I don't see the "lost cause" issue? It is perfectly fine to have the left/right surrounds slightly in front of you, in fact it is recommended. It appears you have room in front of the opening on the right side, unless the drawing is way off scale?

If you do it like the picture it appears you won't have much seperation from your left/right and rear speakers.

JM, as Randy has pointed out, it doesn't really appear that you have a serious problem. The couch appears in your diagram to be directly to the side of the open areas which apparently are a door and window, therefore pre-empting the ideal location for side surrounds(when back surrounds are also present), but if you mount them about 6' up at the front edges of the door/window, the distance they'd be in front of the listeners would be relatively small. If the couch could be moved a couple feet forward it'd be even better.

First I apologize my "side-view" diagram was not complete - I am going to create an in-wall A/V Rack next to the extended opening on the right side. Because of the sheer size of this built-in cabinetry I really have no option of wall mounting the RIGHT surround.... well atleast not without placing it 5/6 feet in frount of the couch - which I just wont do.

The more and more I think about it - becomes a question of 7.1 (with surrounds in the ceiling) or going for 5.1 setup instead.

Even with 5.1, your left/right surrounds should go to the sides of the listener, unless you have no other options. If nothing else, make sure they are spread out as wide as possible, and maybe angled in towards the listener if possible.