Just Do It

I have had the hardest time making my living room how I want it. Because it’s the room where we spend so much time, I need it to be functional and family friendly. It’s also the room that our front door enters into, so I want it to look nice as it’s the first room anyone who enters sees. I have moved furniture in and out, rearranged furniture, painted furniture and then repainted it, all to try to make this a room that everyone can enjoy and I can live with.

A couple of things were keeping this room from being one that I loved. We had a huge wall entertainment unit that was simply too big for the space, and had so many shelves that if they were filled, it looked too cluttered and if they weren’t filled, the space looked too bare. I also wasn’t a huge fan of having my big, old tv being exposed.

(a very old photo of when I was first putting the room together)

Imagine that wall unit full of stuff, and one day I decide it’s time to just do it. Move the thing out and put in something more practical. So then all that stuff is all over the living room. Say, like this:

Imagine I decided to do this the day before having a party here at the house. Nothing like a deadline to force me to get it done, right?

I asked my very strong boys to move in the armoire and they obliged.

I had this big Pottery Barn coffee table and matching end table that were given to us free when friends were getting new furniture. The coffee table was simply too big. The kids didn’t have room to play, and we could barely walk through the room. I sold the coffee table, leaving open space for the kids to play on the floor.

The end table was a mess from a combination of things. I made sure it looked extra terrible for the before photo just so when I was done with it, the after would look even better.

I thought up a million and one reasons to keep putting off painting the table but in a burst of energy, fueled by sunshine on Sunday, I just did it.

after

Now, we have a room the kids can enjoy and play in, piling up toys and building train tracks across. We can walk through the room from any angle, I can close the tv into the armoire, and we created the area in the corner with the chair and lamp where anyone can curl up and read, but it’s still close enough to the couch that we haven’t lost the conversation area from before.

I’m glad I stopped making excuses and just did it, making a room I love and spending zero dollars in the process.

I’m adding this to Trash To Treasure Tuesday at Reinvented and DIY Day at A Soft Place To Land. Check them out for lots of neat-o projects around blogland.