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We’re finally thawed out here in central Texas, and back to our regular weather with sunshine and temps in the 70s. But during the ten days of Snowmageddon 2021, when I had zero desire to do much of anything except stay bundled under my down comforter and drink hot chocolate, I also spent quite a bit of time looking back over old pictures of the house. It was fun to see just how far I’ve come on so much of the house.
While I was looking through those old pictures, I also came across this color-coded floor plan that I did almost exactly two years ago, showing the areas that were finished, those that would be finished that year (2019), those that were in progress with the contractor, etc.
Sadly, two years later, none of those three areas that were slated to be finished in 2019 are finished yet. So I decided to do a new color-coded floor plan to see where things stand almost exactly two years later. Here’s what I have…
You can see that there was one area that went backwards. The hallway was in the “finished” category in 2019, and now two years later, it’s back in the “in progress” category.
That’s because of the huge plumbing problem we had that ruined the hallway floor which then had to be replaced down to the subfloor. And while that was going on, we also had one doorway (the one to the original master bedroom) removed and drywalled over, and we had the room that was previously labeled as “master bedroom” squared up to become our future master bathroom.
So all of that put the hallway right back in the “in progress” category, and it needs quite a bit of work to be finished again. But that’s all coming up very soon.
But what really got me excited is the yellow. Those are areas that just need a little more decorating to be completely finished, and they are so close! When I originally color coded the new floor plan, the music room was in purple. It didn’t really fit in the purple category because it looks like this…
Whereas the other areas in the purple category look like this…
I mean, that’s a huge difference. But the only reason I couldn’t put it in the yellow category with the living room is because I have two chairs that I’ve been intending to reupholster for that room. And I’ve been intending to do that project for way too long now, and it’s still not finished!
Upholstery is a pretty significant project that requires much more time than just going out and buying a few accessories, so with a project like that hanging over my head (and especially with two chairs, not just one), I couldn’t put it in the yellow category.
That felt a little discouraging because I’d love nothing more than to get all of the areas that you see when you walk through my front door finished as soon as possible. And by “as soon as possible,” I don’t mean this year. I mean in the next couple of weeks. But I DO NOT want to spend a week of my time right now reupholstering chairs. I could have them upholstered, but the upholstery person I use is about two months out on jobs right now.
So I had to make a decision. Is it more important to me to upholster my own chairs? Or is it more important to me to get these areas of my house finished ASAP?
To help me make my decision, I decided to get online and see if I could find any chairs or even a small sofa or settee that I could use in that spot. I wanted something colorful that wouldn’t break the bank.
It took some searching, but y’all! Look what I found.
When I came across that, I knew it was the one. And if it looks familiar, that’s because I shared the chair version in this blog post when I was looking for chairs for the living room. The chair version of this settee was actually favorite option for the living room (they’re made by the same company as my purple chairs), but I couldn’t find two matching chairs anywhere. So I went with the style I have now.
Well, it worked out perfectly, because this style, size, and color of the settee are perfect for the music room! I can’t wait until it arrives!! Once this is in place, my music room will be a cinch to finish up.
The settee is pretty small (52 inches wide), so that leaves me plenty of room for some end tables and lamps. Well, I just happen to have the perfect lamps also!
I think I told y’all that I rearranged my living room. I lived with it like this for quite a while…
…and at first I loved it. But the longer I lived with it, the more I found that it just wasn’t working out for me. I didn’t like standing in the kitchen and seeing the back of a chair just right there. I also didn’t like having to squeeze behind the chairs when walking from the kitchen to the living room. While this arrangement made the room feel more open from the entryway, the flow of the room felt all off for practical, everyday use.
So I went back to the arrangement where I have the two chairs flanking the fireplace, and the sofa facing the fireplace. That gives the area by the front door more of an entryway feel anyway, which I really love. And it also opens up the walkway from the kitchen to the living room completely. There’s nothing blocking the flow of foot traffic anymore, and while standing in my kitchen, I get to see the fronts of the chairs and the colorful pillows instead of the back of one chair.
All that to say that when I had the furniture arranged like you see above, I had planned on building a sofa table to go between the sofa and the windows. There wasn’t room for end tables, and I wanted something to put lamps on so that I could have light while sitting on the sofa. So I bought two of these lamps.
Now that I’ve rearranged the furniture, I no longer have a place for two table lamps in the living room, but I think they’ll look amazing with the new settee in the music room!
I also bought this little gooseneck lamp to go on the piano.
So all of that to say that my music room, along with the living room, will be finished very soon! In the living room, I’m just waiting for two items that I purchased last week — an end table and a lamp. I’m hoping that both will be here this week.
Once these items for the music room arrive, I’ll still need to either refinish the piano bench that matches the piano, or find a different bench. I’d really love to find one that doesn’t match the piano, but I searched online for quite a while yesterday and didn’t find anything that would work.
The challenge is finding something that is (1) the appropriate height (19 or 19.5 inches), (2) not too wide (nothing wider than 36 inches), and (3) a style and color that I actually like and goes with my music room. That has proven to be a very difficult task. So if I can’t find something, I’ll need to refinish the one that matches the piano.
And then I’ll need end tables to put my pretty little lamps on, so I have an end table project that I want to do. I won’t be building anything from scratch, but I will be doing a makeover on some end tables that I already have.
The thought of having this room finished in the very near future makes me so excited!! That room has sat unfinished for far too long, and I’ve been dreading the thought of having to reupholster chairs before it can be done. Now I can move past the dread and finish up.
So, y’all, I really anticipate that by the end of the year, my little color-coded house plan will look like this…
Woohoooo!!! I can’t even express how exciting that is to me!!! It’s been a long time coming.