It's the simple things that make a huge difference

Well as I was creating a new faux console table, I decided I was bored with all my tables in the living room. Plus I had to now find a place for the old sofa table, preferably not in the shed where Daniel would have a conniption fit.

And when did I decide to do said project? Oh, Friday just before I had company coming to spend the weekend and when I had a ton of work reports due. Because you know, that's smart (not.) I work well under pressure. Game on.

By noon, every table and every accent item was somewhere in the middle of the living room. I dared not stop to take a picture since I was on a massive time constraint. At one point I wanted to breakdown in to the ugly cry but I had to shake it off and focus.

I ended up moving my office side table to the living room. As you can see, before we had a chair and the toy box (hidden in this picture) in that corner. No table.

And now...much cozier! I can't believe how well my printer table (from Hobby Lobby) looks in that corner.

And where did said toy box go? In the kid's room. As you can see from this post, I had a red metal tin to store toys in their room but it was still a little junky looking sitting right at the door. Plus I decided that they really didn't need the majority of their toys in the living room. It's not like they have to go far, it's a small house!

So that left the old sofa table to put somewhere. It was meant to be. It fits perfectly in my office space in our multi-purpose room. I now have even more room to put office-y things but still hidden and out of the way.

Now back to the fun part, sprucing up all those tables. I basically took everything down and started over, lamps included. Sort've like you do when you have to take down Christmas decorations and put your regular stuff back out. Then slowly, I started putting one item up at a time. The armoire now houses more pictures...

 

 

The sofa table has a new lamp (from the office) and other fun items...

 

As you may notice, it reached beyond the table tops and expanded to the walls. Now that we had a longer table, I could create a better gallery wall. It took moving only a few pieces around to make it fresh again.  The framed S is actually the S that was on my mantel that I put an old gold frame around. No glass, just a frame I picked up some where along the way that's been sitting in a closet.

Here it is from a slightly different angle.

The gallery wall, the longer sofa table and the reworked table tops all make it feel much cosier now. I did find a cute basket at Target that gives us a place to store a few toys in the living room. Since Cole isn't walking yet, it's easy to reach over and grab a few toys locally when I put him down to whine play.

 

I do have one dilemma. What to do with my mantel. I will never place a mantel above my fireplace again. I was duped persuaded by my husband this time but not again. Anyone have any suggestions? It's not easy finding pictures of a mantel decorated with a TV in the design books. I moved a few things around but it's still missing something.

So there it is. One faux table behind the sofa ended up inspiring a completely new feel for the living room. Now I am in love with the space once more. And the kids seem to like having the toy box in their room and I have extra desk space in my office nook. Now that's what I call a win-win-win.

OK your turn. What do I do with my mantel if taking the TV down is not an option?