Surprise!
On a whim, I rearranged the living room furniture. We’ve been living here for nearly a year and something felt off about the living room layout. So I decided to switch things up. Luckily, rearranging furniture doesn’t cost a dime, takes little time and is totally reversible – you know, if things don’t work out like you hope they do. Also, my miraculous lifting powers have been likened to an ant’s. Don’t let my petite build fool you. I’m strong when I have to be. Like when an overturned car needs to be removed from a stranger’s mangled body {just kidding, that’s never happened to me} OR when a large piece of furniture needs moved across the room and I’m the only person older than 9 in the house {on the contrary, that happens quite often}.
The leather sofa used to sit perpendicular to the picture window but now it lives in front of it. I posted a sneak peek of the new layout on instagram and a follower said they needed shots of the room from different angles. Being an online peeping Tom of houses myself, I can appreciate that. This post is devoted to images of what our real life living room looks like right now. No styling. No prepping. Heck, no finished walls in some areas. Just straight up giveittomelikeitis. Here ya go.
As soon as I moved the furniture around, I was sold. Putting the sofa under the window totally opened up the room and felt more relaxed. My immediate thought was “this is it!” My second thought was “I hope HH likes it.” I pulled the switcharoo while HH was at work. He didn’t even notice when he got home that day. But after two mum days, he spoke up out of nowhere as if it had just hit him “I really like the furniture this way.”
Sold and sold.
It’s funny how a little thing like changing your furniture layout can change the way you use a room and feel in it. We used this room quite a bit before because it’s our only “sitting room” but now…NOW…we hang out in it. It draws us in. The kids are falling for it too. Mabrey loves standing on the couch, looking out the front window and watching neighbors walk their dogs down the street. {dog-dog!} It’s the place to be. All. the. time.
Reconfiguring the furniture even makes the unfinished fireplace wall look better. Okay, not really. But it does give me a clearer vision for the room.
Clearer vision decision #1: the brick fireplace surround is totally getting painted white. You may recall that the original red brick didn’t bother us enough to paint it ASAP so we were living with it as-is because un-painting brick is not an option.
Clearer vision decision #2: the TV will be framed out and recessed within a simple white tongue and groove feature that reaches to the ceiling. Long-time readers may recall that we had a grandiose idea to hide the flatscreen with a large painting that would raise/lower at the push of a button. But, now, that idea seems a little over-the-top. A little too “you’re trying too hard.” Sorry to everyone who was anticipating that.
I am working around the boob speakers. I hung two mirrors from Joss & Main and I think they’ll do. As much as a mirror can do next to bosom audio devices.
In case you’re wondering where the subwoofer is {I know, it’s weird that I can read your mind like that}, it’s rocking its ginormous cube self on the floor behind a curtain that’s behind a basket that’s behind a chair. Ha. I’ve got you right where I want you, subwoofer.
The media cabinet is vintage and I haven’t done a thing to it. It is screaming for an update. Don’t worry. I have an idea. Isn’t this sliver of wall begging to be a vignette? Much like the old drywall mud drippings on the hearth leftover from renovation are begging to be scraped off. Seriously. I am that busy lazy.
Looking back the other way is our crack house’s front door. I am ashamed.
We don’t use the front door yet. It’s a pain to open. It sticks and the jamb needs rebuilt. There’s a nice gap at the bottom too that I’ve stuffed with a beach towel until we find time + warm weather to tackle the door. Fancy, we are not. The UPS guy automatically brings our packages to the picture window for delivery. He knows.
Clearer vision decision #3: the shoe cabinet and octagon mirror will be relocated to the master bedroom. I love them together – just not here. They’re crowding the door. Plus, HH wants shoe storage in our bedroom. Currently, all of our shoes are stored on a rickety shoe rack in the garage.
Do you like our solution for disguising the wall speakers? It’s just an off-the-shelf wall shelving bracket system that you can get from nearly any home improvement store. We topped it with pine boards that we cut to length, stained and sealed. I LOVE them. I’m going to have fun filling them up.
Clearer vision decision #4: we won’t be DIYing a console table for behind the leather sofa. When the sofa used to live where the gray chair {above} now lives, we thought it needed a sofa table. But the sofa’s new home is under the window so we’re good. HH is way too excited about being able to set his drinking glass down on the slate windowsill behind the couch where it can’t get knocked over by rambunctious boys or a curious lil’ girl. He tells me at least three times a day how much he likes it. That’s what she said.
So what do you think of the recent turn of events in our home? Are you appalled by our living conditions? Has rearranging furniture given you a clearer vision for a room too?
images: Dana Miller for House*Tweaking
budget decor, DIY