This is a story of our living room. Like every other room in the world, ours too has an elaborate back story.
The room itself is small and it is the only gathering space in the house.But it is plenty for my young family. In a way, the small space keeps my sanity intact, with a curious ‘I- Learn- Only- From-Messy-Mistakes’ little girl. It is actually one room that serves as a foyer, living and dining space. Roughly it is a 17 * 14 space but broken by an entry way, stair case and a corner space.
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The room obviously didn't start out the way it is now. It has evolved over the years through a number of trial and errors. Initially I had the furniture layout like this.
It worked OK, but obviously wasn't the comfortable space I wanted it to be. Especially when we had get-togethers and friends dropping by. As I learned more about the interiors, I was able to pin point where and how I could improve the lay out and make it a cozier and happier place.
There were a number of issues with this layout.
1) TV placed against the windows, blocking light. Apparently those windows are the only source of sunlight.
2) An extra chair would block the free flow of traffic.
3) A bigger coffee table, meaning a place to put snacks or drinks would cramp the place.
4) The chair and the sofa are placed farther than convenient.
5) The small book shelf wasn't enough for books and the little one’s toys.
To make the room more functional and yet pleasing to the eye, I decided to give it a make over. I started out by writing down my needs and wants. This was the gist of the list I created.
1) Comfortable seating arrangement. This includes a recliner for Girish (my husband)
2) A bookshelf big enough to hold my books and small nitty grittys.
3) More natural light.
5) Personalize with art.
6) A coffee table that is the right size for the sofa. Our sofa looks bigger than it actually is.
7) A convenient and easy on the eyes shoe rack that doesn't scream 'shoes here' for the entry.
And here is the plan I came up with.
First I painted the room a neutral grey. I thought of having the room painted in white, but after some research found that if the room does not get plenty of light, white walls would make it look dingy (primarily because of the shadows they create). In fact, better approach is to paint a dark room in richer tones and bright ones in lighter colors.The point is not to fight the nature but to go with it.
Secondly, I moved the sofa to the window wall.This helped to expose as much of the window as possible. Then I changed the window panels to a white one that allows light to filter through but still served its purpose.
Ground floor,road side house, definitely needs to be shielded.I added a black and white throw and a white bed sheet to the sofa to break all the heavy chocolate brown on it.This again lightened up the space.
First two changes opened up the space, and allowed me to add a slanting chair and a thinner occassional chair.I placed them as close to the sofa as possibile to allow us to talk without shouting from the corners of the room.
First I painted the room a neutral grey. I thought of having the room painted in white, but after some research found that if the room does not get plenty of light, white walls would make it look dingy (primarily because of the shadows they create). In fact, better approach is to paint a dark room in richer tones and bright ones in lighter colors.The point is not to fight the nature but to go with it.
Secondly, I moved the sofa to the window wall.This helped to expose as much of the window as possible. Then I changed the window panels to a white one that allows light to filter through but still served its purpose.
Ground floor,road side house, definitely needs to be shielded.I added a black and white throw and a white bed sheet to the sofa to break all the heavy chocolate brown on it.This again lightened up the space.
First two changes opened up the space, and allowed me to add a slanting chair and a thinner occassional chair.I placed them as close to the sofa as possibile to allow us to talk without shouting from the corners of the room.
Next step was to add a corner space where our little daughter can call her own. A kid sized dora chair, a small table and a basket for toys that we rotate did the trick.
Next up was to find a bookshelf. I didnt have much space left to add a book shelf ( I am kind of obsessed with having a book shelf ). My search for a book shelf that I could also use as TV stand came to an end with the most versatile shelving unit I ever saw - Ikea Expedit.
Finally here is our entry way.
That almost concludes the living room tour. By the way, please don't believe for a second that this rooms remains as such all the time.If you drop in unannounced to this part of the globe, you might find this instead.
That's it. So, what do you think? Please let me know your suggestions/opinions to help me improve the space.
Finally here is our entry way.
That almost concludes the living room tour. By the way, please don't believe for a second that this rooms remains as such all the time.If you drop in unannounced to this part of the globe, you might find this instead.
That's it. So, what do you think? Please let me know your suggestions/opinions to help me improve the space.
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