and white stripped but simple curtains on all the windows to link together the space, i painted the room white with the two smaller walls at each end painted a kindof beige stone colour - it brings in the walls a little and makes the room feel square. I fitted shelvesfloor to ceiling in the alcoves therefore removing all small but cluttery items from sidetables/ floor etc and the gave the room two uses. At the front end is a round table with chairs - i only have two there. They can be those soft covered dining chairs and it's great for the labtop/ special meal - i sometimes have breakfast there instead of the kitchen, any studying or paperwork is done there. The other end at the back has a two seater and a two and half seater sofas- comfortable but not too big for the room - its really important that you don't use furhiture thats too big. They are positioned in a L shape around the fire place at that end and with the Tv is with its back to the table and in a way slightly divides the room. i'm sure there are other ways of doing it but this kindof two room uses in one tends to work quite well in a long narrow room. It makes it look more spacious and can also make each end look cosy in its own way. Might be worth considering for you.

I have the same sort of arrangement in a long narrow room as thrifty. It was 2 rooms with double doors but I took out the doors as the back room opens onto an extension. Dividing the space into 2 zones is a good idea. We have the tv in the darker end with a very big sofa in front of it and a rug on the floor in front of the sofa. In the bright end we have a sofa and 2 arm chairs again with a rug. Lots of bookshelves along walls in between. Neutral background walls and curtains with coloured furniture one light rug and one dark one. Nice and cozy and works well.

If the extension is single-storey, could you put in velux/rooflights to brighten up that end of the room?

Where do you enter the room?
Possibly break it into two spaces architecturally - designate one section for the "sitting around the tv with sofas" and another section for the bookshelves/library/study space for example.
Use room dividers/ chinese folding screens / different lighting etc. to do this.