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Friday, January 21, 2011

Finding the Perfect Furniture Arrangement

Whenever I redesign a room in my home, I always start with graph paper and cut outs of my furniture and make a floor plan.  It's much easier to move around the paper furniture than the real.  For the most part a floor plan is great in determining is something will or will not fit.  But the only way I can get a real sense for the room is to actually move the furniture.

Here's my living room.  I had a sofa and a love seat in the living room.  When we got the baby grand piano, I thought the only place it fit well in the room was in the bay window, so the love seat had to leave the room (which bothered me).  I thought I had found the perfect furniture arrangement and we lived with this furniture arrangement for the past few years.
Before

Before-piano in the bay area of the window

Before

Each time I'd pass this room or play piano in the room something bothered me about it.  But again I didn't think I had any options with the piano fitting anywhere else.  Then, about six months ago I decided it was time to change the window treatments in the living room.  I had just changed the window treatments in the adjoining dining room and now these window treatments really had to go.  So, the day before the window treatments were to be installed I needed to move some of the furniture to make room for the installer to hang the treatments.  I rolled up the rug, moved the ottoman and then my husband and I moved the piano into the center of the room.  It hit me then, but I didn't dare say it out loud.  The piano could be moved across the room to the other side.  I would be able to get my love seat back into the room.  It would make the room look larger.  I ran into my office and got out my floor plan out of the file cabinet (which I had created originally when we set up the room).  On paper it looked good.  The next day the window treatments got installed.  After the installer left, I decided I would move the piano myself.  That way in case I was completely wrong about the new furniture arrangement, no one needed to know.  FYI - baby grand pianos are heavy...even if you are rolling it only across the room.
Here is the new arrangement.  Look at how much more open the living room is.  The tree left the room and is on my parents enclosed deck now.  
Now when I walk by, I love what I see.  The piano is more of a focal point, whereas before, the piano looked like a huge barrier.  
The end table that used to be next to the sofa is now next to the chair.  It looks better too now that you can actually see it.  

The best part is that this all happened because I had to move the piano out of the way so that the installer could hang the window treatments.  By moving it, I was suddenly able to see the room in a whole new way.  

So if you're not happy with the way a room looks but you don't know what to do, this is what I would suggest.
1.  Start with a floor plan.  Move furniture pieces around to see what options you have.

2.  Empty out the room.  You will be amazed at how differently you look at the room without the current furniture arrangement staring you in the face.

3.  Use furniture moving pads.  They are a back saver and make furniture moving easy to do (I do it all the time and I often do it alone).

4.  Shop your home.  Move pieces from one room into another.  Little changes can make a big impact.

Hope I've inspired you to do some no-cost decorating this weekend.  Let me know what you think of the new arrangement.  Have a great weekend.

-Judy

By the way, Debbie Doos is having a Pet Link Party on Monday.  I'll be there...hope you will come too.


13 comments:

Tammy@Beatrice Banks said...

Love your new layout! I'm constantly changing my furniture around. It always breathes a breath of fresh air.

Marty@A Stroll Thru Life said...

Love your new arrangement. It looks wonderful, your home is lovely and I adore that ottoman. Great job. Hugs, Marty

Debbiedoos said...

It does look a lot more suitable and comfortable for the room layout. I wish I could play around more with furniture, but I can't because of our floor plan.

Tammy @ Type A said...

thanks for stopping my blog, and following. i'm your newest follower as well. love you home, it's gorgeous. where did you get that awesome green and ivory chair? it's fabulous.

Sandy said...

Hi Judy,
I love the new arrangement in your living room! It looks wonderful with the piano moved and your love seat back. Thanks so much for visiting my blog and leaving your sweet comments. I'm glad our wallpapered foyer inspires you. And I appreciate your becoming a follower. I just joined your blog as a follower too.
Hugs, Sandy

Kathy @ Creative Home Expressions said...

What a great transformation, Judy! And just by moving furniture around! I love your toile chair, too. Thanks for visiting my blog!

Brandi said...

Wow you created a new room just by rearranging your furniture! That's amazing!!! And it looks great too! love your ottoman.

Decorating the Ville said...

Oh my goodness Judy - I have almost EXACTLY the same predicament! We just moved into this older home with a layout that looks the same as far as the LR/DR go - the furniture in there is driving me nuts! When my husband comes home TONIGHT I am going to try talking him into moving it around. We always buy a house around teh piano and it makes me crazy! Thank you so much for sharing!

Vanessa said...

First of all, I absolutely ADORE your ottoman! I see we have a love for the same color pallette and that toile chair is just beautiful. That is such a great room with fabulous light streaming through the windows and you really did open it up when you moved the piano. It all looks fabulous Judy! :-)
Vanessa

Liz said...

Thanks for the tips! Your home is beautiful. And thanks for being my 100th! I'll definitely follow back!

Home Stars said...

Great post! Thanks for sharing.
Dining Table And 8 Chairs
8 Chair Dining Table
Furniture Stores Denver
Bench Table And Chairs

Unknown said...

What a prefect redesign and rearrangement! You decorated your living room really eye-catching Judy. Love your layout. All the items in the room seem super combined and bright with its lovely color. The sofa, cabinet, piano all are look so nice. I personally love to grab my furniture from sofa store and the furniture Toronto. Anyway, Love your brilliant renovations and thoughts.

Thrive For Good said...

Thanks for sharing such a nice post. Yes, I too do so and I think this is the easiest way to redesign the interior looks of a room of your house. When it comes to buying the furniture of my home, I always visit: https://www.homequarters.ca

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