At 12 feet wide, this Jersey City town house couldn’t accommodate its furnishings. “If I see something cute, I buy it,” says Winston Gitonga, 34, who lives in the house with his wife, Charmaine Delarama, 35, and their daughter, Sibel, 1. As a result, says redecorator* Dawn Falcone, owner of Dawn Falcone Lifestyles (www.dawnfalconelifestyles.com), in New York City, “the family was always tripping over everything. I’ve never had to deal with so many chairs.”

The Solution

After getting rid of bulky items, like “a large, manly media center,” Falcone started to rethink the room. “When the family had people over, everyone crowded around the TV, and no one sat anywhere else,” she says. To keep the TV from being the focal point, she carved out two distinct zones: one for conversation and one for entertainment. Falcone shifted the sofa to the opposite wall so that “it faces the home’s original coal-burning fireplace rather than a blank wall.” A sturdy ottoman found in the bedroom replaced the mini stool–cum–coffee table, while an acrylic chair swiped from the kitchen filled out the seating area without adding visual heft. For the entertainment nook, she placed the TV on a slender cabinet near the windows and traded a small area rug for a larger sisal. “Our guests love the new arrangement,” says Gitonga. “They say, ‘Wow, why didn’t you think of that before?’”

*Redecorators typically charge an average of $300 a room. For more information, visit www.weredesign.com.