At long last...the living room.

Progress at last, after what seems to have been a rough week for everybody.

Yes, this is it! This is my living room!

I spent my ten minutes sitting in Week 1 in my too-often-underutilized, comfy gold chair in my big, weird living room. I learned and/or confirmed a few things:

1. I really do love this room, despite its mild oddities. Even in its present undressed state, I look forward to being here.
   
   
2. I've got several great pieces to work with.


3. I have no tables. No. Tables. I knew that before, but it hadn't internalized. I need tables. You don't know how much coffee I drink.
   

The Floorplan

I posted this on flickr last weekend - it's the to-scale version of the living room with my best stab at the layout to date (this isn't what it looks like currently - just my vision). Click the image for the flickr version with notes.

This is speculative, because I need more furniture. The extant pieces are the loveseat, comfy gold club chair, three table lamps, and large shelf thing shown along the top wall. I also have pieces that will stand in for the desk and TV stand for now.

The Shelf Unit

The awkwardness is in the structural layout of the top half of the room. The front door (middle right) limits use of that corner in what would otherwise be a reasonable rectangular space. I've imagined a long ottoman as the third wing of the seating area because anything but a very low-profile piece feels like it's right on top of you when you open the door. Even the comfy gold chair, which is small, is just in the way when it's near the door.

The Comfy Gold Chair

The area above that is designated "dining room" by the rental office, but that's not how I'd ever use it. For one thing, the whole room is carpeted; also, the apartment has a large eat-in kitchen that would accommodate a larger table than the "dining room." And there are all those doors surrounding it to be avoided - doors to coat and linen closets and bathroom and two bedrooms and passage to to the kitchen. So, what to do with that space?

View of "study" from living room, with chairs in waiting.

Week 2 Task: Decide what activities you want in your room and where they will go.

What I want to do here:

1. Relax
2. Read
   
3. TV/web stuff.
4. Have conversation with guests.
5. Minor desk tasks - primarily, the laptop needs a home base, but I'll also do minor paperwork and correspondence here. I'm going to set up a space in the spare bedroom for jobs that need lots of spreading out, like heavy-duty study and income tax returns. I've found that when I try to things like this on my regular desk, I just make a mess of life.
   

Here's the strategy:

1. Relax: I'm still in the mostly-hand-me-down-furniture stage of life, but I've so lucked out with respect to comfort and quality. Have I mentioned the wonderfully solid comfy gold chair (actually chairs - they're a pair but never manage to end up in the same room)? So the makings are there.
2. Read: I do a lot of this, and it largely overlaps with the above, so the same thoughts apply, plus lighting concerns.
   
3. TV, etc.: straightforward, if your seating points in the right direction. Not really a problem.
4. Guests: This is a big one - I moved in here with the intention to make hospitality a life priority. The seating area has to feel congruous. I think I'm on the right track, though I bet I'll still do a lot of moving things around.
   
5. Desking: This ties to the question of how to use the "dining room." Over on flickr, smallcitybeth suggested trying to turn that space into a real study-type area. I like that - the space certainly needs a definite purpose, and that use of it would be very consistent with the notion of my apartment being "me." Desk placement is a problem though - seems like it could go either where it's shown on the floorplan above, or against the wall between the bedroom doors. Both have drawbacks, space-wise. It will be a small piece no matter what, but that's what I want anyhow.

I realize I'm not asking any questions here, or solving any problems. I have a lot of ideas to try out and plans for color and accessories (mostly still in boxes). But if anyone has a suggestion anyhow, I'd be happy to hear it.

Have a good weekend (in progress) and everybody rest up to jump back into Week 5.