Slaying a Sacred Decorating Cow

Step 1: Move furniture from Room A to Room B.

Step 2: Re-position furniture in Room B. 

Step 3: Curse on furniture in Room B.

Step 4: Wish you had never moved furniture from Room A to Room B.

Step 5: Repeat steps 2 through 4. Frown.

Step 6: Repeat steps 2 through 4. Have a drink.

Step 7:  Repeat steps 2 through 4.  Frown some more.

You get the picture, lol.

Have you been there, done that?

Well, that's been the scene in our small main floor tv room/den over the past 36 hours.

If you've been following along here, you might remember that we've been finishing off our basement which means that a lot of furniture is getting moved around here. 

• Room A (the "Living Room") is getting new furniture which is being delivered today!
• Room B (a small main floor TV room/den) is getting Room A's hand me down furniture.  
• Room C (the new large TV room in the basement) is getting Room B's.  Have I thoroughly confused you yet?  Sorry. Now you are just as confused as me!

First off, you need to know that Room B is pretty small.  It has two-story cathedral ceilings which makes it feel a little larger, but dimension-wise, it's pretty teeny weeny at about 12x14.  Despite that obstacle, I was stubbornly convinced that I could stuff an over-sized couch, two beastly chairs, and large media armoire in there.  No sweat.

By my rough measurements visual estimations (my bad), I was pretty sure it was going to work in there.  If not I was sure I could make it work.  Wrong. Turns out, I didn't account for the over-sized arms on the sofa and two chairs. 

 

The worst design dilemma in the history of design dilemmas. I could make it look pretty, but it wasn't functional.  I could make it functional, but then it wasn't pretty. 

No matter what arrangement I tried, the open doors of my armoire hit a chair.  The only place you could actually view the TV was from the sofa.  I don't know about you, but five of us huddled on a sofa watching a movie doesn't sound like it'd be much fun after 5 minutes.


Exhausted and peeved, I sat in one of the beastly chairs to collect my thoughts.

• Option A: Buy new furniture for Room B.  No, hubby would never go for it.
• Option B: Use new furniture intended for Room A in here.  Forget it; not at all what I'd envisioned for either space.



Pic taken last Christmas.

• Option C came from a little voice in my head that I was trying to drown out.  It whispered, "Mooooove the armoire out of this room.  Mooooove the armoire out of this room.  Mooooove the armoire out of this room." :-)

Nooooooooo!  Not the armoire!

I love my armoire, and it's the newest piece of furniture in the room, purchased at Pier One 2 years ago.  I am not a fan of seeing TV equipment when you don't have to, so I love having the option of closing the doors.

As I'm arguing with myself, I had a perfect sight-line to the front porch where a new console table purchased at Christmas-time (also from Pier One) was sitting.  It caught my attention.  Hmmmmm.  Maybe.  Just maybe that might work.  Well, I thought, I guess I can try it just to rule it out.

So after some pushing and pulling and carrying and grunting, I managed to move the big armoire out of the den by myself, and bring in the console table from the porch. I disconnected all that electrical "stuff", and then plugged it all back in again.  (She pats own shoulder).  All the while, I was hoping it wouldn't fit properly.

I couldn't believe my eyes, it actually looked OK.  Not "armoire OK", but OK. I actually was starting to like it.  The best part: being able to see the TV from any angle, and any seat in the room.

What I learned from this (exhausting) experience is that sometimes you have to be able to slay some sacred cows in order to create a great space.  My sacred 'decorating' cow in this case was my stubborn belief that TV equipment should be behind closed doors.  But once I let go of that, and tried something new, I ended up creating a space that was not only pretty, but functional too. 

After all, what kind of room is it, if it doesn't 'work'?

Until next time, happy decorating.