Occupied space

We are not, it seems, going to move to another appartment anytime soon. That´s ok with me, after all, the one we´re living in right now has a nice layout, and the best (and biggest) kitchen I ever had.
But it also means that we will have to find the right balance between furniture and empty space.
Just removing a single chest of drawers from our bedroom has changed the way that room feels, opening up space and making things look altogether more spacious. And that wasn´t even a big chest.

Our living room is another room that could do with a bit more space. The culprits, in that case, are the easy chairs.
Before DH moved in, I owned two matching IKEA easy chairs and a double-seater couch, which left plenty of free space in the living room. With DH, there arrived a big three-seater, which replaced my double-seater, plus a small desk, the chair to it, and a fifties-style cocktail table with three matching chairs.
Now, I also got to inherit my grandpa´s recliner (much bigger than the other ones), and then there was the vintage danish design teak armchair that MIL gave us.
What it amounts to is that we have a living room that could seat ten people at once. The only hitch being that there´s just the two of us to use them. Granted, DH likes to put up his feet on the couch, thus occupying three places, but that still leaves six unused seats. No wonder the place feels crowded.

The likely candidates for eviction are my two easy chairs, because I would not have to have a discussion with DH before I could toss them. Except these are the only ones, apart the one my grandpa had, that I would keep. Then again, they have some stains on the upholstery that I haven´t been able to get out, and the replacement cushions I´ve been ogling would set us back by a coupla hundred bucks, for a pair of easy chairs that we are, right now, using for dropping blankets or newspapers on. The frames, btw., are no more expensive than the replacement cushions.
Perhaps I should try and put the frames of the IKEA chairs into the cellar for a try. The cushions I could store on top of my wardrobe, just for as long as it takes to decide whether these chairs should come back at all. It might even be that we like the more spacious feeling so much that we won´t miss them at all. In that case, we could pass them on to someone else who might be able to use them, and if ever we had a house where there´d be room for those, we could buy another set. If, that is, by then we wouldn´t prefer something more, er, stylish.

I´ll go for putting them out of the way tonight, and I´m curious how that will change the feeling of the room.

to be continued....


Julia