What a lovely room you have. My first thought is to establish where your traffic area is. Each room has a natural traffic flow and you will find it frustrating if you have to divert around furniture. Breaking the room up into zones, i.e. tv watching, play space, dining area etc will make the room feel larger and you will use the space more efficiently. When it comes to tv placement, consider where the light comes in. You will want the screen placed where the light from windows won't fall on it, or where you can close a curtain. Also, whether you want to see the tv from the kitchen, or see the view the same time as watching tv. Consider if you want the space to be a conversation area, where the tv doesn't dominate, or be a dedicated tv watching space. There is a lot to think about and decisions will be based on your family's lifestyle. As for furniture, Ikea have some great items suitable for children and toy storage that are reasonably priced. For the lounge, choose the best you can afford, for the sake of comfort. Try getting one with washable slip covers. The same goes for the rug. A good quality wool rug will last a long time, comes up well with cleaning and can even be redyed at a later stage.

Hi! I agree with anniau. Your Living & Dining have heaps of space to furnish. I've designed smaller areas than yours and it was furnished perfectly. It really comes down to the the size of the furnitures you have to be in proportion with the areas minding the general traffic within the areas. Also I would suggest that your opening to the bed hallway relocated to your kid's retreat so you have the opportunity to extend your kitchen and watch the kids while you're in the kitchen :) I would place the fridge to the opposite side as well so it can be easily accessed from your entertaining areas easily. Just my 2 cents. :) I've attached a furnishing sample I did and a marked up plan of your house.

In any event, I think the upper half of brick cavity where logs are stored could be modified and used as a place to mount your TV. I'm thinking some sort of structure could be built into the cavity and the TV mounted to it. This would require the services of a qualified carpenter to ensure the entire structure is properly and securely anchored to the brickwork, and to ensure it can support the weight of the TV, especially if a pivot mount is used. Barring this idea, is there adequate space in the opening between fam rm and kitchen/dining area which could accommodate a purpose-built unit for your TV? In other words, built directly to the right of the brickwork?

Hi Robert You have a lovely well lit space as for entertainment cabinets we are loving the Coridoor series BDI Media Cabinet. Having a low lying cabinet allows you to keep your sense of space whilst hiding your home theatre equipment and cords. The Oak Media Cabinet works well with your beach theme too!