Thanks Ensign! The magnolia comment was just about a temporary measure as the majority of the room is already magnolia and we have some leftover from recent touch ups to our rental. Definitely won't be magnolia long term. We originally had a room by room plan, but got waylaid as we had to rip out carpets and wallpaper from upstairs immediately to get rid of smells. Downstairs we haven't touched the kitchen/utility, although we have had to strip both halls, again due to smell. With the exception of dealing with the floor, our bedroom will be finished first as it doesn't need any tradesman input. Everything else will have to be done in bits and pieces as and when we can afford to get trades in to plaster/ deal with pointing outside causing damp and so on.

love it very elegant

Thanks a lot all. Caroline I love your renderings, thanks so much for your time. But unfortunately our kids (mainly the older one) doesn’t play alone on his room so we need the toys in the living area :/ I’ve thought about some of the other combinations before but there are some problems: piano cannot go next to the radiator, and TV cannot go on top of piano cause then it is too high. The wall next to window has a stupid shape but we may still be able to move the piano between window and patio door, and take the toys next to fireplace. I didn’t want to put TV on top of toys initially because of the risk of damage by our careless kids and their potentially careless friends. It’d have been much easier without the kids but hey ho, we said we’ll keep them :P

That is a narrow space to work with. Ever thought of refilling in that archway between the lounge and dining room and opening up the kitchen to the dining area? If that's not possible I'm sorry but I think your fireplace would be best removed. Maybe pop a wall mounted ethanol one that takes up hardly any space. Maybe a corner lounge in the front left corner and a single armchair in the walkway. check the depth of the lounge, you don't want aything too deep as it's eating into your floorspace. Wall mount the TV. Slim shelves for books etc on the same wall. The table would benefit from a bench seat on one side. So when you are not needing all four sides of the table you can push the table back against the wall with the bench under. Remove the bookcase, add a rug under the table and one under the sofa area. Overall just think slim furniture, check your measurements when shopping. I bought a well priced sofa from IKEA, it's deep and comfy but the back is slim and works well in my small lounge. Lastly, keeping as much off the floor really helps to make the place feel larger. So a sofa with legs on show, wall mounted shelves etc. and the old trick of a mirror can really help.