Thanks to those wonderful little furniture moving pads, that I discovered as a home stager, I can make my living room sofa do a three-sixty, in nothing flat! So over the years, I’ve tried lots of variations, without measurable success.

Early on, I had a slipcovered sofa (using my favorite painter’s drop cloths), carpeting…pretty simple.

Then, I discovered a true love for draperies. These were made to order. They’re nice and heavy and hang beautifully from some wonderfully simple oil rubbed bronze rods. At this point, we had purchased a new Lee Industries sofa in a beautiful silk velvet, on one of our trips to NYC. (I’d still rather sit on the much less expensive sofa in the family room. Go figure!)

Then, I got the idea that it would be better to flip the sofa, so you could see the back yard, sitting on it.

By this time, we had ripped out the carpet and installed hard wood flooring…which makes doing the three-sixties even easier! The only problem, was that I overlooked putting electrical outlets in the floor. So, there were no reading lights behind the sofa, making this arrangement a short lived option, even though I think it was the prettiest.

The room was getting pretty formal, especially when I brought in my parents’ wild lamps from the sixties!

So, my current motivation is to make the room more casual/user friendly. I sold that sweet gold and glass coffee table and brought in my Craig’s List old trunk, for a coffee table. The carousel horse heads off to Veranda this weekend! It’s a more casual look, but I’m not completely sold.

I also brought in the antique English bench and pillows I love, from the San Francisco condo recently sold. Then, I borrowed the leopard print chair from the family room and it looks pretty sweet!

Still, after all this, no one sits in the living room! Where have I gone wrong? Stay tuned for this and other drama, on As The Furniture Turns!