Friday, January 6, 2017

Just the Right Size

My butt may not move for hours! Finally, after a 13 week wait, my new sectional has arrived. This is not just about the sectional itself, but about real progress towards getting my home back after the lower level water damage, that started the descent to home clutter. I feel instantly lighter, and motivated to keep progressing towards creating the sanctuary a home should be. My home is not tiny, at total living space of just shy of 2,000 square feet.  However, I lack storage space, meaning too much stuff becomes visible clutter. The family room needs some reorganization; the positioning of the sectional isn't quite right yet, and we need a bigger T.V. stand than what we have. Some color and texture is in order as well, but for now, I am relishing in the open simplicity, clean lines, and no extra items in the room that aren't being used. 

I'm not sure where the desire for people to continually up size and increase space came from. I understand everyone wants to have a little place of relaxation for themselves, but the big cavernous modern houses have no appeal to me. Sure, I can appreciate the openness when a room full of people are together.  Both my sister, who hosted Christmas Eve, and brother in law who hosted Christmas day have very large, beautiful houses, and being able to have guests move around without literally being on top of each other was nice. But for everyday, I know my sister feels her house is too big now that she is an empty nester. I literally can imagine that my BIL's family could disburse when they all come home at night and on weekends, and literally not even see each other except meal times.

 I hope I don't sound critical of people with big houses, just that it is not for us. I do think the right size is important, and that is a matter of personal opinion. When my sister had three kids at home, the large house was right for her. With a large family with more than a decade of still having kids at home, my BIL felt they were constantly in each others space in their former house, and opportunity came knocking to buy their new house.  Before we moved to our current house 26 years ago, our first house was under 650 square feet. Of course very tight space wise once child two came along, but we did not have the volumes of "stuff" we have now, so it did work well for the previous three years. Interestingly, that first house is exactly the type of house DH and I might like to have again after DD2 is fully launched. Had we been able to keep it at the time as a rental property rather than sell it (we had special first time home buyer financing so would have had to refinance and with buying  a new house, we weren't approved for the loan on both), we would be positioned to just move back into that, and then rent out our current home for a continued income stream. 

I hope we purchased well quality wise, and will never need to replace either my living room or this new furniture. I'm watching episodes of flea market flip, and am thinking through what I already own to see if I can repurpose something for a "new" T.V. stand instead of buy something. If I never buy another thing for the house, not counting maintenance and repair items, I will be happy. Size matters-the right size for each of us. I have more inner "home calm" this morning than I have had in years.
This was the part of the sectional I had to have-my chaise.
Love this feature-storage for blankets, pillows, etc...
then back down for stretching out or more seating.
Pup has his multi-hand me down big pillow to join the family.

16 comments:

  1. Nice looking sofa. I'm glad it's finally here are you are enjoying it.

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    1. Maybe too much. I have been working form the chaise, and haven't moved much other than to change the washing out.

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  2. It's lovely SAM. I'm so glad that you're happy with it after such a long wait.
    We had a very small home when we first married - living room, kitchen, 2 bedrooms and a tiny bathroom which had been made by taking space from a bedroom. It had been built in 1876 and at one time housed 10 people, while a neighbouring one housed 15! I often look back at how little ' stuff' we had when we moved from there, compared with when we moved to this house 19 years later. I just have one room which has clutter in it now - the attic room. All other rooms have been sorted and stuff donated/ sold/ binned. We will be starting on the attic room soon as I want part of it as a crafting studio.
    We are considering downsizing to an apartment in another area of England once J retires.

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    1. I see so many parallels with people in our age brackets. Simplicity over size, experiences over stuff. I feel a little stupid going on and on about a piece of furniture, but only because I think it will add to the simplicity I am craving. Having a crew of people over enjoying a football game as opposed to a loud crowded pub. Spending an evening as a family movie night, DD2 having sleepovers with kids sprawled across the seats, is all part of what I envision; what we had before the flooding. We haven't decided on smaller house, townhouse, or condo when we eventually retire, but it will be smaller.

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  3. Love your sectional! Great color, and subtle texture. We have had all kinds of sizes. Our Seattle house is huge (3100 sq ft), & our current rental is smaller (2000) and our vacation house is even smaller (1800). I prefer the layout of the vacation house best. For a vacation house, a fourth bedroom would be amazing, because we are constantly entertaining. But, I love the small size. Our current rental is about the right size, but has a not great layout that makes the space so much less usable.

    We will definitely buy a smaller house when the kids are out of the house.

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    1. Our bedrooms aren't large, but there's four, three up and one in the 1/2 basement level which will be converted back to my office now. My kids, because of age and gender, didn't share rooms as I gave up office when DD2 came. Toddler and teen seed a stretch to share.Thats when we bought the computer armoire as a pseudo office in back of family room. It was spared water damage.

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  4. Oh I just LOVE your sectional! Can you say where you purchased it?

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    1. Schneidermans-not sure if they are Minnesota only but brand is Broyhill so should be available anywhere in U.S.

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  5. The sofa looks super comfy! Glad you finally get to enjoy it!!!

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    1. Movie night after wine club with all three of us last night!

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  6. I love the new sectional! Beautiful color and style. We are going to need new furniture sooner rather than later, but I want to wait to see if we are going to live here longer (we rent) or look into buying.

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    1. I was very specific about what I wanted and it took many furniture stores to find it. This is of good quality and mid price point,maybe higher than I first wanted to pay, but no other furniture is needed in the family room area.My advice would be to take your time and be sure it works now and in future. This set, because narrow, should work if we go smaller in future, and nice enough that if I only have one living space in future, I'd be happy with either this or current living room set, and could sell or pass on other set.

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  7. Thank you for introducing a new word to my vocabulary, sectional! Same language, so many differences.
    Enjoy relaxing! x

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    1. And of course, I thought a standard English language word! So far, so good, and should be our last buy of any couch unless we really relocate.

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  8. I really like your choice - I also want a chaise when I finally break down and donate my 20+ year old couch and loveseat. I like the colour/fabric too! My house is only about 1200 sq feet but it 's been more than adequate for Kazi and I. I don't think I could go any smaller than that and don't see myself in an apartment. It seems to be "just right".

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