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I like to move it, move it

OUR 2nd HOUSE

Remember that song?

So you might also remember when I used to blog about house stuff.  Yeah.  It’s been awhile.  Apparently you grow something in your uterus and all of a sudden, your former hobbies get thrown out the window so that you can play doctor, playmate and cook all day.  Hello my name is Katie and I am addicted to Baby Einstein movies & Baby Goldfish. 

Seriously though…I know that I said that it is gonna take a while for us to do anything around the house…but four months and I still haven’t touched the boxes stacked in the dining room?  That’s bad.  Even for me.  And I have been lazy since birth.  I didn’t even bother attempting to put pressure on my legs until after I was one.  Now that I am a mom, I understand the gravity of that amount of laziness. 

So that being said, we decided that this weekend we needed to come up with a game plan (and when I say ‘we’, you know that it means I planned and Jeremy worked).  The first items on our agenda are as follows:

  • to put up roller blind shades in the bedrooms.  The amount of light in there can give you a sunburn.
  • to put lights up in the dining room & the guest bedroom. 
  • to switch the tables in the dining room and pull up the old chairs from the basement.
  • to stain the kitchen table and get mom’s hand-me-down chairs & the goodwill bench ready. 
  • to get the guest room functional with side tables and a bit more storage. 
  • to find a living room arrangement that allows for more room and a way to get lamps in there.

Not too shabby a list, huh?  And being the easiest-way-out kinda girl I am, I chose the laziest option on there to tackle first.  That’s right…the last one – moving furniture around.  You may remember with your elephant sized brain our living room arrangement:

We chose to face the couch to the television because, well, we love television.  Since our tv is on the fritz, we don’t really watch as much as we did before…so it really is not as important.  It also helps that we don’t have cable.    

I think we knew that the couch needed to be floating in the room…but this is not the best layout for an open feeling.  It just felt closed off and actually made this big room feel small.  Oh and nobody wanted to sit in those green chairs because they were facing away from the tv. 

(Note the left hand side back wall with the bookshelves! We have plans for that!)

The reason we put the furniture over there was because we liked seeing Will play at his playtable. 

But there were some problems with this arrangement.  One being that we never sat on the couch to watch him play.  Two being that we had sidetables that were well within his reach…making cup throwing possible…making sweet tea cleanup all too frequent.

So we moved some things around.  First we took the couch and put the back of it to the playtable.  It created a wonderful barrier to the clutter.  Hidden clutter apparently does not exist in my world.  It’s magic. 

We also decided to take out the side tables and the coffee table.  For one – the side tables held the lamps – which were not plugged in…because there was no outlet in the floor.  So we really didn’t need them.  And the coffee table was just too rectangle for the space…and way too tall.       

The new coffee table was a $15 Goodwill find.  I couldn’t resist the solid wood construction and the perfect height and scale to the room.  The colors are horrible…but a good coat of paint can take care of that. 

To balance out the extra deep sofa and to allow for a visual pathway to the big wall-o-windows, we placed the two lowbacked chairs on the opposite side. 

The chairs were Goodwill finds too.   And then I made new cushion covers for them.  They used to live in our old office before it was converted to Will’s nursery.  I love the caned arms. 

So that’s what we did…switching things up.  Oh and that back wall?  The one that used to have two bookshelves?  Well, I want to build an extra long console table or two to put side by side.  That way we can actually use the lights that were on the sidetables…and perhaps get some extra storage in that room.  This one built by Liz is amazing.  She based it on Ana White’s design & plan.  That girl is da bomb. 

Can’t you imagine big baskets underneath with blankets and toy storage?!

***UPDATE***

Katie asked for some more photos.  I am happy to oblige an aerial view and the view from the kitchen of the new arrangement.

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Comments

  1. I like the new arrangement! And I love love love the chairs. I wish I could find something similar to those at our Goodwills. They are always so picked over! Everything looks great!
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  4. Ok, I LOVE the new arrangement! We’re looking at mounting our TV above our stone fireplace and are pretty overwhelmed at the moment. Did the previous owners already have it mounted that way? Our living room has a corner fireplace and it seems to be the only arrangement that will work. I love that you can’t see all your wires either. Looks nice and clean!

    Would love any tips/tricks on that you have to share!

  7. The new arrangement is great!! And I have an idea that I’m sure you thought of already….have Sherry, John, and Clara come for a visit and John and Jeremy can build you a console like the one they finished not long ago:) a visit for the families and a project done at your house, perfect? I think so!!

  8. Its nice to see when the furniture is arranged to be most functional, and aesthetically pleasing – rather than just having everything pointed directly at the TV.

    Looks great!

  9. Love that the older Will gets the more “real” your house looks! And I am so jealous that you find the most amazing things at your Good Will… all I ever find is junk I don’t need!

  12. I’ll see what I can do tomorrow for additional photos 🙂
    You must understand though that things change all the time around here!
    xo – kb

  13. Awesome job on the cushion covers. Oh, if I could just find the time to get the sewing machine back out…..sigh.

  14. They are safe and sound in Jeremy’s office for now. I hope to one day have them in the sitting room in our bedroom so that I can enjoy a cup of hot tea and a good book all from the comfort of our room 🙂
    xo – kb

  15. Oh I love those those chairs!! And I looove that will has his own “play area” close to where you are or family would be when they come over. What a great idear.

