June 01st, 2017

Pleased with our results from sprucing up the courtyard, Tim and I turned our attentions to the family room.  It's a nice sized space but still cozy with lots of light, and while we are quite aware, thank you, that it still needs to be painted and pictures hung, there was something else that was not quite right.  I couldn't figure out what it was that to be fixed, try as I might. I spent a lot of time considering and discarding various ideas.  And then, the other night Tim had a brainstorm.  "I think," he said, "It all needs to be turned".   He was serious. His suggestion was a 180 degree turn of everything in the room.  Ok, let's do this!

It is not unusual for us to move furniture around, within the same room or shifting things around between rooms.  Since we seem to focus on one colour palate, everything works with everything else regardless of the room. Although why a person would want a kitchen table in their bedroom is beyond my imagining, ours would still look good in there.  I change table centerpieces and move tchotchke around all the time.  Small changes can make a big difference.

Large furniture and complicated electronic things are kind of a pain to move, however,  so we had to be in the right frame of mind to tackle this project.  The day came over the weekend. Tim was in charge of lifting heavy things and unhooking/rehooking everything requiring cables. I moved smaller things and breakables.  And of course, I wanted to take advantage of the absence of large heavy things to vacuum under and behind them so not only were there cords and wires everywhere, furniture askew and pillows flung to the 4 winds but amidst it all was me, frantically shoving my vacuum around.  Poor Tim.   Imagine Atlas holding up the world while some small woman is vacuuming under it and around his feet.  Sort of like that.

 There were no injuries, but lots of sweating was involved.  I am always at least a little bit amused at the mess that is, of necessity, created while trying to make something look good.  It's true!  Baking?  There is a mess.  Great art?  Mess.  Building a house? Ever visit an active construction sight ? It's a  total mess.  Cleaning out a closet?  Messymess.  And rearranging our family room - temporary mess. 

Of course it's all sorted out now and we are very pleased with the results.  The shift around to the other side was exactly what the room needed.  Everything thing seems much more open and far more comfortable.  It was the right choice.  I still need to paint and pictures still need to be hung, but I think it looks better.  Once again, Tim was right. 

What a difference a day makes.  A sometimes a 180 turn too.

For comparison sake, here are the photos again, side by side: