Wednesday Wonder: A Small Change but a Big Impact

Hello Friends!

Today I want to jump right in and talk about decorating. Do you like to decorate, change decor, and move things around in your home? There are some things I like changing up often...especially seasonal kinds of decorations. But lots of time my furniture is pretty set where it is because I find the way I think it fits best and serves the purpose of the room, and leave it that way. 

However, there was always something that bothered me about our formal living room. I could never put my finger on it. It's sort of a difficult room to arrange anyways because there are only 3 wall spaces and one is fully an Italian marble fireplace (major focal point) and the other is a wall of windows to the outdoors and the bay (another major focal point). And to top it off it's a long and sort of narrow room. The previous owners hung a very large scale mirror on the remaining wall and I've loved that. It makes the light so nice in the room, as well as helps with the weird kind of dimensions. 

But the other day I was sitting in there and I realized what was bothering me and it was this chair. That's my MIL, Sue sitting in it at Christmas time. And in the next photo you can see it in our room from this past Autumn.

And I realized what I didn't like is that it's pushed flush up against the fireplace. The sofa across from it is in a great spot to be right across from the fireplace and I like the coffee table in front of it, as it can be decorated pretty and first catch your eye when you walk in the room. 

And in the far back right corner there is a separate chair - but that is on purpose. That chair also has a foot stool and it's own big lamp because it's a nice reading nook next to the piano in its own kind of space in the far side of the room. 

But I realized what I didn't like about that chair next to the fireplace is that it felt like it was ignoring the couch completely and just focused on the outside windows. Like it wasn't "playing nice" with the rest of the furniture. Lol It felt to me like the whole set should be "talking to each other" if that makes sense? So I pulled the chair out from the fireplace wall a bit and turned it more towards the sofa. I moved the end table next to the chair to line it up with its new position. And just like that I liked the feel of the room so much better! It now feels like a great place for company congregating in there to visit with one another. And yet it still didn't block the flow for just walking through the room, as I didn't pull it out too far. 

Do you see what I mean? It just makes more sense to me now. The back wall off by itself has the music and reading corners. And the furniture near the fireplace is more for congregating to visit or to be cozy in front of the fireplace. And with the chair turned more towards the fireplace...it feels like it even has a cozier moment and I can picture reading there when it's the colder season with a big soft blanket. All the furniture plays nicely now...at least in my brain it does. I shopped my house (I do that all the time) and took this round plant stand table from my entryway and placed it in the open spot behind the chair, as that felt too open now. I'm going to go real shopping for more real plants for my home soon. But I put this faux plant I already had on top of it for now. 

I think Matt thinks I'm funny because I talk about furniture talking to each other and playing nice. 😁 But I think lots of times fellas don't have a lot of concern about design. They just want to be comfortable. 

I have always loved design and decorating and in another life would have studied that subject and had a different career path. However, I'm just content to play in my own home. We also plan to redesign and add rooms and different layouts to our lake cottage one day. So I have that to play with too. :) 

Matt's actually really excited about that project and has come up with some great logistic solutions already. And I've already been accumulating lots of ideas on pinterest! He talked to his contractor that's done other work up there about it ...but it will be a few years before we tackle that job. 

It's fun to dream. 😍

 Do you have hobbies you enjoy like this too?