  17. Truely perfect, your arrangement and goodwill finds have inspired me! Love your blog 🙂

  19. I love the new arrangement and the Goodwill chairs. I have been putting off slipcovering some cushions because I am very scared of sewing on piping, but your picture inspired me. Did you sew zippers on the cushions and if so, would you consider a tutorial? I haven’t found a good one that makes sense to me yet.

  20. I wish that I could do that SSS but unfortunately I did it a bazillion years ago and I just used the previous covers as a template. It’s basically just taking something apart and then putting it back together the same way…
    xo – kb

  21. *Gasp* You don’t have cable? Me neither! Cut it a few years ago. I’m glad to see another young family opting to save that dinero for something better.

    The new layout looks great too. Are there certain rules/tips you follow to make everything so balanced? You make such great eye candy!

  22. Hey Katie- We recently moved into a short sale/foreclosure too, and just tackled a huge painting project (which included scaffolding) that reminded me of your house with it’s huge ceilings and minty green walls. http://oneprojectatatime.blogspot.com/2011/05/1-10-36-101-7-gallons-of-paint-and-few.html

    I know that project is way down the list for you guys, but sometimes it’s nice to hear a “we did it and somehow managed to live through it.” 🙂 Even though I complained a bunch about my crazy fear of heights, and pretty much shook like a wet dog on that ladder, I’m SOOOOO glad we did it. So when you do decide to take that project on, I’ve got your back sista!

  23. love the new layout so much more and the chairs look great in there — your slipcovering skills are amazing!!! I’m jealous 🙂 I really need to learn how to sew a slipcover

  24. 1) Love “Madagascar.” Love that song. Danced to it at my wedding and pretended we were lemurs. Good choice 🙂

    2) I have a crush on your house. It’s beautiful. I drool over here. Currently Husband and I are apartment dwellers and I daydream of a time when we can paint walls and have good furniture and blah blah blah. You are a lucky girl, Katie Bower!

  25. Kati and KatieB, we don’t have cable either! Or Netflix, a land line, or data plans on our cell phones (we do have high speed internet and a wireless router for laptop, smartphone, etc). Woohoo for money saved!

    And I totally agree about the house eye candy! Thanks KB! :o)

  26. Love the layout…I bet is is nice to look into the room now and see the fireplace and not the back of people heads! Looking forward to all the small changes as you get to them…I hear you about design being on the back burner; my daughter is the exact age as Will and is at the “running” stage!
    Where id you get those white photo boxes that are on the shelf stacked up next to the fireplace?

    Thanks!!

  28. The new furniture arrangement looks wonderful KB!! And like everyone else, I’m so jealous of your awesome Goodwill finds! Those chairs are so dreamy!

  31. I had to laugh at the stack of pillows on the chair in the corner of the update overhead photo. I love pillows but my husband is constantly moving them into a pile on another piece of furniture he doesn’t use or on the floor! The new living room looks nice, thanks for sharing!

  32. I love it! I love the white furniture. The white chairs are amazing. They would look so beautiful with apple green pillows on them! Absolutely any color would be beautiful!!

  33. Thaks for the update/new pics Katie!! and I will expect more whenever the room changes! (I kid, I kid… I know how it feels to take pictures and then the next day it feels like the room is totally different!)

    Thanks again! I loove the way it looks! I love your living room!!!

  35. This room is amazing. From the built-ins, the stone fireplace, and the doors. Wow.
    New layout looks great – love those white chairs.

  36. I love the new layout! The wall of windows truly does seem to invite you to want to step outside. I love that you’re still able to keep some neat accessories out like that wooden elephant and those storage boxes even with Will so mobile now! Speaking of Will…his playtable..did you make that? Its perfect.

  37. What is the paint color in this room? I love it and I think it would look great in my bedroom!

    Thanks!!!

  38. I wish I knew Laura…one day, I will try to color match all the rooms but right now it is a mystery 🙂
    xo – kb

  39. Hi! I found your blog for the first time today thanks to younghouselove and am so happy I made my way here 🙂
    I have 2 questions for you about the tv over your fireplace…
    My hubby wants to mount our new flatscreen over the fireplace in our living room too (probably with a ceiling mount?) but I’m a little concerned about it being too high to watch comfortably.
    How did you guys hang yours?
    Do you have any sore neck problems after a night of mind numbing reality tv after the kids go to bed (or does that only happen in my house-lol)?
    Thanks so much!!

  40. Hi Rebecca,
    We used a mount that my dad let us borrow…and it was already wired for a television so we really didn’t do anything that wasn’t already set up or included in the directions that came with the mount.
    And no. I can attest that six to ten hours of reality tv is still doable….and with no neck cramps. Although I must warn ya that we are big time loungers so we always have plenty of pillows and neck support 🙂
    xo – kb

  41. I’m the Liz from that black table you linked to in this post. Thanks for linking me in here…I had tons of visits to my blog thanks to you 😉 You look like a pretty cool person and I wish you luck on all of your re-dos. If you had your hubby help and that table you could knock it out pretty fast! Good luck 🙂

  42. Great Liz – glad I could send some folks your way! Your table looks awesome…I have to try to figure out how to tackle that lower level (no chance you’ll do a stepbystep tutorial, is there?)….
    Either way thanks for all the inspiration!
    xo – kb

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