Tuesday, September 28, 2010

What a difference!

When we got married, we didn't have tons of furniture and everything was second hand.  I had a loveseat that had originally been my dad's, given to another friend after his death, and eventually came back to me.  Steve had an old loveseat of his cousin's.  We had some other stuff that we'd collected over the years.  Well, here were are 5 years later and we still have the same stuff.  However, it's now all 10+ years old and having gotten a lot of use by us, friends and two crazy kids.  It was really starting to show it's age.

Here's a rough look of how we were arranged before.

Toy shelf next to the blue loveseat.


Blue loveseat and black loveseat at right angle, with end table in the corner. 


Blue loveseat across from the entertainment center, and the beautiful picture of Christ above the black loveseat.
 And the DVD rack in the corner, next to the entertainment center, blocked off by the rocking chair, toy container and another tub.


The blue loveseat of mine was one of those with two recliners attached to each other.  Neither sat up straight anymore and tacks and staples were coming out all over.  Not to mention The Great Rift Valley was growing between the two recliners, where the kids hid all sorts of toys and snacks and other assorted materials.  The black loveseat was losing all the stuffing and the springs were wearing out.  So this meant that if you sat down and leaned back too fast, then you would slam your head into the wooden frame.  There were holes and stains all over this stuff and they were beyond repair.  But it just wasn't in the budget to get new stuff, so we lived with it, because it was (just barely) better than sitting on the floor. 

A few months ago, my mom and step-dad mentioned they wanted to get a new couch for their family room.  As such, they would be getting rid of their current couch and chair + ottoman.  They knew that we needed new stuff, so they promised it to us.  They needed some time to order the new stuff, so we made so.  Then a couple weeks ago, they decided to bring over the furniture because they needed the room empty to paint while waiting for the new couch.  SWEET!!!!  It took us a little bit to move things around and decide how we wanted it all laid out, but we settled on a new arrangement and we LOVE IT!!!  They gave us a black leather couch and a tan microfiber chair + ottoman.  Both haven't been used very heavily, even though they're a few years old, so they're in great condition.  Plus, the leather is great for kids because it's so easy to clean!  We got rid of a couple things in the room and man, it feels so much cleaner now!  So here's the new layout:


Black couch along the wall where the toy shelf and blue loveseat were.  With the chair & ottoman in the corner, where the end table had been.  I re hung the pictures above the couch, centering our wedding photo collage and then adding our wedding photo, needlepoint my cousin made and picture of the San Antonio temple Steve's mom brought us.  We think it keeps a nice wedding theme over there.


 I re-centered the picture of Christ and Mary Magdalene on the wall, so it was more balanced.  There's nothing really on that wall, so it's the focus point of the wall and room.  I love it!!


And we moved the toy shelf over in front of the fireplace (betcha didn't know we had one, because we have always had it obstructed), to block it from the kids.  It's next to the entertainment center now.  The DVD rack got moved to our bedroom, where we keep it away from the kids. 


Overall the apartment is much more balanced and it actually looks nice!!!  It's such a relief to have a presentable living space that has not only comfortable, but non-dangerous furniture!  So come on over, because it's a nice place to hang out. :-D

6 comments:

AZ Larsens said...

Wow! It looks great! That's it, I'm coming over now...

Rose said...

Wow, it looks fabulous! I love it!

Hahaha that you keep your DVD shelf in your room. We did that too! It's not in our room anymore, and I still have to realphabetize my DVD's sometimes because of it!

(Not to mention I've lost count of how many DVD's have been scratched or broken).

Mallory said...

Looks nice! I am glad you could get some newer furniture!

Jenny and James said...

I like it! Got to love hand me downs.

Jenne said...

That's exciting! I'm happy it finally happened. I know how long you've been hoping for it. It looks great and really comfortable!

Kati said...

It looks so great! I love how much it opens up the space. Woohoo for changes! :)