Re-arranged Living

I posted a sneak peek at the "big changes" we were doing in our apartment a week or two ago. We moved furniture all over the place, deep cleaned, de-cluttered, and made a lot of purchases. It's been a little crazy, but exciting.

The living room is finished enough to take a ton of pictures and show it off! I just put artwork back on the walls last night, which means it's done. And not moving for a while. After living with the new layout for a few weeks, I'm in love. Let me show you.





Here's how our apartment has looked since we've moved in (I've shuffled furniture here and there, but always returned to this basic layout).

It worked. The TV didn't catch a glare from the huge windows, the couch was comfortable for TV watching, we had enough room to eat. But it was crunched and uncomfortable. If I was cooking in the kitchen and Jeff was sitting on the couch, I talked to the back of his head. If we had people over, we all couldn't fit on the couch, but the kitchen table was behind it. The two chairs against the couch were cramped, and it just felt disjointed. But what are you gonna do? If we moved the TV, it'd catch a glare. It was the only wall that worked.

Then we finally took the plunge and upgraded our TV. It was going to be too large to fit our current entertainment center, but we didn't find one we liked and didn't want the added expense. So we tore apart our current entertainment center. Much to my disbelief, the top sections popped (mostly) right off the bottom, leaving a simple low to the ground unit. There's a couple scrapes and chips from the process, but who looks that closely at the unit anyways?

I don't know what sparked all the decisions to change. I missed my decorative space. Jeff wanted more room for his movies. The new TV wouldn't have the same glare as a glass tube TV. Jeff came up with the idea of moving bookshelves from the office out into the living room. I came up with the idea of moving the entertainment center and totally changing the living room (with some inspiration from a friend a few floors down!). We fiddled and I got OCD about angles and order and everything else Jeff rolls his eyes at.

And here's how it looks now!

Woah, right?

Everything got flipped. The only thing in the mostly same spot is the now leafless kitchen table. Jeff pointed out how it's mostly just the two of us, and even if I love the larger table, pulling out the leaf saves some space.

I have a hard time admitting he's right, but he is this time. And we still have some wiggle room to add the leaf whenever we have more people in here.

This is the wall the TV used to be on. I hemmed and hawed about moving the couch this way, because we'll be sitting with our backs to that gorgeous view. But really. Most of the time we have the blinds closed for privacy, or to block the vicious sunset. And it opens up the living room SO much to move the couch this way, so the view will have to be enjoyed elsewhere. That big hunk of couch splitting up the small room wasn't working anymore.

I did a small collage here, with less frames and less black. I'm trying to embrace more color, I think. The wall still looks so bare in comparison to the movie overload of the past.

The set-up is basically the same, just rotated. We've got the couch and bean bag chair, with the couch facing the TV. We watch so many movies, it wouldn't work any other way. Believe me, I tried.

I'm still getting used to the bookshelves being out here. But I like it. The shelves are more substantial than the DVD shelves, so they fit better. The two shelves and the entertainment center fill up the big wall, which works. We get to display all our favorite books, which may not be as impressive as the movies, but we're always buying more. And I have room for all the decorative items I love.

We started the his and hers shelves in the office, and they work out. So we kept them that way. I filled them in with random items and we both picked out our favorites. Would you believe we made a pile of books to donate? I know, we were surprised too. We both combed through our collections and filled up two reusable bags stuffed full of books we don't need to keep anymore. As much as I adore my books, what's the point of keeping one I won't read again? Not much.

I put my favorite artwork right where our eyes would mostly be - by the TV. I love my little Japanese painting and the gift from Jeff that says "Borus Home" in Kanji. It makes me happy to have those front and center in the room. I also splurged on some actual baskets for the slimmed down center. I used to have homemade cardboard boxes that I made and spray painted black. Not the prettiest, but did the job. I went for pretty this time, and I love them. They make the cheap and old unit look totally different. They're a really pretty cherry color that matches some of the things on the bookshelves.

Another angle of the new layout. I'm loving how it's turned out. You can be anywhere in the room and talk to someone anywhere else. That didn't work in the old layout.

It's also much more open to the kitchen. We cook at home the majority of the time and I enjoy cooking and baking when I have the time, so a lot of time is spent in that place. I love that I can see the TV while I'm standing in the kitchen, that I can talk to Jeff no matter where he's sitting, and that I can walk easily from the kitchen to the couch. I used to have to make a big "C" shape from the opening of the kitchen, around the table and couch, and back over to sit down. Too many steps when I'm hungry.

Here's the view while I'm standing at the sink. See how much better it looks? I love how I don't have to look at the back of the couch all the time. It blocked half the TV when I was standing in the kitchen or sitting at the kitchen table before.

The best part is definitely the new TV. We purchased a 40" Sony. It's amazing. We hooked it up with a Sony Surround Sound System I bought for Jeff and it's been fun catching all the different sounds in our favorite shows and movies. When we were watching Burn Notice before we had moved the DVD shelves out of the room, the surround sound actually knocked some movies over during an explosion! It's a good system, although obviously it's turned down pretty low since we live in an apartment building.

Here's some more details just because I was having fun snapping away with my camera:

I finally have a place to display my sake set!

I found these planters on sale at the BX yesterday for $0.79 each! They're heavy ceramic glazed pots, and gorgeous. I couldn't walk away, even though Jeff harassed me about all the dead plants I've owned. I plan to use them for herbs once it's warm enough to put them on the balcony.

I had picked up some baskets at a furniture store a while back. We're trying to get better at corraling some of the junk that accumulates throughout each week. Jeff has a basket for his pocket stuff - wallet, keys, etc. I have a basket for my lotions and all those things in both the bathroom and bedroom. We have baskets everywhere.

I seriously love these baskets. They're sturdy and cute. And only one of them has anything in it! One is filled with all the Xbox stuff Jeff has - games, controllers, headsets, etc. I haven't figured out what to put in the other ones yet. They used to hold Season DVD's, but those have moved elsewhere now.




So what do you think?

Before:

After:

I think it's a big improvement. Jeff and I have been enjoying it thoroughly. Next I'll show you the almost done office. In case you were curious where all those movies went...