Last week, I shared my plan for our office/gameroom/guest room.
I LOVED the comments on that post. They really helped me think through what I wanted to do with that room.
The main thing I got from your comments? Embrace one purpose for the room.
Decide on a purpose and go with that one purpose. Yes, it’s a guest room, but only on rare occasions. For those occasions, it can be turned into a guest room.
Thinking that way helped me realize that it isn’t really an office anymore either. I now have a laptop and do most of my writing in the living room. The computer in there is generally for the kids now.
A computer for the kids would be something you would find in a gameroom.
And if I go with that one theme, the bar makes so much more sense!
I thought about this all week. At some point in the week, it hit me that the dresser should be our new TV stand, the current table/TV stand our new computer desk, and the desk should be the thing that goes to the curb.
Literally.
The desk isn’t special. I bought it at a garage sale for about twenty dollars. It sounds cool to have all that shelf space going up the wall, but really . . . it just becomes a clutter catcher. A LARGE and un-hide-able clutter catcher.
A first-thing-you-see-when-you-enter-the-room clutter catcher.
So . . . I had big visions of spending a little time today moving some furniture pieces around the room. I saw a webisode in my head that ended with a satisfied “See how much of a difference just re-arranging furniture can make?”
Well, I moved the furniture.
I took this picture at the point when my pulse started racing and the anxiety over the it-gets-worse-before-it-gets-better mess I’d created began affecting my vision.
With each piece I moved, I uncovered random cr items that had fallen (or been stuffed) behind it.
I turned on my Slob Vision and decided that I wasn’t going to get sidetracked. I was just going to move the furniture. Randomly stuffed items would simply be re-randomly re-stuffed. (There goes my chance at winning Orgjunkie’s 29 Day Challenge!)
I simply didn’t have time to do an entire room overhaul today.
I moved the couch where the dresser had been. I’ve never studied feng shui but I’ve heard enough to know that you’re not supposed to block doorways.
Which is also common sense.
Soooo, I “floated” the couch. I’ve also heard this is good decorating practice. You’re not supposed to think that all furniture has to be pushed up against a wall.
Except now, my (overly full at the moment) Donate Spot isn’t hidden at all. Not that it was hidden before, but I could pretend it was.
And the room looks smaller. And if I’m in a hurry to get to that potty . . . I might just break a leg when I forget that there’s now a COUCH in the way of getting to the half-bath back there.
I’m guessing that getting rid of the desk and abundance of now-much-harder-to-ignore clutter will help.
I still think that some version of this arrangement will be how we need to go, and since I don’t have the time to re-re-arrange it today, I guess I’ll have to let it sink in and hope that some masterful solution comes to me in my sleep.
But I’m still mad.
I hate it when that happens with rooms. Once we redid the living room three different ways and ended up putting the furniture back the way it had started. I told myself that at least I cleaned underneath it during the process. Then I had a sulk and a good-sized glass of wine.
hugs!
Your last line is my fav. HAHAHA! And this is why so often I choose to not even try to “make it better”. 🙂
We have a totally decluttered living room, but the biggest monstrosity of a sectional couch that the furniture store had in stock is what fills it up. Literally. It’s HUGE. And our living room is a narrow rectangle, which means it can only go one way, against one wall. To say I hate it is an understatement. I’ve taken it apart, re-arranged everything, and still ended up putting it back the way it was. Lots of sweat, no equity. 🙁 You still have a ways to go. It’ll get there and you’ll have a functional room again! Hang in there!
Sell it and get something you love! Seriously, life is too short to spend it living with something you hate looking at – let alone trying to RELAX on something you detest! 🙁
Melissa I would sell it in a FREAKING HEARTBEAT…. but my husband gets pretty upset, er, mad? When I suggest getting rid of it and getting something else. I WISH!!! But for now I’m stuck with it. :oP
I just hate when that happens, too! I suggest putting your table that is against the wall in front of the window and the sofa against the wall. The table looks sturdy enough to hold the T.V. as well.
OOOhhhh! Now I really wish I could come help! You are very close Nony! Once you take out what you don’t need you will be perched at the top of the hill lookin’ down! Easy stuff first (where did I hear that?) then it will look better and you will be able to edit it down even more and scooch stuff around just so and give it a test run.
I have found that any room with electronics is the most difficult because the hooking and unhooking is it’s own job. (I am obsessed with cord hiding too, which makes it worse for me, I have a collection of extensiuon cords of every shape and size)
This might be a job where you call in reinforcements. If there is any time at night for even 30 minutes where you and hubs can work together to get past this sticking point and move the big stuff out of the way you will wake up with a new will.
Floating couches- I move mine back and forth every 6 months- wall, float,wall, float it’s a mood thing. You can always put those slide things under it and move it at your whim for your purpose. Sometimes we just like a big open space to dance around and act crazy!
I will be waving my pom poms and cheering you on til the next post!
