Musical Chairs

Aside from working on several 'real' house projects this weekend, we did spend Saturday night playing a rousing game of musical furniture. I suppose I should explain why...

It all began with our tiny living room and over-sized furniture. We knew our Craigslist couch and chair were going to be a bit large for the space, but I don't think we really understood how large. The chair alone is practically one foot away from being a loveseat. Here is the only setup we could come up with:

Looks innocent enough, right? Well, the font door is directly to the right of the couch. As in, you walk into our front door and the back of the couch is right there. What ends up happening is the couch really blocks the room off and makes it look even smaller than it is.

Herein lies the dilemma - how to arrange the furniture in a way that allows the sofa and chair to blend in, while still allowing us to have a television in the room. You would think we were asking for world peace! The husband and I decided to clear the extraneous items (coffee table, lamp, record player) and move the big items around to get some ideas.

Option #1 (the original setup):

Pros: We're pretty used to this setup since we've been living with it for four years now. It also allows us to watch TV and watch the fire.

Cons: Blocks the flow of the room and creates a cramped entryway.

Option #2 (couch against the back wall):

Pros: The perfect place for the couch, but then where the hell does the TV go?

Cons: That chair was not working in that spot.

Option #3 (couch against the windows):

Pros: Prime fire-watching location and still allows you to watch TV.

Cons: The right angle formed by the couch/chair combo was awkward. It's hard to tell in the picture, but it just didn't work.

Option #4 (getting rid of the chair):

(Note: We used dining room chairs to hold the place of some potential smaller chairs for the living room)

Pros: This was actually a great setup, we just don't want to get rid of our chair and then have to buy two new chairs.

Cons: Couch is still in obstructive position and getting rid of the chair.

Option #5 (chair/TV switch):

Pros: None. Seriously, it was worse than the original!

Cons: The chair complete overtook the fireplace.

So where did we end up? Right back where we started.

At least now we know that if we are ever willing to relocate the side chair, we can definitely have some more options. I did come to the conclusion that sometimes things might not look the best, but they just work for your family or your lifestyle. This setup seems to do the job for us and we've grown to kinda like it.

Oh, and what's a game of musical chairs without music, right?

Check out the album I picked up this weekend. I am hoping we can play tonight while the trick-or-treaters come!