pull your sofa OFF the wall!

In honor of "pull your sofa off the wall month" I'm sharing some of my favorite client transformations with you.

Moving the furniture around in your rooms can transform a space in ways you cannot imagine until you do it (or hire somebody to do it!).

This wonderful client hired me to help with color, window treatments, accessories, flooring and while we were at it, we rearranged the furniture in this difficult living room.

The room had a large sofa, love seat and matching chair, in addition to a few tables. The challenge was a doorway on one wall, two windows on another and french doors on a 3rd.

We found a great arrangement during a "mini-redesign," completed in under an hour with the help of the client.

(before, the furniture was all placed against walls, but was too far apart for conversation;
oh, and there's the issue of the wall color, window treatments and carpet, but we took care of that too!)

(after, we removed the large upholstered chair and moved the love seat off the wall to form a conversation area with the sofa. Once the color and floors were complete, we accessorized and added an area rug to anchor the space).

(after, floor plan — we added a side chair and table across from the sofa and love seat.
this arrangement promotes conversation and leaves room for foot traffic from the doorway to the french doors.)


(before, love seat and sofa across from each other, but too far apart for people seated there to really interact).

(after, a place to sit and chat, with room for getting around and through the room).

Ideas for great spaces:

• Consider breaking up matching furniture sets to create a more modern look,
  
• Not all pieces from a set need to be in the same room and often don't always fit in one room (we moved the large chair to the master bedroom in this house),
• Switch pieces with other rooms to create great pairings with your existing pieces,
  
• Add a throw and pillows to break up a matching set that need to stay together.
  

One sofa remained against the wall, but the other pieces came out of hiding and joined the party!

If you have multiple openings (doors, doorways and windows) and traffic flow challenges in a room in your home, consider bringing your furniture off the wall — it can make a big difference and give your room new life!

happy decorating.