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[Nonametoday]

[FLtricia]

The room is very narrow which makes furniture placement difficult.  That said, it looks like a waiting room to me.  The fireplace seems wasted all by itself across from doors.  Bottom line, this room is a pass for me.

[Oznell]

@Nonametoday ,  it's true about the narrowness, but so many gloriously venerable townhouses and row houses in both Europe, and here, in New York, D.C. and Boston, etc., that have always had that particular challenge. 

When you enlarge the picture especially, you can see how much potential the room has, with its lovely high ceilings, tall windows, architectural details, medallion in ceiling, the original plaster freize going all around the top of the walls, the chevron style floor, marble fireplace etc.

I'd have to attempt to square the room off, by creating two separate convo areas.  In the half that's near the windows, I'd have a shorter couch, love seat size or a settee, with two graceful occasional chairs, French probably, to replace the clunky ones.  The midcentury vibe isn't working here. 

Might have the settee facing the windows, with a sofa table behind it, with the two light scale chairs opposite the settee. Banish those speakers (?) or whatever they are!  Ditto the coffee table, in favor of one in dark wood, maybe Ming style. 

Would try to keep the long antique pier mirror, those are so choice.  Have a better, low table underneath, antique.  Get a better, luxurious larger rug that all pieces of furniture could be on.

Curtains or dark, reclaimed wood shutters at the windows.

Edit the art, re-hang, paying attention to the molding that it hangs over.  Get rid of the ceramics, start over.  

In the fireplace area, that's difficult too, b/c it's opposite the double doors.  I'd have two club chairs pulled up to face each other across the hearth, with a tea table in between, for a little island of intimacy.

Have some table lamps, sconces, and a floor lamp creating pools and layers of light.

That's probably how I'd start, but it's hard to tell until you're physically in the room, of course.

[shoekitty]

I wonder if it is a waiting room for a lawyer, or plastic surgeon...high end , of course lol. It is narrow  I might remove chairs and place them differently. Other than that. A small settee is th answer, even if placed out a few feet, ans place chairs differently.  Maybe ridding the couch is the answer, a 1930 upholstered chaise lounge or something.   The architectural details in room are wonderful.  There is a lot of clutter with art work, and plants. Where did you find this photo?

[Carmie]

It's a beautiful formal room furnished with super casual furniture...that should be in the family room basement.

It doesn't look like much thought went into it.  Could be hand-me-down items or brought from a previous lived in home.

[Love my grandkids]

@Nonametoday  I LOATHE the light fixture and the wall decor. The only thing I like is the greenery by the windows. Can't stand narrow rooms like this.

[Nonametoday]

@shoekitty @Oznell @FLtricia 

I agree that it is a very long, narrow room, very European, I think with the architecture, the fireplace and the doors but it could be Boston or NYC.  I do believe that at one time this was a long double room, and that the fireplace is in the middle and perhaps on the other end, if this is early to America (as in Boston, NYC, Richmond) that the fireplace was in the middle of the room and the doors opened to the middle and on one end was a sitting area for men who, after dinner smoked pipes and talked about politics, while ladies sat on the other end and discussed what ladies discuss today, children, clothes, decor and those who were do-gooders and provided areas for "smart women," who had no other place to meet.

However, having said all that, in order to square this off, I would pretend this was a room onto itself and I would place a chaise facing the windows and leave enough space that others could walk past it to sit in the chairs or the sofa.  You could divide it with tall plants.  

The other end of the room could be used for d ining.  I think this is a long room and that the owner probably has something on the other end but some of the apartments in NYC and homes in Beacon Hill are long like this.

[D Kay]

Would hate to have to have a living room in that space.  Seems like it's at the end of a bigger room.   Don't like plants in front of windows or odd statue in front of fireplace.

[gtx]

@Nonametoday  Needs a smaller, more narrow sofa, a smaller coffee table. The chairs need to be smaller or at least pulled away from the wall. Artwork should hang inside of of wall molding, not on top. Find something smaller that fits inside. Speakers should be hidden. Orange flowers need to go. Fireplace is nice but don't like family pictures on the mantle.

[Nonametoday]

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@Carmie wrote:

It's a beautiful formal room furnished with super casual furniture...that should be in the family room basement.

It doesn't look like much thought went into it.  Could be hand-me-down items or brought from a previous lived in home.

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@Carmie 

Actually, you could be right or this might be very high-end furniture and I would say it might be in France where a sofa like that would cost thousands of dollars. 

Casual furniture like this in the city in France is of great quality and very high priced. Even in the USA, a good leather sofa is probably $5000.00.  Several years ago when good leather was all that was sold but now many places like Ashley Furniture, Wayfair and on-line cheap stores sell cheap leather.