I know someone who used to do that (in a HUGE living room) for the seasons. In the winter, couch ‘floats’ because it needs to in order to be able to feel the fire and they walked behind it. In the Spring, when they’re still using the fire but it’s a bit warmer overall, the couch goes back into the alcove and they walk in front of it until the Autumn…
I hate when I’m rearranging something and it gets to that “What the @#$#@ have I done??” point, with waning daylight and energy to deal with it. Definitely worse before it gets better. Rome wasn’t built in a day, neither will be your new “game room”. Hang in there. It will be a fun place when you’re done!
And yes, getting rid of a clutter-catcher set of end tables for us was the best thing we could have ever done to our bedroom. I think that will clear up a lot of the issues for this room when you remove the dresser!
Oh, Nony, well done! Well done. A games and tap dancing room–that’s perfect!
I love, love rearranging furniture–but I do it all on graph paper first! With little squares of cardboard representing my furniture. And it is all to scale.
I think it would drive you bonkers.
An easier thing to do would be to google “floor plan making tool” or some such– I think BHG has something called “arrange a room” which will do the whole thing on the computer for you if you supply the measurements. They have “stock” furniture available.
You are doing so well. Truly. *Applause* This is exactly the right track. Set the timer and go through those piles you uncovered, though. It all counts!
Look on the bright side: you got a great workout! I love rearranging rooms but I am sooooo bad at it. I am a visual person so it is hard to mentally decide how I want a room to look. I spend so many hours moving furniture only to have to try again the next day. I hope you can figure it out!
Ok. Totally radical idea. Could you move the computer to the end of the dresser and eliminate the desk and table? I think your dresser is big enough for both and it would open the room that much more.
I just had to comment and let you know that I love following you and my kids love your “Decluttering a Kitchen” video. Whenever they come in and see me reading your blog they say “Oooh is that the funny lady with the expanding fork?” lol. I feel your frustration about this room (been there) but like others have said, the satisfaction you’ll feel when its done will be priceless. I love the idea of this room as a game room, with the fridge full of drinks and snacks, the dresser holding the TV on top and games and/or systems in the drawers. Don’t feel bad about ditching the desk. It sounds like it is defeating it’s purpose. I have complete confidence in your ability to turn this room into one of your greatest accomplishments! Hang in there!
i was gonna suggest seeing what hubby’s opinon is…and see someone also suggested it…..even if you might not agree with his idea..give it a shot..you may be surprised..i know my “less creative” hubby has come up with some simple and great ideas..they see space differently than us..(for some reason i see space as something to FILL UP..sigh)
do you need the large couch in there? wonder if you could trade on craigslist for a loveseat or 2 chairs to help the flow.
We have a very large living room which is actually an addition. It serves as both our office space for two computers and our sitting area. Added to that there are 4 large windows, three smaller windows, a wood stove and large arch doorway and our main enterance. (Wow, I just told myself why this room is so hard to deal with!!) Anyway, we rearranged our living room awhile back – got the walking machine out of the sitting area to the opposite corner and moved both computers. I did not like it at first, but after all the work of moving that large item and all those cords, connections, etc. my husband said it was not going back for awhile. Well, I got used to it and it *is* better. I still have some things I want to get done to make it more presentable (like addressing the four boxes of junk in one corner and making a skirt for the table my computer sits on to hide “the uglies”, etc.), but it is coming. One smallish thing that really helped the room look less cluttered was to simply move a tall bookshelf around the corner so it is behind the piano out of the direct line of vision. Bookshelves have a way of looking “messy” even when they are organized if you have a lot of different shaped and colored books in them.
Don’t despair. Something will work out eventually! 🙂 It may grow on you too.
Whatever you do, DON’T buy a Kinnect. My living room was great, until we got that thing. It has to have a LARGE open space in order to see the players correctly. My nice living room was rearranged into something I really disliked, and found hap-hazard, rather than homey. This house is a little better, but I still hate having to arrange my living room to accommodate a piece of gaming equipment. I truly hope our next home has a separate room that can be used for it!
Here is what I would do.Take out the fridge,put a desk ,that fits, for(kids)computer there with a chair.put the couch where the desk was before.Keep the dresser for games,dvds and office-materials and put the nice picture of you & hubby and a lamp on it .Then get some kind of furniture with wheels to the tv,so kids can adjust it to playing.Donate-pile & the desktop gets out of house.Is the guestbed left ?keep it in its place.The tv in front of the dresser to right so you can watch it from couch.
I really like following your steps in decluttering!!!Keep going!!!
Hugs from a new supporter from sweden *piah*
only 2 1/2 weeks behind you now!!! wooo hooooooo!!!!!!
only one quick comment:
it’s probably a good thing that the donate spot is now more visible. it makes it harder for the slob vision to miss it that way. right?
the rest of it? i have confidence in your ability to figure it out.
can’t wait to see the “after pictures”!!
have a great week!
I am reading from the start of your blog and finally decided I must Google what a half bath is. Turns out it isn’t a bath for small people only. I had visions of people just bring able to fit in if they tucked their legs in.
I’m in the UK!