We Got Benched
We’re pleased to announce that we’ve rearranged yet another room in our home (right after our video house tour of course- d’oh). This time it’s the living/dining room. See, we love that we were able to move our dining table into our jumbo living space right off of the new kitchen (the whole open living plan has always appealed to us) but once we removed an arm chair to make room for the table and scootched the couch and the remaining chair over, we realized that the “living” part of the room was a little compromised. In adding a table for six, we lost an arm chair, so our living room was down to seating for three (two on the couch and one on the chair).
Now we actually do all of our lounging and hanging out in the den (which thankfully isn’t short on seating) but due to my perfectionism (read: lunacy) I knew there had to be a little adjustment that would make the living/dining room function perfectly whether it came to dinner or lounging. And then I saw this picture (from here):
That’s when lightning struck (metaphorically speaking). I realized that if we had some sort of cushy banquette or bench seating at the dining table it could double as seating for the living space too. And that’s when I was inspired to drag our little mini-mud room bench from Target into the room.
Jackpot.
Of course we had to get another bench so that one could go back to living in our mini-mud room, but another bench meant even more under-bench storage. Hooray! And we actually found a slightly leggier version at Bed Bath & Beyond (the taller height was more comfy at the table) and the Target bench went back into the corner of the den where it so happily resided before. Victory.
Here’s what the living/dining room looked like pre-bench:
And here it is post-bench:
It’s our new favorite spot to eat dinner (there’s something romantic about sharing a seat) and can also be pulled out and used as living room seating too. Gotta love multi-tasking furniture. Now we’re back to having a U-shaped conversation area in the living room, and we can easily seat 5 peeps again. I knew there was a solution. And I’m sure John’s happy that it was a cheap one, too.
Here’s the new set up from a few other angles:
First image courtesy of MyHomeIdeas.
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Comments
It is all well organised! You have space to sit comfortably at the dinner and you can serve a cappuccino in the living room, with cosy fireplace in front of the sofa. Nice idea! I miss a bit more lights in the living room but the light that is coming in through the window should cover it completely.
Hi Terri,
The big white floating shelves in our dining room are Ikea’s Lack shelves. They come in a few different lengths and colors too. Hope that helps!
-John
Found em! Thanks for the help!
Also, did they include the hardware to attach and were they hard to attach?
They included everything we needed except for metal anchors (which we picked up at Hpme Depot to make them extra strong). They were relatively easy to hang, just ask the pros at your local home improvement store what they recommend and follow Ikea’s hanging instructions. Hope it helps!
xo,
s
Hi guys — I’m back commenting on this post again! Instead of swagging our light fixture to the center of the room, I decided to move it (and replace) :) I’m going with a drum pendant…how high do you like them off the table?
Thanks for always being a great resource!
ps — I posted about painting stripes in my bathroom and linked your tutorial on my blog today! ;)
http://hisugarplum.blogspot.com/
(sorry if this comment posts twice, something screwy happened?!)
Hi Cassie,
Congrats on your striped bathroom and your soon-to-be drum pendant! We like them hung 34″ above the top of the table (so the bottom of the pendant is 34″ above the tabletop). Hope it helps!
xo,
s
Brilliant. We don’t have any anchors in the wall now, so thanks for the tip. I’ll stop at Home Depot on the way home!