Hi All.

Calendars say it’s Spring but weather has many of us still stuck inside . . . and our brains are fried . . . with boredom.  What I do for this malady, is rearrange, a lot!  It refreshes the spaces in your home and your mind. Best part is, it doesn’t cost anything!

Just be careful with heavy stuff.  You don’t want any ER trips for a back out of whack.

Today, I have hints on how to improve your furniture groupings.

Let’s pretend you’re looking at one of your main living areas, and you think “it’s not so bad, I like my stuff in here.”  But there’s just a little something off and you wish you could fix it.    Consider the area below, a conversation area in an average sized living room.

Nice things here so what’s wrong?

Maybe because most of our first places are small, we want to push things out and use every inch of space when we graduate to bigger rooms. It’s almost a natural instinct, but spreading out dooms arrangements. The group above is dead because of the spread.

Tighten Up

Move pieces closer together, making it a more inviting arrangement.  Below, notice how we pulled the chairs closer together, angled them and centered things, table and all, under the wall clock.  This is a conversation area, but now you won’t have to yell across the room to converse!  Make your pieces communicate, so that your guests can too!.

Add More . . . Sometimes

YES . . . me, the “no clutter” freak . . . I just told you to add more stuff here.  Key word here is “sometimes”.  The solitary plant gets some company with another plant and vase.  And all are moved closer to the seating.   By using three items instead of the one lonely plant and positioning them beneath the picture, you create more interest and also better flow for the eye, connecting everything in your arrangement.  The blue keeps going with the second planter. We also added the matching ottoman for the easy chair.   I mean, what would you do with it otherwise?

Okay, I did take away somethings – the picture was replaced with a larger, more color appropiate one.  And a table lamp is substituted for the floor lamp.

Remember to always provide good lighting for every seating arrangement.

More Easy Tricks

Above, simply using a different lamp, and swapping the coordinating lounger for the matching chair, quickly gives you another look.

Below, we added some toss pillows, changed back to the larger lamp and went to a bigger table.  Now this group will work for reading and/or TV viewing as well as conversation.  We’re beginning to experiment with the floor arrangment and try a third picture.

Don’t Be Afraid to Experiment

No Big Deal if something doesn’t work.   Here the plant behind the chair just doesn’t work, AND should be removed 2. The new “two” pillow colors and the added oranges in the floor group and the table lamp, DO work and now you have yet another change.

TIP 1: In furniture arrangement consider communication and conversation. These might seem to be the same things but here, you want your furnishings to communicate, as well as your guests. Pulling pieces together avoids that isolated, disconnected look. Conversation is a given when more than one seating piece is involved, because you are inviting two guests to sit, and they’ll want to talk, so don’t make them shout by spreading things out.

TIP 2: Comfort is always important, whether in a single chair grouping or a conversation area. Remember to include proper lighting and available table surface in any seating arrangement, for comfortable use. And angle chairs towards each other. Avoid pushing everything flat up against the wall.

TIP 3: Use what you have. Everything doesn’t have to match to work together in a grouping. Use what you have and what you love.  Relate pieces through color, accessories and good arrangement. Sometimes the differences in pieces are what make the grouping interesting.

Above all, have fun. Don’t stress, just start.

Hey, I love hearing from you. What do you think? Leave a reply below . . . and let me know!

Later – Cheryl

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