Thursday, February 16, 2012

New Living Room

So, anyway, I was getting really tired of how our living room was laid out and was trying to think of a way to rearrange it to make it more liveable and guest friendly. Not that we have guests very often, but if someone came over there was really no way to sit and chat with the way the room was laid out. Which was entertainment center/bookshelves along the one big wall, couch in the middle of the room in front of the TV (where else are you going to put your couch but in front of the TV) and then the dining table along the other wall. To get to the back door you either walked in front of the couch or behind it.

So, my idea was to somehow put the entertainment center by the back sliding door with the couch facing it to where you could sit and look out at the back yard, enjoying our not yet finished yard and flower beds, and then eventually we could get a comfy chair that would face the couch so that you could sit and have a conversation.

Well, our entertainment center is really too big to fit on that wall by the back door, so we though about only using part of it but then what to do with the odd piece of bookshelf that really can't stand alone because it's made to fit against the TV cabinet and it would just look stupid standing alone. We tried it out with just the center cabinet and one bookshelf and that looked good but again, what to do with the spare bookshelf?

Keith had an inspiration and fixed the bookshelf to where you could make an L shaped entertainment center which would then fit in the corner.

Here is our new living room. We can't believe how much roomier it seems now and how cozy our little TV and couch area is now. The cats were of course all WHAT IN THE HELL ARE YOU DOING WITH MY FURNITURE? but they have gotten used to it now. As we were moving furniture around (and some of that stuff is pretty darn heavy!) they were jumping up on everything and climbing into the empty shelves and the drawers that were sitting on the floor, removing drawers from furniture while moving it helps lighten the load some.


We put the dining table behind the couch so now we can see what we are eating because it sits under the fan light, plus we can still watch the news while eating. Yeah, I know we are supposed to have nice dinner conversation while eating, not watch TV, but we have gotten in the news watching while eating habit. Plus now if I am in the kitchen cooking I can now see the TV. You know, for watching those cooking shows and following the recipes. Yeah, right.


This is how the other side of the room looks from the table. Please disregard the spot on the wall that needs painting and the pictures that now need rearranging. Notice the lack of a cat condo. We decided that they could just go into the bedroom to use their condo and so far they haven't seemed to mind since they spend the better part of the day in there sleeping on the bed anyway.


Close up of new cozy TV corner.


And new cozy dining area.


And as an added bonus, the sun shines in the back door and now makes a big sunny spot where the couch used to be. As you can see, the cats like to line up in the sunny spot and enjoy the warmth. Sorry, I didn't realize that Mimi was licking her bottom when I took this picture.

So, I'm really liking my new living room and except for the part where you have to move the dining table around, it's much easier to vacuum and we keep looking around amazed at how much space we created in there.

2 comments:

Margo said...

The new arrangement looks really good, especially where the dining table is, right handy to the kitchen but not blocking any traffic pattern. The room does look a lot bigger, I think.

DancingMooney said...

Awesome! I love moving furniture around, always fun to do something fresh! ;)