Rearrange!

In trying to get the house ready for painters to come, I cleared out all the extra stuff and was left with only furniture. This was a good time to experiment with furniture placement. I took pictures so my team could see the possibilities ahead of their visit, and perhaps 'vote' on their favorites.








In these first three photos, the long couch is against the East wall, and the love seat is coming out at an 'L' angle from it, into the room. The space between the end of the love seat and the wall is narrow. As you can see, I moved the piano, which was no small task, truth be told. My feeling as I sat in this little area was that it was LITTLE. Of course behind this area there is ample room for what we have dreamed as a library, but I almost feel like it magnifies the smallness of the space. While having the fireplace as the focus of the sitting area is ideal, these couches are too big, and this space a bit small to not feel crowded.


Next I opened the space entirely, and put the long couch further south on the East wall, and the love seat against the wall formerly known as the "piano" wall opposite it. This opened the space in a lovely way. Knox was drawn into the area because there was so much room for back walkovers and handstands. In this scenario the library would be over across from the fireplace, and would share space with the piano. I love the feeling of this layout; it was open and large, but I did NOT like the fact that to get to the family room, you had to walk between the couches, or in other words, the traffic lane went right through the middle of the sitting area instead of behind or around it. Here are two pictures of that layout, including Knox and Sophie and their acrobatics. I should note that the coffee table in the corner, covered in paint supplies is not part of the equation, but was just left there for want of where else to stash it. As you can see in the second picture below, the hall was already full of stuff.




Finally, I put the small couch in the Southeast corner and the long one parallel to it coming out from the east wall. Although this is still a small sitting area, it allowed for a comfortably wide walkway from the front door to the family room entrance. I also like that the "formal" living area is the first thing one walks into upon entering the house. Again the library in this scenario would be at the north end of the room and share space with the piano. But get this: my decorating wheels are turning so much, that I actually considered doing away with the piano all together. Where it sits now (between the fireplace wall and the window on the north wall), would be a wonderful place for my five 4' IKEA free floating shelves. Am I crazy or what?




Well, that's it for now. Let me know what you think, Dream Team.