Living Room- tiny house for a large family series

Last week I posted about our Entry.  The natural flow would be to move on to the living room, so we will.  This space was one I really had to think about.  We don't have a lot of wiggle room here, but it does work nicely for us.  As you enter the living room the bookshelves are on your left.  Our family loves to read, so these are very important.  I was strategic in the placement of the books though.  The "prettier" ones are out here.  These shelves also display some special pictures and items.  Each one has a special reason for being there.  There had been a keyboard in the middle there, but it was not getting much (if any) use so it is being stored in a closet.  My rocker/recliner gets a lot of use, we call it "the cuddle chair."

Can you see the bin on the lower left side?  It contains Baby playmobil toys.  This allows babies/toddlers easily access some toys in this room.

In the corner, we have a set of Waltzing Hammers (by my Dad, who passed away suddenly nearly 3 years ago).  The hammers give my kids a connection to their grandpa, and I just love having a piece of him here with us. The fireplace up here does not get used much for it's intended purpose.  We tend to store library books here, and there are cushions for extra seating.

This corner over here looks a bit cramped, but it has a purpose.  The little book shelf holds little kid books and toys.  The ottoman holds a queen size sheet that holds all of our legos on one side; the other side holds some sensory toys. The end table holds our projector in the lower compartment; the open compartment holds our current family reading books.  The ottoman is at this angled position partly because it just fits that way, but it also creates a play area for baby.  This corner is actually a playpen!  Until, of course, she learned to climb out. ;)

The sectional seems to be self explanatory, but I will say that we got it because we needed the extra seating.  We spend so much time in this room.  Together.  Usually reading.  This is an important piece of furniture for our family.  The coffee table is a chest that holds photo albums.  The back cubby holds some special books and pieces of art.  Out of sight in that corner is all of our extra pillows and cuddle blankets.  On the end we have the piano bench.  It gets used as an end table, or extra seating at the dining room table, OR even as a piano bench should we ever pull our keyboard out.

*Above the window we have a screen mounted.  It really takes up very little space but works out wonderfully for family movie nights.