Fix it with Furniture... Tip 4

Happy Friday! I am so excited for this week to be over and the weekend to begin! We have two birthday parties on Saturday which should equal a little extra am sleep on Sunday from Little Man.... fingers crossed!

I will admit that I LOVE furniture. I think it's a problem. I comb the stores looking for new pieces and when I gt home I think of how I can re-arrange the pieces I have to better suit the space and to allow for more to come home with me next time!

Once upon a time, a mommy got very tired of constantly seeing her kids toys spread across the house. This was before the idea of a play closet had even entered her brain....and she set out to find a way to keep the kids in her view while she was cooking in the kitchen and such without staring at Elmo, Mickey Mouse, and the like all day long. Enter a modern looking dark wood buffet with 2 shelves, 1 drawer, and 3 shelves hidden behind a door. Being that our family room is very deep, the sectional got moved forward, the buffet was placed on the back wall perfectly centered between the windows, and the kids got a long galley style play area that was not visible unless you walked to the back side of the couch!

View when you walk into the room...

and if you walk behind the sectional!

And with the white slipcovers on...

from another angle!

This plan worked great for us for quite some time! But once the play closet got up and running the buffet wasn't being used and it did take up ALOT of precious room! We moved the buffet, changed out the curtains (smart to do before the sectional move), and then pushed the sectional back to about 6 inches away from the wall. What a difference!!! The room looks huge again! We also moved the dark wood side table to the other side of the sectional and brought in a dark wood chest to use on the chaise side. I also brought down the 2 floor lamps that we used to have in the Master and placed those on each side of the sectional for some more accent lighting. Oh yes - and I took the bottom shelf off of the coffee table (and spray painted it a Hammered Bronze to cover up the mess I made a few nights ago!) What do you think?

Looking cleaner and so much bigger!!!

This left us with an extra piece of furniture to do something with.... and I knew right where it should go! The guest bedroom! The guest bedroom has a full size bed, the West Elm Parsons desk, and a tall file cabinet from Ballard (in addition to a variety of side tables that float in and out as nightstands). The room always ended up feeling really tight even with just those limited pieces.

when you walk in to the room... 

 The view from the bed...

First things first, the file cabinet got moved to the closet. It fits perfectly under the adjustable wooden shelves we made and is still easily accessible! Note - the reams of fabric hiding in the closet too!

I adore the Parsons Desk but it is really too big for this space. It is also a very easy piece to store by just unscrewing the legs, it could be pushed under a bed. I said my goodbyes to the desk and moved the buffet into it's place. Such a better fit size wise! It also gives us a great location to quickly 'hide' stuff when a last minute showing is going to happen and the house is a disaster!

view from the door

and from the bed... looking so much bigger!

PS - I hope these pictures have captured that placement really is everything! One last tip that has been a life saver for my back and my marriage... Moving Men sliders. These things allow you to move anything with almost no work! I have even used them on my solid wood armoire that I left totally full!

I am linking up today at Serenity Now!