Living Room Furniture Moving Party

About two weekends ago we hosted Matthew Mead and a few other friends who were in his magazines last fall – Sandra, Michelle and Amy.  All such wonderful and creative people; so much fun to be around. It was a nice intimate gathering and I planned a lovely party on our back deck click here to see how it looked and also some cocktails in the she shed.  Well, the weather gods weren’t with me.  The heavens opened (quite like when we got married) and we were entertained by the booming thunder, bolts of lightening and torrential rain.

The party moved inside: our sunroom provided a nice view of the storm, but I also told them I was struggling with the set up of our living room. What did they think?

If you remember our living room is quite long – probably 30 feet long but narrow. We also have a few doorways and a wall of windows and a fireplace in this room, all which make room layout a little tricky.  They all offered advice and pondered and thought some more about the space.  I think it was Sandra who first suggested moving the couch. A local friend who also has an open plan house suggested it the weekend before but I really didn’t want to see the back of the couch, nor did I want to see the TV right when you walked in. The last time I showed you the room it looked like this:

Boy, was a I wrong!

So my BBQ turned into a furniture moving party! #DesignHappens with this lot – we moved the couch, the coffee table, the gateleg table, took some chairs from the dining room and office.  Luke was rolling his eyes.  Ha! Ha! But he’s so happy with the new layout (except for rewiring the TV which I made him do before)…

We successfully created two rooms from one and only shopped my home.

The gateleg moved closer to the fireplace and now you can see the beautiful built in cabinet by the fireplace.

Opposite the fireplace are the French style chairs from Spain.  I shared them here before:

Pretty flowers from Sandra’s garden. Gifts from friend’s homes are the best, right?

You may remember the Daisie desk I painted to match the blue in these chairs, click here.

The mantel has some late summer decor courtesy of Matthew and Amy’s homes!

Here’s how things are looking in the other part of the room –

The French chairs were pulled from my office (still need to do that room over) and our dining room.

Sometimes I find it quite hard to photograph this room because it isn’t the brightest room in our house but it is certainly the coziest. This is where have movie night and eat popcorn. Where we play board games and lounge.  This new layout has really improved things and I’m so happy we could decorate with what we already had.

The TV is here now:

We plan on moving the sailboat photograph to above the black table and possibly building a TV console to fit competely on that wall.  I’m just so in love with that little cabinet.  It is from my childhood and my mom found it antiquing – she used to store my craft supplies and book reports in there.  We’re also thinking of building a console table for behind the sofa.

What do you think? Do you like the set up?

Oh, one more thing, a bit of a takeaway – you don’t need to go out and buy all new things.  Maybe you have just the right table or lamp in another room.  Maybe if you just move the couch or the TV or a chair you’ll feel like you have a new room.  Maybe your husband will roll his eyes, like mine, but he’ll be happy in the end.  We feel like we have a whole new room (or rooms) and I’m so happy about it.  I still want to do the fireplace though 😉

Source List:

• Wall Color – Benjamin Moore Mascarpone in Matte
• Curtains – Linen, Ikea
• Standing lamps – Target
• Table Lamp – HomeGoods
• Faux Fur Throw – Frontgate
• Arm Chair – Ikea
• French Chairs (near couch) – World Market
• French Chairs in sitting area – Thrift Store finds
• Desk – Painted in chalk paint®, click here for makeover
• Coffee Table – Painted in chalk paint®, click here for makeover
• Sailboat photographs – Crate & Barrel
• Faux Orchid – HomeGoods
• Pillow on White Chair – Joss & Main
• Pillows on Couch – Pottery Barn
• Couch – Craigslist, click here to read my excitement at finding that!
• Venetian Table – thrift store