Living Room After

While the bedrooms came together fairly quickly (thank goodness we both had queen-sized beds), the living room posed more of a problem. Jonathan had already been put on notice that his plaid sofa and matching easy chair would not be coming to the new house and my mission-style sofa was on its last legs thanks to years of use and a big glass of red wine.

Not only were we faced with the prospect of finding a new sofa but we had to find something that matched both my Arts & Crafts furniture and accessories and Jonathan’s 1970’s era stereo coffee table and matching end tables. (Jonathan describes his quest to repair this family heirloom here.) On top of that, we needed something that wouldn’t overpower the space—my goal was to avoid having a huge, overstuffed sofa backed up against a wall.

Since it appears to be the new era of sectionals (thank you, Mad Men), we were having the worst time finding anything that would fit. I finally came across the Vaughn Apartment Sofa at Crate and Barrel, a modest 76 inches long. The narrow arms and low back also ensured it would fit in our small space. Overall, it was attractive but oddly noncommittal when it came to a particular style.

We had scheduled a visit out to California to see my parents so we stopped by a Crate and Barrel store to check it out. And yes, Jonathan did lie down on it to make sure 76 inches would be sufficient.

The fact that it was beige added support for Jonathan’s “yellow walls” argument—and I definitely wanted to avoid a living room decorated in a wave of brown and beige. The sofa arrived and it fit perfectly, despite some initial concern over the end tables. Once the sofa was in place, everything else slotted in nicely and all we needed was a day with a drill to hang art. One more room, checked off our list.

 

Big thanks to Ryan Henriksen at the Columbia Daily Tribune for lovely photo of our living room and its new sofa.