Slow Home Challenge: The Living Room

My Living Room

According to the Slow Home Studio, all living spaces (indoor and out) in a slow home should have a natural focal point, access to good amount of daylight, and should also be able to accommodate a variety of uses- without wasted space.

I have mixed feelings about my living room as it is in it's present state. Some aspects of it meet the slow home philosophy, and then there are others that definitely do not.

The rectangular shape of the room works well, and provides enough space to accommodate plenty of room for furniture and playing, as well as a clear, walkable pathway in and out of the room. I believe the TV should NOT be the focal point of this room, so we arranged the couch to face the fireplace. Yet, because we do have the TV in here, it's nearly impossible for multiple people to sit on the couch and enjoy a show without having both their head and body facing different focal points. A bit of a challenge...

It's almost impossible to open the plantation shutters in this room- 3 out of 4 have no wall on which to rest, and have to protrude straight out like an open door.

The floor to ceiling windows should provide enough natural lighting, but because they face the North West of the house, we don't get a whole lot of daylight in here until late afternoon. I have a love/hate relationship with the wooden plantation shutters-they're gorgeous, and help provide extra insulation, not to mention privacy. Yet, they're a nightmare to dust, and in in many rooms of the house, if I want to open them all of the way up, there is simply no where for them to go except straight outward, where they block a walking path, or are even a bit dangerous!

While I'm discussing the windows, I may as well point out these lovely curtains. The previous homeowner left these with the house- for which I'm incredibly grateful. They're well made with a heavier, darker colored fabric, that helps serve as both an additional heating and cooling method. Yet, in order to allow any amount of natural lighting into this room, I need to do this weird twisting thing to the curtains and tuck them behind the shutters. It's really way more work than is needed...The funny thing is that I know all I have to do is install some proper tie backs to make them entirely more efficient, to save more of my time, and to prevent further wear and tear.

My husband is a bit of a gadget/technology geek. As an electrical engineer, he's really quite handy when it comes to anything regarding installing new devices, equipment, computers, etc...but as you can see, his priorities don't often include creating a much more aesthetically pleasing presentation of all the wiring that accompanies such technology. We'll be working on that.

More unappealing wires- not to mention it's a complete safety hazard!

And on that note...yes, what you see in the photo above is an actual hole in the wall. It's been there for about two years now. That is high on the priority list this week!

This a big room. Strangely, it's not because of the actual floor space, but rather the height from floor to ceiling. I see it as wasted space (in fact, if someone wanted, they could build another room upstairs above this space!). But since it's not going anywhere, I may as well find a way to enhance it, to use it, to do...something with it! And of course, I plan to tackle a little bit of the decor while I'm at it.

My goals for this room:

• install curtain tie backs
• consider re-arranging furniture
• make use of extra (wasted)  wall space so as to enhance it and utilize it! (add decor?)
• fix hole in wall
• arrange all wires so they're not seen
• install an outlet in the floor underneath of the couch to prevent the lamp cord from stretching across the floor to an outlet in the wall. (husband can do this!)