Tuesday, November 12, 2013

The Living Room {In Progress}: rearranging

Last week I posted about different furniture arrangements for the living room.   As I keep saying, furniture placement is not one of my many skills.  This weekend I rearranged the living room for the third (fourth? fifth? umpteenth?) time since moving in.  (You can see the previous arrangements in this post.)

As discussed, we moved the larger tv back into the playroom.  This freed up the floor plan to work around the fireplace rather than the tv.




We brought in the lego coffee table and put it under the window.


The kids refer to our formal dining room as "the lego room" and usually have the legos spread from one end to the other of the dining table, so I am giving in gracefully.

I still wanted a tv in this room, though, so we brought the playroom tv back in here and propped it up under the stairs. We have a children's chair and some floor cushions that the kids can use when playing video games or watching tv here.  (I need to order a base for the tv so it will stand up.)



All in all, I'd say this is a successful rearranging.  It is still not the ideal--that tv is in a weird spot, and I have legos everywhere, but its much easier to see legos on a white carpet than a red persian and my feet will thank me--but with each reincarnation we keep inching closer to the best way.

My plans last week had me buying some sort of shelving unit, but I don't think I want any shelves back behind the sofa.  I'm happy to report that this rearranging cost me a sum total of $27 for a longer tv cable.  Hmm, wait, plus $60 for a new tv base.  And technically I bought two new white lampshades for the orange lamps.  But the actual rearranging was only $27.  All furniture is already owned, just put someplace different, and no new furniture necessitated.  I am shopping craigslist for another armchair, but I'm feeling picky and I'm in no rush.

One thing I do love about this room, regardless of how the furniture is arranged, is the fabric panel curtains.  They are so colorful they pull in every single mismatched, leftover decor item I have in these two rooms.  I have green lamps, yellow lamps, blue mirrors, red chairs, turquoise lamps and trays, yellow/green/blue/red pillows...and they all work cohesively because of these curtains.  I wish I could make them into actual curtains--currently they are fabric panels hanging on ring clips--but for now, they are a great choice.


Are you a serial furniture rearranger?  I would prefer not to be, if I could only get the arrangement right the first time.  

10 comments:

  1. ha ha- that last line cracks me up! :) i love the colors and the artwork!

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  2. Feels like it's coming together. And feels like a room real people really live in. I think it always takes a while. You have to be in space before you really know how you want to live in it. More than two years in, we think we've finally landed on how we want our living room to work--but always reserve the right to change our minds. Again!

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    1. Yes, exactly, it takes a while of living in a space before getting it right--we lived in our house in Haddon Township for three years before finally figuring out how to arrange the living room (right before we sold it and moved on). I have high hopes that we will eventually get it right.

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  3. I like this better than how it was when I visited a few months ago. It's looking really nice. :)

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  4. Me Too!!! I always warn my husband, "Babe. I'm rearranging furniture in my head again. You might have to help me later." It seems to go over better that way. We've lived in our home for 6 years now and I'm still constantly vexed by our living room arrangement. One day I'll get it right. Maybe. It's fun to play, so maybe it will never be "done".

    I'm really loving what you've done with your living room now! I love the colors and the patterns. You do color so well! That wooden armchair looks great right next to the fireplace!

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    1. thank you! Whenever the Mister hears "honey, can you come in here for a second..." he knows to run the other way because there will be lifting of furniture involved.

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  5. I love this room! It's looking really great.

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  6. I am not a serial furniture re-arranger - there just do not seem to be a lot of options for re-arranging furniture in our house, but I do swap small pieces of furniture such as side tables and lamps. We don't have kids, so we as long as our rooms have a good spot for us to read and relax, it works for us.

    I think you live and learn - as you use the space you realize what works for you and what doesn't. Love the white walls and the colorful drapes and accessories. It looks like a great family house!

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  7. Awesome, and I love that the legos flow in so seamlessly! They are the "off" thing that makes this room work and feel livable.

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  8. This looks awesome!! I love how open and inviting it is- flow between the entry through to the dining room is great- and the panels plus the art ties everything together. And I think that the smaller tv there for video games and maybe 2nd kid tv watching actually makes sense- it doesn't take over the purpose of the living room but it acknowledges that you have kids doing kid things most of the time- not dinner parties. And it even looks like there is space there in btwn the living/dining areas so that is a good use of it. Win!!

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