Could this be whimsy? The story of a living room...

For several months, we’ve been unhappy with our living room. We never use it, and as our friend Susan commented, “it’s just a furniture storage room”. That pissed me off, but it was basically true. So, what to do?

First, we had to make some decisions about furniture. We had a sofa that wasn’t that comfortable to sit on, some leather chairs, one of which was too close to the front door so it was bumped when we tried to open the door all the way, two cool upholstered chairs in a coppery color that did nothing for the rug or walls, a sofa table that we’ve had for years but didn’t really have a good spot for, and two dining tables – a round one in one corner and a teak one we were using for an entry table. Lordy !

So I decided to have the cushion fixed – took out all the old feathers and filled it with polyfil or whatever so its firmer. It looks and feels much better now. Then we started selling chairs. Sold the leather set (2 chairs and a loveseat that was upstairs), and the two coppery chairs, both via Craigslist. Donated the sofa table to the DAV, and moved the dining table/entry table out.

We decided that we wanted it to feel more like a study. Basically less formal and more comfortable. Regarding arranging the room, we decided we needed a focal point on the wall to the left of the door. We found a painting at an art show – it’s a landscape of rooftops, with abstract clouds in the sky. Its painted on a piece of acrylic with a raw wooden frame. We painted a dark gray “frame” on the wall, and hung the picture in the middle of this “frame”. Edged the painted frame with some wood trim, also painted gray. So this painting becomes the focal point.

Then we got creative. Took the round dining table apart, and mounted the two halves on the wall below the new picture. Makes for a much more appropriately sized entry table. Looks kind of strange, but it grew on us, and now I think its kind of cool.

Hung some new curtains last night – gray silk-like panels that we got at Penneys. Used the sheers that we already had, got some new curtain rods (chrome), and added the panels. They look great.

Also bought another painting at a garage sale this weekend. This is where the whimsy part comes in. It’s a picture of two people playing music, along with their cats. We liked the colors and the informality of it, and thought it would be great in the room.

Our next project will be to find a couple chairs and an ottoman or coffee table. And then accessorize. So as always, a work in progress.

Here are some pictures....