Reading About Rearranging the Furniture
Jul. 1st, 2006 11:46 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
livingdebI'm afraid my biggest adventure today was going to two libraries to pick up some books I've been reading about. We found the libraries, found the books, and checked them out.
One is Home Therapy which I've already read through. It's made up of a bunch of case studies of people who are dissatisfied with how their houses are set up, so a designer basically rearranges the furniture and pictures and doo-dads they already have to make their places more usable (with better paths and with the seating oriented for easy conversation), more spacious seeming, and prettier.
I enjoyed looking at the before pictures and floor plans and trying to guess how the after pictures would look. However, as far as looking at the before picture of my own house, that's not so easy. Too much stuff. Too much bias--we already put everything in the best possible spot, don't you know.
I'd recommend the book, but I'm glad I got it from the library rather than buying it. Robin thinks it focuses too much on looks rather than usability. For example, in one room she put the chair with the back on the side of the room far from the door and the ottoman on the close side. This makes the space look more open than having the chair back blocking the view. However, TV viewing would be more comfortable with the chairs reversed. I said the whole family can fit on the couch, and if company comes, they probably turn the TV off.
However she also liked to put the couch in front of the wall with the air conditioning vents because they're ugly, but then the air probably wouldn't circulate as well.
So one general hint was putting your larger things (couches, pianos) further from the door than the smaller things so that everything easier to get through (you have to get around the smaller things to get to the big things rather than the other way. One thing not mentioned but which she always did, was if you have a dining table in a room with multiple uses, put the table at the end of the room closest to the kitchen, of course.
Aim things at a nice focal point, generally a fireplace. Apparently you can put the TV next to the fireplace. Or your focal point can be a beautiful piece of low furniture over which you hang your flat-screen TV.
Don't have your living room furniture in the shape of an "L," the most uncomfortable arrangement for conversation. Instead have it in the shape of a "U." I'm not sure why having a couch and love seat at right angles to each other is less comfortable for talking than a couch with two chairs at right angles to it, though. Definitely the furniture should all be closer to each other than on opposite walls if your walls are far apart (not you, Patrick).
Your wall hangings should all be at the same level, with one wall empty so you have a place to rest your eyes. Empty wall? If I want to rest my eyes, that's what eyelids are for! Well, actually I do like a house that doesn't feel too busy, but I don't think you need an entire wall with no pictures to accomplish that.
And the pictures should be all at the same height and generally they should be symmetrical (except for that Matisse arrangement of Sally and Robin's).
It's good to have lamps on both sides of your couch and your bed, and you should fix it so that the tops of them are at the same height. I like that she doesn't think the end tables or bedside tables have to match, but you might have to set one of the lamps on something to help with the symmetry. That actually does look pretty cool.
And when you have a room with two uses (like living room and dining room), she likes you to paint one wall a color of something on the other side of the room. For example, paint the wall behind the dining room table your favorite color from the living room rug or upholstery.
Of course I haven't actually rearranged anything myself or even really thought about it. And now it's time to relax my eyes by sliding my eyelids over them. Or, wait, I know! Aiming them at that one wall with no pictures on it: the ceiling.
One is Home Therapy which I've already read through. It's made up of a bunch of case studies of people who are dissatisfied with how their houses are set up, so a designer basically rearranges the furniture and pictures and doo-dads they already have to make their places more usable (with better paths and with the seating oriented for easy conversation), more spacious seeming, and prettier.
I enjoyed looking at the before pictures and floor plans and trying to guess how the after pictures would look. However, as far as looking at the before picture of my own house, that's not so easy. Too much stuff. Too much bias--we already put everything in the best possible spot, don't you know.
I'd recommend the book, but I'm glad I got it from the library rather than buying it. Robin thinks it focuses too much on looks rather than usability. For example, in one room she put the chair with the back on the side of the room far from the door and the ottoman on the close side. This makes the space look more open than having the chair back blocking the view. However, TV viewing would be more comfortable with the chairs reversed. I said the whole family can fit on the couch, and if company comes, they probably turn the TV off.
However she also liked to put the couch in front of the wall with the air conditioning vents because they're ugly, but then the air probably wouldn't circulate as well.
So one general hint was putting your larger things (couches, pianos) further from the door than the smaller things so that everything easier to get through (you have to get around the smaller things to get to the big things rather than the other way. One thing not mentioned but which she always did, was if you have a dining table in a room with multiple uses, put the table at the end of the room closest to the kitchen, of course.
Aim things at a nice focal point, generally a fireplace. Apparently you can put the TV next to the fireplace. Or your focal point can be a beautiful piece of low furniture over which you hang your flat-screen TV.
Don't have your living room furniture in the shape of an "L," the most uncomfortable arrangement for conversation. Instead have it in the shape of a "U." I'm not sure why having a couch and love seat at right angles to each other is less comfortable for talking than a couch with two chairs at right angles to it, though. Definitely the furniture should all be closer to each other than on opposite walls if your walls are far apart (not you, Patrick).
Your wall hangings should all be at the same level, with one wall empty so you have a place to rest your eyes. Empty wall? If I want to rest my eyes, that's what eyelids are for! Well, actually I do like a house that doesn't feel too busy, but I don't think you need an entire wall with no pictures to accomplish that.
And the pictures should be all at the same height and generally they should be symmetrical (except for that Matisse arrangement of Sally and Robin's).
It's good to have lamps on both sides of your couch and your bed, and you should fix it so that the tops of them are at the same height. I like that she doesn't think the end tables or bedside tables have to match, but you might have to set one of the lamps on something to help with the symmetry. That actually does look pretty cool.
And when you have a room with two uses (like living room and dining room), she likes you to paint one wall a color of something on the other side of the room. For example, paint the wall behind the dining room table your favorite color from the living room rug or upholstery.
Of course I haven't actually rearranged anything myself or even really thought about it. And now it's time to relax my eyes by sliding my eyelids over them. Or, wait, I know! Aiming them at that one wall with no pictures on it: the ceiling.