Decorating an L-Shaped Living Room

I've looked at dozens of decorating sites and can't find anyone else with a similar problem.

I have an L-shaped living room; not a living room/dining room combo.

The house is older, and a kitchen/dining area was added on later so what was originally the dining room area is now part of the living room.

The vertical portion of the "L" is the old dining area. I had built-in floor to ceiling bookshelves installed at the top of the "L", and that really helped to visually pull the long hall more toward the bulk of the living room.

Unfortunately though, I can't find any furniture arrangement that can make the rest of that area look like anything other than a place you just walk through to get to the new dining room.

I'd really like it to have it seem more like one room rather than a room with a weird little off-shoot.

An additional concern, there are no less than 5 doors off the living room, and one is a set of double doors.

It is also a fairly small room.

I'd love to hire a professional to solve this for me, but that kind of cost isn't really in my budget.

Thanks to anyone with ideas.....