About a Couch

As Colbert mentioned in his post last week, we have a designated TV Room (which is, indeed, carpeted).  While there are aspects of our apartment’s design that I love (the open floor plan in particular), the actual layout leaves me perplexed.  This is something I will discuss at length in a subsequent post, but all you need to know for now is that the “living room” does not work.  While someone else might be able to make it serve its intended purpose, our problem is simple: our couch is too big.

All of us love this couch (Colbert’s not allowed on the couch, but we know he gets up there while we’re gone, even if he thinks we don’t know).  This was our big splurge a couple years ago, when we replaced our cheap-ish bright red couch and loveseat with a 7’6” long black leather recliner!   

Colbert was allowed on the old furniture.

It really was love at first sit.  As soon as we sat on it at the store, Vincent and I simultaneously knew that couch was going home with us.  The couch fit perfectly in our old apartment, but the new place was a different story.  Before moving in, we made the decision to use the second bedroom as the TV Room and to put the desk out in the living room.  We also have a rather large chaise that we put in the space between the desk and open dining area, which works well if we have guests because it provides more seating.  When my family visited, the chaise was the perfect gathering place for playing on the iPad.

Please excuse my appearance, I was having a bad hair day!

I don’t think we’ll be getting a new couch until this one can no longer recline, and even then I’d have to be convinced.  Therefore, any future house of ours needs to account for our oversized couch.  I actually wouldn’t mind having a separate TV Room again in the future.  It is incredibly cozy and makes for a great viewing experience.  The major drawback, however, is that it is set up best for just the two of us.  If we have visitors and we all want to watch TV together, we have to drag in other less comfortable chairs.

My ideal TV Room would double as a guest room with a couple alcove beds that could also serve as additional seating.  These would not intrude on the way we use the space on a daily basis, and could provide a cozy reading nook when not being used by guests.  I love this design by Emiliano Lopez and Monica Rivera Arquitectos for the Hotel Aire de Bardenas.

Photos from Apartment Therapy

Photos from Yatzer