Since you met the Christmas tree last week, I thought it might be interesting to look at the space where it’s sitting.

By far my biggest space is the living room. It’s the centre of the place as it stands – it has the fire! Over the years, I’ve tried it quite a few different ways, with a few sets of furnitures. It feels like a fun moment to look back and chart the path.

This was the very first way I say the room. It’s a pic from the original schedule, and I sat on that couch at the open viewing, watching the competition. If I creeped anyone out, I’m not at all sorry.

The previous owners left that couch. It might not have been the prettiest, but it was surprisingly comfy, actually – big and squishy, with a handy bed inside it (which obviously I didn’t find for about a year, because duh). I turned the rug through 90 degrees pretty quickly. If you ever browse ESPC or other Edinburgh-ish property sites you might recognise it – it’s an IKEA piece. My sister-in-law giggled the first time she visited, because she had also inherited the same one!

Early changes came in the form of a pair of couches, kind of being foisted on me in a complicated family arrangement from a now-ex. They were nice couches, but somehow 2 medium sized ones took up SO MUCH SPACE. They were always a bit of a faff, but they were there, comfy, and money wasn’t that free. You’ll also see I had a couple of coffee tables (one of which was actually a coffee table!) and one real pride of my early projects – my shelves! I made them from a randomly shaped but really pretty bit of worktop that had been lurking in the shed. Took a weekend, had lots of fun! 5 years on, they’ve stayed up – phew!

I had the 2 couches facing each other, in Ls, lots of places over 3 years or so, but it never quite worked – I was always tripping on them. Eventually, opportunity struck – new job, more money, and 2 couches had a new spot in Dundee. After a good bit of exploring, I found a single sofa I loved at Sofology. I was going to get an L-shaped one (is that a sectional in American?) but the sales person talked me into getting couch and footstool. It turned out to be the right choice, so thanks! In the slides below you can see 2 couches, old red couch playing stand-in (feat. coffee table as new footstool!) and the newer one. Much better!

You might see that the couches ended up in front of a door. Realising I could live with that door shut was a bit of a revelation – a not-huge room being a living space and a dining space AND a corridor was not ideal!

Speaking of the dining table, isn’t it fun? I got it at the same time as my bed pallets, but it was years later I finally thought to sand and varnish it up properly. You might also see it sitting wedged in between couch. As with seating, I tried it several ways over the years. It was always a bit of a faff there, though. I did have a moment of realising I’d been stupid by having seats crammed in next to the piano stool, when I could just use stool. Oy.

I really liked the room, but with lockdown I realised a couple of things. Working from home, I hated being trapped at a desk in my living space, sitting on a piano stool. I also realised that no one was going to be staying in my lovely spare room any time soon, to put it mildly! So, I let myself spread out, to have a living room AND a dining room.

In a fun circle-of-life moment, after 6 years the couch ended up back where it had started! It’s a layout that’s actually worked really well. I’m not sure I’ll be able to keep it as the work moves on, for reasons which include THE PIANO. But hey. Having it so many different ways has been really useful, though, and I have ideas for where I’ll go next. But let’s chill until then!