I’m an optimist.  I really believe that for every home, and furniture contained in that home, there is a best possible scenario for positioning that furniture for the well being and enjoyment of that particular family.  For reals.

I loved the idea of our family room, but the sofa placement never felt right. Or best.  The fact is, this is our sofa.  We love it, it is well made and beyond comfy but, it was bought for a home we were sure we would stay in forever, and then we moved. The other fact is that we watch tv.  I’m not buying a new sofa and my husband and I will watch anything on tv that involves Boston Rob. But, I’m willing to move my furniture around.  And I had tried it every way possible in this room.  Every way that is… but one.  One way I was pretty sure I would hate because you would see the side of the armoire right as you enter the front door and I would have to have a new cable hole thing put into the wall.  I am thrifty, I don’t like new cable holes that I have to pay for.  And besides, I was SURE I wouldn’t like it that way. I mean, I’m the self proclaimed queen of moving my furniture, I didn’t need to move it to know how much it was not going to work like that, right?

But, I’d rather pay for a new hole than for a new sofa, and this room just kept telling me that there was a better way.  And I’m not afraid to figure out what that way is.

I’m in the midst of picking a light neutral paint color for the walls, redoing some window mistreatments, and considering slipcovers to protect our sofa from more holes.  But, I think the best way for me to be able to complete the room, is if I’m sure of the placement of the largest pieces of furniture. So I’m ignoring the different colors on the walls, lack of fabric on the windows, lamps that are a weird height, small tables, wall art and anything else.  My first mission is large furniture placement.  I’m at a standstill until I can get that right.

The following videos were taken spur of the moment, by me, on my phone.  I only know how to upload it to youtube from my phone so if you are in a country that bans youtube, my apologies.

Video 1:

Phase one–I figured now was the time to try {once more} this tan sofa from our front room.  I moved the toile sofa out and wondered if somehow, this sofa could work.  I didn’t like the idea of not having the sectional but, since it was something I already had, it was worth moving it just to see.  Sometimes, when you move stuff, it inspires a great idea that you wouldn’t have had otherwise.  But, somehow, this sofa felt even bigger than the red one. But in order to have a walkway behind the sofa –which we have to have, it was too close to the tv, although my boys tried to convince me otherwise.

Just for kicks, here’s the red toile in the robin’s egg blue {Sherwin Williams Comfort Gray} room.  I LOVE the combination.

So next, I moved the red sofa back in and tried it in the corner–no worries, I’m going to move the tan sofa out, again, much to the dismay of my boys, they like a sofa on sofa look.

First thoughts–pure hate.  But, you cannot EVER trust your first thoughts.  You have to push through and see complete the move and see how it feels.

Weird huh.  Why’s that sofa in a corner?  But lets face it, in this room, the sofa is in a weird place no matter what.  So I’m looking for the best weird for our family and for Boston Rob.  After you move your stuff, even if you think it’s all wrong, it’s important to try to live with it just for a little while.  So, I made myself keep it this way for 24 hours.  My husband came home and loved it. And our house feels twice as big.

The morning after–I just loaded this video so the quality won’t be better for a few hours, but you get the idea.

Well, that’s what I get for convincing myself for all of these months that our room would never work situated like that.  We actually love it!  It just goes to show the importance of moving your furniture.  If there is a remote possibility that your stuff could work in a better way, it is SO worth it to try it out and see.  I really regret not trying this sooner.  And there is no substitute for moving it and looking at it with your own eyes.  You and your family are the ones who have to live with it so you get to decide if it works or not.  I’m just as guilty as anyone to ask a zillion people how I should arrange my stuff, and really the only way to figure it out is to move it around and see.

I still have to call the cable guy and pay him hard earned money to make a new hole in our wall so for now this is what we have to do if we want to watch tv.  Cue Sandford and Son music.  You can see the outline of thew white cable wire stretched in front of the fireplace.

PS, usually when I move furniture I put these furniture sliders under the legs of my stuff.  Our floors are some kind of super strength engineered wood that is impossible to scratch and most of my furniture has plastic caps on the bottom anyway.  But you know, just in case, use your sliders or rip up a cardboard box and put the pieces under your furniture to protect your floors.

Now it’s your turn.  Is there something you’ve considered moving but you are pretty sure it won’t work?  Maybe you are right.  But, what IF you are wrong?