The Ole Switcheroo

As I mentioned back in March (yikes!) the apartment is now home to a new-to-us sofa and dining room table. To accommodate these new items, our space plan got totally changed up and we lived with it for a while (three months!) tweaking here and there, until landing on a layout that mostly felt right. But something was off. Lazily, I had never changed up the arrangement of  any of our art pieces after moving around the large furniture.

Anyway, if you remember, our sitting area was at the back right of the apartment, and the dining area was at the back left. Those spaces have now been flip-flopped. Here’s a wide shot to give you an idea, and, spoiler alert–the new art arrangement too:

A few nights ago, we rearranged almost ALL of the art in the apartment and while we’re a couple steps away from being done, I can say that adding art in the right places can help a furniture arrangement feel more purposeful and make your place feel more like home.

Before we moved these pieces to the TV wall, the white wall combined with white shelves looked “blah.”

Now, the focal point is more anchored.

After moving the couch and secret console-table-slash-storage-space, the tall art almost seemed too tall.

Layering my favorite empty gold frame with this pretty painting made by my great-great aunt in the 30s adds color, and by hanging horizontally, balances out the lamp and the eiffel tower. I love seeing the gleaming gold frames when I come through the front door.

So now, the gray couch lives in the office “slash” extended entryway. It creates a great little place to sit and put on/take off shoes, read a book or magazine, or to chat with whoever is using the computer at the time. Mosey also loves rearranging the throw pillows so he can take a nap there. It wasn’t replaced by the green couch per se, just relieved of some of its use!

It was kind of sad to see the gallery wall go, but I was just craving simplicity. (In all truth–we were thisclose to hanging Doug’s bike there but the wall couldn’t support it). I don’t know what I’ll hang above the gray couch now, but at the moment I’m strangely feeling okay with the empty space.

When I get antsy and obsessively peruse craigslist to find out what other apartments are out there, I must rearrange my current space to satiate my need for change… Which is exactly what I did. Now it (kinda sorta) seems like a new place! So, what do you think? 

An aside: It’s a pet peeve of mine when bloggers apologize for their crummy images, especially “sorry for the iPhone photos!” But… I truly have to gripe about the photos in this post. Getting shots of this part of the apartment is murder, since the only light source is the sliding patio door, so every image is either way underexposed (and therefore grainy) or too blown out to make sense. So even though I used my fancy camera, I can’t help but shake my head at these pics, simply because I know I can and should do better. Now you know.