Arranging the Living Room

Today I attempted to arrange furniture in the living room.

Today was a total and complete failure.

We have one sofa of our own. It was Grandma's. It's actually a sofa bed, and I lost many friends in college after they helped me move it in or out of dorm rooms because it weighs about as much as a baby elephant and likes to open and unfold randomly, as is its wont.

But that item is going into the office, which is where it lived until 2001. So some of the new-to-us furniture is needing to be arranged in the living room.

At the auction, I bought Grandma's amazing mid-century green two-piece sofa. It was the most expensive item I bought that day, but it was totally worth it. It's awkwardly shaped and each section weighs as much as a baby apatosaurus. Adam says that the next time it leaves the house, it will not come back. And that it isn't allowed to go into the basement. But it's fun to jump on and has lots of cushions for building forts. The girls like it. So take that, Adam.

I also bought a white love seat, an orange and red recliner, a green rocking arm chair, an end table to go with it's partner that Grandma gave me in 2006ish, and a coffee table with glass inserts. I bought other stuff, too, but things like a large dinner table or a box of ceramic birds clearly don't belong in this conversation. We're just talking large lounging type furniture here.

There is no way to fit all of these things in the living room, still have the window unblocked for girls to stare out of, still have room for at least one book shelf, have a place for the TV, and have room for all the toys essential to the living room.

The way I had arranged them on my grid map was vetoed early this month. I don't remember why, but it seemed like a big deal at the time. Oh! I think it had to do with the looking-out-the-window thing. The girls love the windows. They can see birds, squirrels, and grouchy mommies fighting with piles of corn husks. I've been guilted into leaving at least some of the window clear.




 Coffee table is in front of the right side of sofa. Splitting the sofa in half was the best way to use the whole space.




So now we've got the green sofa parts, coffee table, and one end table arranged and they're okay. I have a space marked for the other end table, TV, and for one book shelf. But I don't know for sure what to do about everything else. White love seat is probably going to the basement. We need a sofa down there, and it's small enough that Adam will be thrilled to take it downstairs instead of the couch pieces. Green rocking recliner is going into the office is probably going into the office since it was there before anyway. That just leaves us with....... Orange and red recliner and toy storage. Sheesh.

People, I am really bad at toy storage. Let's face it: Most of them are scattered around on the floor most of the time as it is. Small toys are supposed to be in a No-Agatha-Zone section of the room and everything else is everywhere else. I pick it up, they get it out. One of them picks it up, another gets it out. And I love toys and playing and imagining, so I'm not one to crack down on them very often. Toy organization is just way out of my realm here.

My goal, for before we get too much more moved around, is to figure out a way to place doll houses cribs, and various accessories placed where they'll be mostly out of the way but available for everyday play. Impossible, you say? I agree. But maybe this little grid map will show me a toy location miracle.