Switchin' It up

I have been unhappy with my living room layout for quite some time.  It makes the room feel small, it's a poor utilization of space, you can see all the messes/disorganization and not everyone can see the TV at the same time if we were to host large movie-watching parties.

Exhibit A: The original set-up
While this was not the first placement of furniture when we moved in, it was quickly arranged this way after the failed first attempt and has looked like this for the past six months.  We usually only use/occupy the tan chair and the tan sofa.  But you can see that the futon completes the U-shape of furniture and makes viewing of the flat screen difficult if all seats are occupied.

In addition there isn't a lot of space to move around, and as soon as you enter our front door you are greeted by the back of the couch - talk about closing off a space!

The open pantry to the left of the fireplaces is something else I've struggled with since there is no room in the kitchen for our food, I'm sure baskets would be helpful for the shelves, but I need to find matching ones and ones that accommodate over sized items that hang off the shelves

Exhibit B:

You can easily see in the photo above, how the back of the couch almost smacks you as you walk in the front door - not exactly friendly.

The pros of this space were: really high ceilings - could always go up with storage and decorating solutions, and that it has the potential to fit all of the furniture we had, since we weren't ready to ditch any of the pieces just yet.

What I wanted to accomplish with this space:

• Better viewing of the TV for all seats available, and the possibility to accommodate a few additional chairs should we want to throw a movie night or TV show watching for our friends
• More concealed storage.  Since we have a grand total of 2 closets in this apartment, one in each bedroom, we needed more places to store things that didn't scream "look at our junk"
• Window treatments - there's a window and a door out to our patio that are woefully bare
• More cohesion - I think this will come if I paint the bookcases to match each other, as well as change the hardware on all the pieces to something a little more classy that matches, so at least the items tie together.  I have a lot of white and black ikea furniture, so I should look at embracing that color scheme more, as well as paint all non-black frames on the gallery wall black.
• More artwork on the walls
• A place that felt relaxing and comfortable to everyone who walked in.

What I achieved after a trip to ikea, the local paint store, and Home Depot on a Saturday night (which is my time to do projects)  Excuse the bad/different lighting, I was taking these around 4am.... and just noticing now that I hadn't put the vacuum away

The main way I achieved this transformation is by using 4 cinder blocks that my kind friend Stephanie drove me to buy (cinder blocks + metro = not a fun experience) and I used these to lift up the futon about 6 inches.  I made sure to put old pieces of a rug under the cinder blocks so they didn't wreck my floors, but the lift of about 6 inches allowed me to create theater seating in my house and allow for better viewing of the TV from all seats.  Also on the plus side we rarely used the futon because we couldn't see the TV well from it so now we can finally use it!

Then I moved the TV in front of the fireplace which makes the area look more balanced - yes, it is a working wood-burning fireplace, no I am not in any position to be buying and hauling firewood home in downtown DC to make use of it.  And the empty space in front of the TV is perfect for doing yoga or other work out tapes without having to move all the furniture!

I also finally hung up some artwork as well as canvas drop clothes for curtains - they need to be hemmed and probably will be dyed at some point since they are the same color as the walls currently.

In addition to finally being able to see the TV from the futon, raising it up 6 inches allowed me more room to hide things under the futon, like our rarely used bean bag and vacuum cleaner.

I also added bins on top of the freestanding closet for added storage and the bins are black in an attempt to tie into the other black items in the room, and although you can't see it they have a nice woven texture that adds interest to the space as well.

Overall I absolutely love the way my living room looks right now, and although it's not perfect and there are still some tweaks it needs but it makes me way more relaxed and happy when I look at the space, and that's really all I can ask for.

I also did some mini storage updates in the kitchen and my bedroom so hopefully I'll have those up for you soon!

2014 Resolutions... a little late

Even though I'm a little late to the game I thought I would make public my resolutions for 2014 that way I have a record of them and it holds me semi-accountable.

1. Plan my meals and actually cook different things for dinner
This is on here because while I am an absolute master at pasta from a box with sauce from a jar, and a variety of breakfast foods I really need to work on prepping meals that aren't the same thing and I need to develop some cooking skills.  At least until I can find someone who promises to do all the cooking and I will do all the cleanup.  Since that doesn't appear to be happening at the moment it was time to take things into my own hands and figure out this cooking thing for myself.

2. Live a more active lifestyle
I didn't want this to be a boring "go to the gym more" goal that is on lots of people's resolutions.  I want this to be a: walk more, drink more water, take stairs, try out intramural soccer or a barre workout, explore more active options.  While I'm certainly not unhealthy, I could do more in this area to improve.  I'm looking at buying a bike from my boss so I can take some bike trips in addition to possibly joining a soccer league in the Spring.

3. Give back to the community I live in
I've always loved volunteering and getting involved in my community.  I'm still exploring this option but maybe I'll join an organization at the Lutheran church I've been to a few times, or research opportunities around me, like visit with seniors, read to children, tutor and volunteer as a tour guide somewhere.  Whatever it is, I want to get involved.

4. Professional development
Since I figured I needed some resolution to be work related, here it is.  I've signed up for some online professional development courses and I just need to sit down and take them.  I want more responsibility because I would like to grow in my office as well as figure out a way to get promoted (always tricky in this budget environment) but if I work hard and learn things like Adobe dreamweaver for editing our website, photoshop for our event fliers, more about our tracking systems, and keep up with my ongoing learning I should greatly improve my skills and my value in the office.

5. Blog more
This one is fairly self explanatory but I would really like to become a better blogger, as well as blog more frequently so I can really use this as a diary of my experience living in DC.  Yes, I've been here for two years, but it's never too late to start!  I still haven't figured out a format yet (projects, crafts, news, pictures, etc) but I figured I would try a variety and see what sticks.