Rearranging For the New Year

Since we moved in, the upstairs living room has looked like this.

It was fine. I have been dying, however, to move the small couch that was downstairs upstairs....just to try it.

Since I had to put away Christmas, I figured this was my opportunity to ask Blake to help me move the couch.

Another thing I wanted to do was ditch the rug in our basement. I like it. The problem is, no matter how much I tried I could not get it to lay flat. I even spent a day steaming it with an iron and laying books on top of it. Nothing. Still bumpy.

So after I got all of the Christmas stuff put away, I got to work. I know some people draw stuff out on paper and don't just move furniture around all willy nilly...but I do. I have to move the furniture and then see how it "feels."

I tried a couple of different formations:

I liked both, differently.

Then I had a thought...what if I tried that cursed rug?! I figured that I was going to sell it, but by looking at it in the room, it would help me decide if I wanted to find one for this room in the future.

Suddenly it was like the room was more cozy...complete? I don't know. And wouldn't you know? The rug lays flat up here. The most interesting thing is even though there is more furniture it feels more open.

Blake likes the leather chair in the living room because it is extra seating, but ideally I would like to move it downstairs. We will see who wins out.

Sometimes all you need is just a little change to make a room seem different.

Since I had stolen the rug from the basement, I was on the lookout for a new one.

Not having a rug downstairs is not an option. Our carpet is nasty, and needs to be covered up. Lucky for me Ikea saved the day. So, unintentionally, downstairs got a little makeover too.

This rug from Ikea is great. It is very inexpensive, as far as rugs go (Hello! $99 for a 6'7"x9'10"), and it adds a graphic contrast that I really like.

And...since we can't have some days off with out replacing something in our house...

The faucet in the main bathroom was on it's last leg. The knobs were becoming stripped and it was just a matter of time until we had to replace it.

Luckily, madame fate shined her favor on us, and we found a faucet at Home Depot that was originally $98 marked down to $24. We bought two. One for the upstairs bathroom and one for the master bathroom (if we ever get around to it).

One would never guess that changing out a small faucet would create such a mess. It started in the hallway, and just progressively got worse the further into the bathroom you got.

After one and a half hours, a couple mumblings, and some good ole fashioned muscle, the sink was in.

One of these days we will replace the whole vanity, in the mean time...this works.

Any projects that you have done over the Christmas break? I would love to hear!