Pretty Progress Paired With Perplexing Proportions

(Whew! Trying saying that title five times fast!)

It’s been nearly 4 weeks since we moved into our house and things are just now kind of settling down. We finally know what all the light switches control (which may sound rather stupid, but, trust me, this house was not wired by a rational, thinking person), the kitchen is just now becoming functional, and all our odds and ends are finally finding their places. We still have a long way to go, but it’s getting steadily better with every day.

For example, for nearly three weeks, our living room resembled not so much of a place to sit and relax, but instead an untamed jungle of boxes strewn about without rhyme or reason. See what I mean?

We had precisely one tiny goat-trail to travel through and if you wanted to get out the sliding door, you needed to be prepared for some major hurdling. I mean it. There was stretching involved. Eventually, I did a little bit of box shuffling and ended up with this:

Although slightly better, it still wasn’t anywhere near what it should be. So after coming home a little early from work one day, I decided that enough was enough. I’d had it with wading through a sea of boxes and it was time to make this living room liveable, darn it. I popped a couple of aspirin in advance (sore muscles are an inevitable part of moving, it seems) and rolled up my sleeves.

It took me a couple of hours, but I eventually ended up with this. And this:

Much improved, no? Along with moving a small mountain of crap out of the way, I also did a few things that helped fix some problems with the room (and, yes, I realize there are still boxes clustered along the side wall—but there’s only so much a girl can do in one day). First, I decluttered the mantel and top of the entertainment center, then replaced the odd assortment of junk that had collected there with some carefully chosen knick-knacks. I also added my garage sale mirror to the corner of the room, which helped bounce light in the corner and make it seem a little bigger and brighter.

And (just because I get amusement from this sort of thing) I threw a cushion in the corner as well and added a cute froggy bookend. Now it looks like a cozy little reading nook and amphibian lounge area. It makes me smile every time I look down and see it. I mean, who doesn’t love a frog reading a book? (I’m serious about that— I have a total of three lurking around the house.)

I was really pleased with the whole set-up, but, alas, it only made it a week before we changed it up again. This weekend, Denny brought back a spare TV from his parent’s place in Oregon and (with dreams of big-screen N64 Mario Kart in mind) we quickly made room for it.

Now, let’s get something straight: I love me a big TV. I do! Nothing makes me happier than a clear picture and being able to watch Real Housewives of NY on a scale large enough to view the Countess's royal pores (ha! “royal,” my butt). Anyway, the point is, I have no problem at all with large TVs, but as soon as we set up our new big-screen, I immediately became slightly dismayed. You see, it’s just a little too big for this space. I feel like the proportions are all wrong. Take a look…

With the white fireplace and the cherry-toned mirror and the black couch and neutral walls and carpet…ugh. It’s just a lot going on. Denny sees no problem with it and who could blame him? I mean, compared to our old set (which weighed approximately 500 lbs, had a screen the size of a large dinner plate, and glowed hot orange all the time) it’s da bomb (yes, I did just say that). But I still can’t shake the feeling that it doesn’t quite fit in our cute little living room. Plus, it’s living on our coffee table right now (yes, my garage sale baby) and, of course, I’m none too happy about that. In fact, we were in such desperate need of a place to sit our drinks and remotes that I promptly installed this little guy as a stand-in.

Anyway, any suggestions as to how to fix my problem of proportion? I’m considering just moving it into the front living room and having that be the designated TV area, instead. However, I don’t think we should do that until we get blinds to cover the giant window. After all, nothing screams “Steal me!” like a huge, flat-screen TV—except maybe an unattended French bulldog puppy (I’m not the only one that feels that way, right?). But I also want the lower living room to be the main  living room and I know that if we move the TV, my husband will go along with it. Le sigh. Decisions, decisions.

PS: If you're paying close attention, you may have noticed that the dresser has found a home in the living room nook. I'll be back later with more on that.