Changing up the Living Spaces

As I mentioned in my post yesterday, I finally got around to some much needed housework on Wednesday. I had a good deep clean and change around of our living spaces.  They've been laid out in the same way for a good 5 or more years and I wanted to try something a bit different.

As a bit of background, we live in a London Victorian terraced house and they are renowned for having narrow rooms.  As a consequence, we bought small sofas about 7 or 8 years ago, so that they would fit easily into the space.  Unfortunately, they're not the most comfortable things, as you can't lay out on them easily due to them being small two seaters.

Here's a picture of our front living room as it was:

There was also a preponderance of side tables in the room, three to be exact, which take up way too much space and make the room seem a little cluttered.

The back living room looked like this:

We use this room to store the bikes and I also use it to dry washing and do the ironing whilst watching TV. You will be able to see a large beige sofa to the right hand side of the room.

We've had this 4 seater IKEA sofa more than 15 years, but we relegated it to the back living room due to it's size and the condition of it's covers.  Lately, after having slept on it a few times when I had insomnia and couldn't get to sleep upstairs, I got to thinking that it would be nice to put it in the front living room and be able to lie out on it whilst watching TV.

I found some replacement covers (it's been discontinued at IKEA) that can be bought online and I'm just waiting for the fabric I like to come back into stock and I'll be ordering a set.  They're not cheap at £339, but I know that they will transform the sofa and we'll be able to keep it for years yet.  A much better option than sending it to landfill.

Anyway, whilst cleaning these rooms, I decided to try a new layout, with the old sofa in the front room and the two small sofas in the back. It would mean us keeping the bikes outside in the back garden, but we would be putting them there anyway in the winter, so that we can use the wood burning stove.

It was a big job cleaning both rooms, as it hadn't been done for a few months and everything was very dusty and dirty.  Eventually, though I got it how I wanted it and this is the new layout of the front room, from both ends:

The armchair was the dogs chair, but on account of the grey chair being so uncomfortable to sit in, I took the loose covers off it and it will now be great for us to sit in and watch TV.  The dog will have to make do with her basket or the other chair.

Once I get my new sofa covers, which will hopefully be navy blue, I will be buying a new winged armchair in a plain colour.  This one was bought for OH's dad to sit in when they came to visit a few Christmas's ago, but he never used it.  It's pretty cheap, as it was the only thing I could get delivered from eBay in time for their arrival, so it will probably find it's way to the Give and Take when I get a better one.  The grey chair in the window is an IKEA bargain corner find which also might find it's way there too, which will simplify things somewhat.

With a bit of imagination, some new sofa cushions (larger and co-ordinating ones) you can just about imagine this room looking a lot cosier.  In the meantime we can make sure we like the new layout before we commit to any expenditure.

The back room now looks like this:

It will be a nice place to sit in front of the wood burner and read or listen to music. I got the wood basket, coal scuttle and fire companion set out of the shed in readiness for the weather getting colder, so we're now all set.  I have to admit that this room will not stay uncluttered, as I will still be drying my washing in here and there will be an ironing basket or two hanging around too, but it should still be a usable space.

I'll let you know how we get on with the new layout over the next few weeks. Do you ever just feel like a change?  Sometimes, it can really make a difference to how you feel about your home.