Decor Dilemma: Living Room Furniture

The Dilemma

Let me tell you, there is nothing like finding furniture that you really like, buying said furniture at a great price, only to bring it home and find that it just doesn't work in your space like you envisioned it would.

Nothing like it. 

Except maybe getting a root canal. Or waiting in line at the DMV. (Wait, have I ever mentioned that I do not like waiting in line at the DMV?)

Here is the lovely new furniture that I have waited a while for.  It's a gray color that would go with just about anything.  It has a little tufted detail on the back cushions. And it's comfy.

The only problem is that it just looks really awkward in the space to me.  Our kitchen is open to our living room, which is quite large.  There is room for a breakfast table and a sitting area in the large room. This new furniture just doesn't quite "fill up the space" like our sectional did.  If we could return the furniture and pick out something else, we might not be in this pickle, but that isn't an option.

We had had this sectional, square ottoman (which is wonderful for small children), and oh-so-comfortable-but-not-so-pretty recliner for a few years now. The couch had seen better days and the frame had broken on three different occassions. (Thankfully, my hubby is good at patching it up.) But we knew it wouldn't last much longer and it was time for new furniture. 

 Here is another view of the old furniture and the large living room. (Yes, it was from Christmas. I couldn't find another photo from this angle.) 

Here is the new furniture in the space. I love the round, teak side tables. But from this angle, which is the only way we could configure the furniture to look right, the table doesn't fill up the space between the couch and chair like I would like it to. I tried to stick a Band-Aid on that problem by adding the stool with a stack of books there, but it just looks off. 

Same thing on this side of the room.  We did have to angle this chair for the ottoman and the coffee table to both fit. It still just looks weird. 

It looks better from this angle, but this is not what you see when you walk in; the other side is. 

View from kitchen

So basically here is the run-down:

*The scale is too small for the room

*Awkward placement of furniture

*When my children eat at the breakfast bar, which is directly behind the sofa, they turn around without thinking and rub their food-stained hands all over the furniture.  (exasperated sigh)

*It just doesn't feel right (that's a legitimate basis for wanting to flip-flop your whole house isn't it?)

The Solution (or at least I hope it is)

If I am really honest with myself, our current living space hasn't ever felt quite right. I don't know if it was because of the furniture or the large space.  I have been toying with switching out our living and dining spaces for a while now. I have always been on the fence about that, but now I am convinced that it is the thing to do. 

These pictures of our "formal dining" space are a little old.....before I added curtains or anything, but they give you a good idea of what the layout of the space is. On one side is the office, and the other side is the foyer.  Actually, this room was originally the formal living space and what we use as the office was the formal dining space. We really don't need a formal sitting room so we decided that this would be our dining room. 

So, my idea would be to make this space the living room. I would move all of our dining furniture into where our couch currently is.  A switcharoo, if you will. A great big flip-flop. One that, by all accounts is going to take a little bit of logistical planning to execute. I feel like it will be a much cozier living space and more functional dining area that way. I have to find a way to get blinds for that huge window (Lowe's doesn't even cut custom blinds that big), we have to get our satellite provider to run cable to this room, and we have to figure out how to move our humongous, heavy entertainment center that we semi-built. 

If anyone has any other suggestions, I am open to hearing them.  But for now, that is the way I am leaning on the situation.  Hoping to make the final decision soon and get to work on it!