This past weekend one of my bridesmaids [AKA Crystal-Fresh] came to stay with us to help me with wedding things and go shopping of course. Saturday evening after a full day at the San Marcos outlets, Derek was on his way to help one of our friends and his girlfriend move so Fresh and I decided to rearrange the living room while he was gone. Sneaky sneaky! I was a little nervous about this only because I know how Derek likes rooms to function and he doesn’t like to come home to chaos, so we had to work fast!

I’ve never really liked the way our living room was arranged. It was the first place we put the furniture after the movers brought it upstairs, and it is where it has stayed ever since. It all seemed logical to place the TV on the large wall flanked by two windows with the couch across it and chairs on either side. Space planning 101. But in such a cramped apartment it really wasn’t working out, and I hated seeing the back of the couch every time I walked into the apartment. The flow of traffic was ridiculous, and the whole thing was just a mess. It looked like there was way too much furniture in such a tiny space. Here’s a refresher of the floor plan as you last remember it:

It looks very cozy in the floor plan, but it was extremely crowded in real life. Plus two of those 5 seats can’t even see the TV, and the way it’s blocked off from the dining room makes entertaining really awkward.

See what I mean? Cramped. And no those pillows aren’t usually in disarray like that but I had just bought new down pillow inserts from Pottery Barn outlet so I was in the process of switching them out. Also those styrofoam wreathes in the dining room are for wedding centerpieces [more on that soon hopefully!] Anyone I’ve told about the new living room arrangement [our moms]  can’t fathom how we are now able to seat 7 [!!] people, all of which can still see the TV if need be, and that the traffic flow is 100 times better and the apartment actually feels bigger. Ready?

These two Gunlocke chairs had been on each side of our bed which were usually covered in laundry, and no one saw them but us. Now they’re out in the living room for everyone to enjoy!

I just love having a wall of books behind the sofa. It’s like instant art. And yes, everything is organized by genre because we’re OCD like that.

When Derek came home he was absolutely blown away 1. at the amazing transformation of the room and 2. and the ginormo mess we made in the office. Originally we had taken the two Billy bookcases from the office to put behind the couch so he was a little peeved that his office storage was gone with grad school about to start back up. So we decided to use one of our large bakers racks in the office and that we needed a third bookcase behind the sofa because two were looking a little wimpy. So we made an impromptu trip to Ikea [which is 1.5hrs away mind you]

And incase you were wondering, you CAN get a Billy bookcase to fit into a Honda Accord!

It’s just a little cozy in the front seat.

We ended up buying one Billy bookcase and three shelf extenders to make our shelves extra tall, because between the two of us we have a LOT of books. We removed the middle shelf in the extenders to create a whole new shelf the same size as the rest of our shelves.

You’re probably wondering what we put on the bottom shelves that are blocked by the couch? A bunch of crapola. Extra studio supplies, Christmas decorations, extra blankets and pillows, and other things we hardly use. It’s our very own secret storage spot! Except for that I just told you about it..

So after all was said and one I owe a huge thank you to Crystal-Fresh for encouraging me to switch things up, and adding her muscles to the equation to get all of these books transported. We still just gush over the room every time we walk through the front door. It really does feel like a whole new apartment. It’s funny what a little rearranging can do do your well being. Now Derek has room to use his trainer, I have room to do yoga, entertaining our friends is SO much easier. We just love it! What do you guys think?