Rearranging my Living Room

From time to time, the urge to rearrange my home overcomes me. Generally, I have no advance warning, did no planning of furniture or art placement, and just go at it. It's been a couple of years since I did anything significant in my living room... since the delivery of my floor loom for which I needed to make space in my studio. But yesterday morning, I got out of bed, stretched, padded into the kitchen, and without even getting washed or dressed, let alone feeding the dogs, started moving things around.

The formerly-sofa-table is now under the needlepoint in my 'entryway.'

The corner where we put Claudia's bed is virtually untouched. Note, though, Ian's castle on one of the chairs. He is coming next Wednesday morning to paint it.
I like how this section came out. Museum-artsy-funky look. And despite the number of pieces in this small space, it doesn't look overcrowded. Except for the basket of Sunny's dog toys which will be dealt with.
The new arrangement of the major seating. A more traditional layout. It's been years and years since I had the sofa under the window. I moved it away shortly after Sunny's arrival. If you look closely, you can see some dark patches on the blinds behind it. That's where Sunny used to get angry and mangle the slats. Hence the sofa-on-a-diagonal-away-from-the-window look that we formerly embraced.
As with any furniture arranging when you're dealing with constrained and cookie-cutter spaces, there are parts that I really like and parts that I like not so much. This is the less enjoyable space. The new 'entryway.' It's a little tight for my comfort. But since I spend most of my time either in my unit or out of it, I can live with the space.
All of these pieces were given to me by people who I care(d) for a great deal.

This box was a gift from my parents when I was 10 years old. We were in San Francisco's Chinatown. Although it's not anything that's uncommon, I still love it.
I made this needlepoint in 1994 into 1995 while living up at my parent's home after I lost my own during the 1994 Northridge Earthquake. I started it during a time of extreme illness and worked on it night and day for almost seven months. The picture does not tell of the detail or the large size of the piece.
I did this needlepoint shortly after moving back home in July of 1995.
This is the second needlepoint that I ever did... when I was in my early 20s.



This piece - Coming Home - is an extrordinary gift (about 2 1/2 feet high) given to me by my good friend, Sandy Burstein. She is a world class artist and her site is well worth visiting. When she gave me the statue, we placed it and my immediate comment was "he needs a hat." She went home and brought the hat and the necklace over so he would not be naked.