The Challenge: To create a balanced room arrangement that takes advantage of the fireplace as the natural focal point. The wall-hugging arrangement focuses on the television, which isn't visually weighty enough to serve as an anchor. In addition, small objects along the mantel shelf and the prints above them form two dark parallel lines that don't relate to each other.

See below for our "After" photo and read how these challenges were solved.

The Solution: Pull seating pieces away from the wall into an L-shape grouping centered on the fireplace.

Rearrange the seating pieces to put the prettiest piece (a high-backed love seat) in a show-off position, so it's one of the first things visitors see when they enter the room. With the seating group opening toward the room entrance, the room feels more welcoming.

Pull the furniture in from the walls to create a path behind the chairs and in front of the fireplace. The homeowners have two small children who also benefit from this new traffic path: It's much more interesting for crawling and playing than the large empty area of the previous arrangement.

Use tall plants to tie the wall art to nearby furnishings. Connecting wall art to a reference point, such as the architecture or furnishings, integrates the artwork into the overall scheme.

Build a coffee table, end tables, and an entertainment center using modular cubes. As the young homeowners acquire more serious, permanent furnishings, the white cubes can move upstairs into a child's bedroom or into a home office.