Quick Living Room Rearrange

You saw how we finally fit all our bedroom furniture into the room a couple weeks ago.  Now it was time to tackle the living room.

Our living room set-up is pretty much a disaster.  Since we haven't had a chance to get rid of our two white IKEA couches, our living room is just overcrowded with furniture.  When we moved in, we just tossed the furniture anywhere it would fit, with the "we'll change it once we're a little more settled in" attitude.  Only, it never got changed.  It stayed the way it was for 4 months.

We have a couch which is actually sitting upended right next to the door.  Yes, we got so tired of moving furniture we literally set the couch down inside the doorway and left it.  Again we meant to fix it once we got some energy back, but that never happened.  And so it became a surface.

We also have one armchair in the corner, made completely inaccessible by the other IKEA couch.  This couch also sticks out blocking the side of the sliding glass door to the balcony that doesn't open.  Finally, one side of the green couch is impossible to access without somehow stepping over the arm or back of the couch.  Which got real old, real fast.

This next attempt of mine at artsy photography gives you an idea of how much space we were working with between each piece of furniture.  Let me tell you...not much.

So finally, we decided enough was enough and we weren't going to put off getting all setup any longer.  We are still planning on selling the two white IKEA couches, but we wanted something a little more...livable in the mean time.  And this is what we came up with.

We're still not swimming in extra space here, but it looks a heck of a lot better.  We're finally able to get on the couch from both sides like civilized human beings, instead of climbing over the arm or back.

The new setup is much more aesthetically pleasing with the furniture in a symmetrical layout.  Even though the armchairs are each blocking half of a white couch, we're still much happier with this new arrangement.  No one really sits on the white couches anyways.

Eventually we'll get rid of the white couches and be able to spread out the furniture into a much more functional and less suffocating arrangement.  We're thinking of either putting the armchairs basically where the couches are, flanking the TV, or having them angled facing the center of the coffee table.  We'll make the final decision once the couches are gone and we can see what each arrangement looks like.

Even though its temporary, I have to say I really love the couches one either side of the TV.  Since we hung up the TV, I've been afraid it looks a little floating and unanchored.  With the couches there, it sets up a more defined TV area.

Here's the TV area before the rearrange

And after

I'll just have to enjoy the beautiful symmetry while it lasts.  Hopefully the armchairs will provide a similar defining quality to the new TV area as the couches do.

The placement of the table under the TV is also temporary.    The table will eventually be painted and used as a side table for one or both of the armchairs once the couches are gone.  

With the old entryway table now under the TV, we moved the old cabinet that was previosuly under the TV into the entryway.  We basically did a small switcharoo with these two pieces of furniture.  This is a "works for now" solution.  I hope to eventually get some sort of bench to put in the entryway, but for now, the cabinet provides additional space the small table was unable to provide.

As you can see, this area was kind of a disaster.  The organizer that is meant to wrangle all the clutter has become quite overrun.  We never got around to specifying what was and was not supposed to be collected there, so all sorts of things have just gotten dumped there and forgotten.  We are in the process of planning a command center to go above this area, so that will hopefully control some of this chaos.  

This table was also where we keep my purse and Dakota's leash.  I'd been doing a balancing act every time I put either down given the limited availability of surface space.  Both the leash and my purse were constantly falling off if not placed with care and precision.  It was basically a science getting things to stay on that table.

The cabinet so far is a vast improvement.  There's definitely much more surface space which I'm loving.  Eventually we'll hang up hooks for Dakota's leash and my purse which will free up even more space.  The cabinets underneath are actually empty now, I'm just waiting to stumble upon something that needs storage space and I'll have two huge, empty cabinets ready and waiting.

Dakota loves the new entryway setup too.

Since Dakota approves, we'll be sticking with the new arrangement until the couches find new homes.

Have you guys ever found yourself living with a "just for now" furniture arrangement (like upended couches) you never quite got around to changing?  How about liking a temporary arrangement more than you expected?  Tell me all about your furniture rearranging experiences, good and bad.