Can I just give a big EEEEEEEYYYYYAHAHHHHHHHHHHHHH??!
Our living room has a new resident--the sectional has been moved into its new home downstairs!!!
A little backstory to this beautiful (and labor-intensive) transformation. Before all of this furniture-shuffling occurred, we had two "sets" of couches: A pillowback loveseat and couch that lived downstairs in the living room...
...and a mini Ikea sectional (Manstad, no longer available) that we picked up in San Diego on my birthday last year.
We've had this couch for more than a year and a half, and couldn't be more pleased with it. I'm so bummed they don't sell it at Ikea anymore, because I would recommend it to anyone and everyone! It was the best choice we could have made for our tv room slash guest room, because with a simple pull on a little tab in the middle of the couch, it does this:
It pulls out into a pretty comfortable (for a pull-out) queen-sized bed!!! Forgive the color scheme; that comforter was borrowed from the lake cabin for the duration of Amy's stay with us this summer. The normal comforter we use for there was just too dang hot that time of year! The other thing we LOVE about it is that the "L" part opens up for storage. HELLO perfect couch for an apartment and/or tiny multifunctional room!!!!!
Well, we'd been wanting to make that second bedroom an office/project space for my shop, and a couple months ago we started that process by moving our dining room table upstairs. The part you DIDN'T see was that the sectional couch was still up there, so it was a pretty tight fit. It was time to move it downstairs, which meant it was time to say goodbye to my beloved (if somewhat ancient) set.
We posted them to Craigslist and sold them in a couple days. All of this has been covered. What you don't know is the intermediary steps between the previous photo and the first photo in this post. Lots. Of. Work.
Want to see the GROSSEST PICTURES IN THE WORLD??!??!?!
Shudder. I'm more than a little DISGUSTED by that line of dirt, as well as the stains everywhere. The worst part? I vacuumed at least three times a week and we still got that line. Rental carpet sucks, if you'll pardon the vacuuming pun. We had to rent a carpet shampooer from the grocery store. Major props to my handsome and hardworking husband for picking it up on his way home from work, and for doing a large chunk of our square footage while I was out for drinks with friends (You're the best, Tim!!!!!!!!!!!)
That Rug Doctor did make a huge difference, and it was absolutely disgusting how dirty the water got after each pass. Unfortunately, there's only so much you can do with polyester carpets
that have clearly never been cleaned after they were installed (despite
what my landlady told me when I moved in, it is very clear they'd never
been shampooed, and I'm reasonably sure the previous tenant didn't own a
vacuum judging by the state of the apartment when he showed it to us). If we owned this place, the carpets would be OUTTA HERE and replaced with wood or something similar, and we'd just use area rugs to tone down the chill (which we already do). But that's neither here nor there. When the carpets were as clean as they were going to get, and sufficiently dried, we started moving furniture back in.
We waited for the weekend for the big stuff :) Aaaaaaand there's where it got complicated.
Ikea's penchant for at-home-assembly may keep costs down, but they can be a huge pain to decode. Just take it from me: they're an even bigger pain to decode backwards.
Since the couch was an awkward shape and size already, we needed to partially disassemble it (PAIN) to get it down our L-shaped stairs (MORE PAIN), and then reassemble it in its new home (you guessed it, PAIN). It would be the understatement of the year to say that we were glad when we were finished.
Daisy is NOT allowed on the furniture and she knows it--the ottoman is the only place she's ever allowed to go and she is so afraid she'll get in trouble that she never goes up there ;)
And of course the obligatory Before//After shot that I love so very very much:
 |
| before//after |
TADAAAAAAAAA!!! As you can see, it's not a whole lot different. Same curtains, same dog crate partially hidden behind the couch, same coffee table and accessories, even the same rug, just turned horizontally instead of vertically. Only the couch is totally new down there (and the thrifted Threshold lamp that you can barely see on the left-hand side).
The other thing a side-by-side comparison shows? The "before" really wasn't all that bad! The couches fit our space and had that fun cozy beach house feel we loved so much. We just knew it was time to sell--they were still in good enough shape that we could get some good money out of them, and we knew the sectional would work in there too without having to change very much. PLUS now with the sectional out of the spare bedroom, we finally have enough space to implement the workspace we've wanted for so long. Eventually, we can convert it back to a guest room (or nursery, even further down the line!), but for now, it's just the blank space that we need :)
But back to the living room. It has such a fresh modern feel in there that we totally dig, which has giving us ideas on a couple other little things we could change easily to fit that vibe. Want to know what they are? YOU'LL HAVE TO COME BACK TOMORROW!
What do you think of the change?
Can you guess what other little changes we're planning to make?
You're right. The old couch wasn't bad, but I really like the color of the new couch. The old one seems a bit bulky. I like the pillows on the new couch too! Though, the curtain doesn't go very well with the modern look... I think stripes, chevron or plain colored ones would work. By the way, it's my first time on your blog. I'll check back tomorrow for an update on your living room. I like interior designing :)
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