I Rearrange Therefore I Am...

... at peace.  

With the impending expansion of our family (no, not like that, our daughter and 3 granddaughters are moving in with us), I felt the need to declutter the living room.  We are blessed to have a 1980's version of the modern home which means a giant great room and only a formal dining room.  This arrangement has served us well, and now that large room is more important than ever.


I sat in the room yesterday, however, and a feeling of claustrophobia overwhelmed me.  This is not good.  I tried to imagine this same room filled with children, another adult, toys and noise...well, let's just say I had a break down.  Something has to be done, and since moving is not an option, I tried to picture the room in a different layout.  This didn't work either.  I am visual - I have actually see it to feel it, which means furniture must be moved, several times, so that I can see what works and what doesn't.  Thus, I stopped the panic, put on my big girl panties and started to move furniture.  It is amazing what happens when a coffee table is moved from the room and the sofa is pushed back about a foot.  Voila' a large space for kids, toys, adults and no one has to be on top of one another.  The oxygen had returned to the room.

We now have plenty of seating for everyone.  A chair and ottoman placed in a corner and out of the line of fire.  Adequate lighting and room for storing toys in baskets which will go under the sofa table. 

But joy in one room led to despair in another.  What to do with the coffee table and how am I going to turn our bedroom into a child-free zone; an adult retreat just for the two of us?


After about thirty minutes one aching back and two clicking knees later this is what I cam up with...

a cozy little seating area where we can watch TV, read, or, even talk.  It has the Cleo seal of approval.  The furniture is vintage 1930s or 1940s purchased several years ago from a friend.  This is the original upholstery which will be changed soon.  I want to decorate this room in soothing brown based neutrals and the accent colors will be white, turquoise and orange.  This color scheme is an homage to my love of all things mid century (20th) modern with a nod to a set of stacking footstools we had in our home when I was growing up.  The bowl on the table is a piece of Fenton glass I inherited from my mother-in-law and the wall hangings above it were hers as well.  This room, along with the master bath, is scheduled for repainting soon.  After that new bedding and the furniture redo.


The other part of the room is the place where I am now sitting - my little desk area.  I moved an antique drop leaf table from the kitchen to our bedroom.  The main reason is because I want the kids to be kids; I don't want to have to worry about this table as it gets heavily used every day.  It makes the perfect desk.

The leaf can be popped up, so if we wanted to eat a cozy meal together or play a game, we can do that as well.  The master retreat is coming together nicely.

The rooms in our house are a hodgepodge of eras, styles, and right now colors, but somehow everything kind of works and there is a feeling of comfort knowing we are using the things our parents used.  I like that.  

I often dream of a perfectly decorated house - all one style where everything coordinates and when the HGTV decorator and real estate agent walk in they proclaim it perfect - "Change nothing" they advise.  But the reality is that will never happen and, really, would I want to live without memories or history?   No.  My house is a reflection of me - a charming, if not disjointed, blend of many different things that make up the whole.  I like it here.