Sunday, January 22, 2012

Playing With Furniture

Made a list this morning that I thought was very reasonable and do-able. This was it:

- trim fingernails
- clean kitchen counters
- go through catalogs on desk
- hem Papa Pea's pants
- mend Chicken Mama's pants
- mend my sweats
- switch shower curtain
- make kombucha

It's 6:19 p.m. right now and wanna know what I've checked off that list?

Nuthin'. Not one thing. What happened??

I called a guy who was advertising for a small couch or love seat. Well, we've got two because that was all we could ever fit into our teeny tiny living room area before the remodel. One was in storage and one was in our to-be living room. He said the one we wanted to get rid of didn't sound like what he was looking for but would call us later if he decided to come look at it.

Well, I kinda figured him taking the couch was a no-go but got a bee in my bonnet that we really should get rid of that couch so wanted to get the couch in storage into the to-be living room and the one in the to-be living room (that I decided to get rid of) out to storage where it would be easier to load into someone's truck when we found a taker. (Still with me?)

To make this exchange, we had to take off two doors (one inside door and one outside door) and muscle one couch out and the other couch in.

This is the couch we are keeping . . . for now.

Once we got the couch I wanted to keep in, I wanted to see if I could find a better furniture arrangement in our small to-be living room. I coerced hubby into helping me and tried out four (4!) different arrangements before finally going back to the original one because that was the only one that worked . . . even marginally. Don't get me wrong, it's not a good arrangement, but better than the others. Ugh.

When we get the living room finished this spring, I'm going shopping for new furniture. It will have to be just the right pieces because of the small size of the room and I'm determined to have a place for at least six people to sit in there comfortably. (I realize this may be Mission Impossible.)

This post (as most of mine are) is getting too long tonight but tomorrow I'll post pictures of what the living room looks like now (after all my unprofitable shuffling around today).

Hope you all had a good weekend. Our temperature has gone back up into a moderate range, a high in the upper 20s today. Good thing, too, since we spent a while with one outside door completely off!

16 comments:

Anonymous said...

I do that too...think something will look better here, or there. By the time I am done my kids want to strangle me lol. Can't wait to see the pictures:)

Mama Pea said...

Stephanie - Well, the way the living room looks now, it's nothing to write home about (nothing to blog about?) . . . but I'll show it in all its crowded glory!

Erin said...

As someone who shuffles her furniture around weekly I sympathize LOL! We actually have what's called an "apartment size" couch now and it's much easier to deal with. I was laughing as soon as I saw "go through catalogs" on your list - that stack has been on my list too for several weeks now :)

Sparkless said...

That is a very nice couch. Unfortunately we can only configure our furniture in one way. With a gas fireplace on one wall and the couch on the other. I don't get to have fun moving things around. I've kind of given up trying to make the house look good due to it being so small and crowded. Moving things just takes too much effort and time.

Jenyfer Matthews said...

I feel your furniture-arrangement pain! Our living room has many restrictions on how things can be arranged to fit and yet I don't just want it to be a circle of chairs. It's not like we ever have anyone over, but still...

(Pssst - I say just recycle the catalogs and start fresh. There will always be more!)

Desert Threads said...

Check to see if you have a freecycle.org near you. Anything you want to get rid of, put on there and you can get rid of it in no time. You can also ask for things you want.....all free.

Dirt Lover said...

Maybe you should add exercise to your list of to-do's yesterday, and then cross it off. At least then you would have accomplished something that was on your list!! Oh, and then quick, quick, clip your nails! Viola! Two things done!
~~Lori

Susan said...

It's amazing how a little rearranging can take over your life! I should beam Sylvie up to your place - she's the Whiz Kid of decorating! I'm still shaking my head in amazement at my living room.

Anonymous said...

How much bigger and manageble my living room would be if I could convince my hubby to remove that big ugly, scary "eyeball" staring at us--aka the tv. Unfortunately, the TV has replaced the hearth in most American households. As my mother says, "Choose your battles wisely". Therefore, the TV issue just isn't worth my losing the domestic peace! ;) "M"

Mama Pea said...

Erin - I got through about half my stack of magazines/catalogs yesterday but couldn't honestly cross the item off my list because of the pile still left.

I love rearranging furniture but our new living room just doesn't offer enough space to do so. Once I get some furniture to fit in there, I think that's gonna be it for the next 100 years!

Sparkless - I sure wouldn't know what to do with some of the spacious layouts of living rooms you see in magazines, but when we added this room on we should definitely have made it bigger. Dumb, dumb, dumb.

Jen - My stack of catalogs was so big I had 2-3 copies of some of the same ones, so you can bet all but the latest copy went straight to the recycling box!

Desert Threads - Good idea but we live in a very small and remote area so have no freecycle.org or such around. But our local Internet provider has a great "bulletin board" for sale or wanted section that is heavily used.

Lori - I've used that trick before of at the end of the day doing a couple of things on my list that take just a few minutes! Also, I've been known to add something to my list just so I can cross it off! Oh my, how we fool ourselves. ;o}

Susan - Oh believe me, I was thinking of both Sylvia and Erin yesterday and trying to figure out what they would do!

"M" - Fortunately, we don't have that issue to deal with in our house! My hubby NEVER watches TV, uses it only to watch the occasional DVD. At present our old, ancient, honkin' BIG TV (big as in bulky unit but not screen!) is in our bedroom (ish!) and we have plans for getting a small to medium size flat screen to put in the living room. We'll dump this thing that's presently in the bed room and no longer have to sit on the bed to watch a DVD!

Karen L. said...

Oh my, catalogs!!! They seem to multiply like hangers. And I find it impossible to get rid of the quilt catalogs because of all the photos of great quilts in them. I drool over LL Bean catalogs for weeks and then recycle them. I could pick out something from practically every page to buy ..... if it weren't for the darn budget!

Patty said...

Our living room has the same issue, and it is sort of aggravating. It's long and narrow, and there's only one way to arrange things that will work. I really dislike this since I'm one of those people who would like to rearrange things monthly. I hope you find all the perfect furniture to create a space that works for you and makes you smile! :)

Mama Pea said...

Karen L. - I do get kinda upset with companies that seem to send out a catalog every week. It's often the very same pages but just a different cover! I tear out pictures of quilts I like in the quilt catalogs and put them in a three-ring binder for ideas later on.

Patty - Thanks, Patty. It is really hard to make a comfortable arrangement of furniture in a living room! Dang it. I keep thinking if the room was big enough, it would be a cinch. But maybe not.

Sylvia said...

My LR is an odd shape and hard to get a good seating area. Several year's ago I bought a chair and a half with an ottoman which was great and could take care of three people. I sympathize with you as I constantly move furniture and then find the original situation was the right one!

Mama Pea said...

Sylvia - After hearing your praises sung by Susan, I may have to consider having you flown here to Minnie-soda to help me with what feels like an impossible situation!

Richard E. Laliberte said...
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