Homebody Diaries | dining room & living room setup in my new home

All right, so this is what my first pass at the dining space looks like. I'm super, super happy with how everything turned out. I feel like everything looks very cohesive, but at the same time, without looking too boring. So quickly running through what I did and what we have here. At the bottom, I have this rug, which if you remember, used to be in my bedroom. On top, I have four dining chairs, as well as that table, and even that little platform tray are all from MUTO. This little window right here, of course, can't forget Mao's seat, so we put her little window hammock. So whenever we're eating dinner here or eating breakfast or whatever, she can sit in her little spot and be a part of it. In the back corner, I feel like I needed some visual interest in this area, so what I did was added a little stool right there and then put the Monstera on top of that to add some pop of green in that corner. This is another piece from MUTO. It's called a stacked storage system. Each of these are actually individual modular pieces, which you can arrange in any way you want. All the pieces are totally separate and you just connect them using these very simple clips, which I think is really cool. You guys know I'm a huge fan of customizable or modular furniture because it can really grow and evolve with your space as you continue to change it. Filled it up with a bunch of little cups and a vase, a little lamp right there, and then, yeah, just some books and other little goodies. If you guys remember, I used to obviously have that pretty small dining area at my old apartment, and even though I also definitely enjoyed this space, it was obviously pretty cramped and we had to use a pretty small dining table. It just feels very surreal and a dream to have this real, pretty large dining set. For reference also, by the way, this table is 50 inches across, whereas my old table was only 28 inches, so it's almost two times bigger. I just feel like with these windows and everything, it feels like a proper setup where I can host friends or family and just really have a relaxing time in my own dining space. And now I have another house to come to. It is like me. You know how I used to... I'm already drinking. Yeah. Let's look at it like a future paper, shall we? 9K cup effort. You didn't do this before, right? Oh, it's so close to the edge. Cut it. I pulled it. Do you mind mine? Yes. Do you mind if I get it? Okay. I'm trying to sell this. Stop ******* with that video. I do like it. He likes it. What do you like more? Ah, he fell asleep. Okay, so it's literally been an hour and a half, and honestly, I have no idea what to do because the shape of the living room is kind of making it difficult for me to figure out how to decorate it. So the only thing I've done so far is just put out the rug. But let me show you guys my current dilemma. As you can see, the living room is very long. We don't know where to place this rug because in our last place, this rug basically framed the entire living room. Right now, it's sort of like in the middle, a little bit closer to this side than it is to that wall. And it's leaving that big, like pretty awkward, decently sized space. So I think we might commit to having this be one space and then having this area over here be sort of like a reading nook or like some other separate space. Issue number two is that we don't know where to place this TV because if we put it on top of there, it is way too tall. If I'm sitting down on the couch, I'm really gonna have to crank my neck upwards to actually watch the TV. It's also just really far from the couch. I guess we're just gonna try a bunch of different configurations and test out what we think is the best. Okay. Okay, so it took a while, but this is finally what we landed on for the living room layout. Let me show you what we did. So overall, you can see that we did decide to have it be two separate zones. So this area right here in front of the fireplace with the two main couches. And then if you can see back there, a separate area with sort of a little reading corner and a few things to outline that area near the sliding door. Coming down these steps right here. So we did decide to put this couch against the back wall. I think it looks a little bit awkward right now, but honestly, I think that's just because there's nothing on this wall. We're gonna either put a big piece of artwork up there or potentially those shelves that run across the top at my old place. Taking a little left here, that again is the kitchen door. And right here we have the TV. So obviously I mentioned the placement of the TV was another thing that we were kind of stuck on. And we actually decided to put it in this little corner because I think number one, it fits really well in terms of just the size. But then number two, most of the time I actually watch TV sort of laying down here. Let me give you like a quick POV. So if I'm like sitting down here, laying down, this is what I see. You'll also notice right here, I have a projector. The projector is displaying on that wall right there. It's the daytime right now, so it's not really that viewable, but especially at night, this entire wall basically just becomes the projector screen. For some reason, even though it is still pretty high up, I think because the screen is a lot bigger and it's just not like a physical TV, it doesn't really feel awkward at all. So I'm pretty happy with how that turned out. You can see I also have my two speakers there. And then if you come over here, you can also see that I have a bunch of little design books and other things such as these little Smiskies on a miniature Togo, which I think is very cute. Over to this little corner, we decided to put this old shelving unit. And then I'm just displaying a bunch of little lighting pieces, some Legos, an orchid that my parents gifted me, as well as a big piece of my sister's art. Turning around here, we decided to put the Togo in the middle of the room. And even though I don't really love how it kind of makes the back area feel closed off a little bit, I feel like because it's pretty short and also less wide compared to this couch, that it doesn't block off this area too much. And then over here near these big windows, we sort of made this entire area a cozy little reading nook with a little armchair, the ottoman so you can kick your feet up, and then the Monstera rug to add just like a pop of playfulness. Behind the Togo, I also placed this bench, which you might remember from a few videos ago. I put a few plants on there to add some more greenery. And then coming over to this portion of the room, this is obviously the door that leads out onto the deck. And so I put another bench that used to be in my entryway next to here so you have somewhere to sort of put your shoes on. You can see I got a bunch of like outdoor slippers there, as well as a placemat so you don't get too much dirt from the outside in. I think overall, the space turned out really well. Even though there are a few things that I'm still not super happy about, such as the placement of the TV, I'm sure I'm gonna continue to play with it and sort of change things around in the coming months as I live here. And that's, I think, one of the really important things about interior design that I've talked a lot about. The idea of sort of taking your time to figure out a space. I feel like I see a lot of people sort of rush into it, immediately decorate everything and buy everything that they thought they needed, and then later either regret purchases or realize that certain things don't work in their space. Even though right now I feel like this is the best option, as I actually live in the space and I continue to use it, I'm gonna start to figure out things that either I don't like about it or things that I really do like about it. And then I can continue to change the space from there so that by the end of it, when I reach, quote-unquote, the final configuration, even though I feel like there's never really a final, final layout, that the space really works for me personally and not just because the way it looks or the way that it, quote-unquote, should be traditionally, if that makes sense. ♪♪♪