help with living/dining room

8 years ago

Our new rental has a very long combined living room/dining room. This wouldn’t be as much of an issue if we had a formal dining table for that area. But we do not, and we are not getting a 2nd dining table since we are military and don’t want to move the extra weight. BUT, we have two buffets-neither of which will fit in our eat-in kitchen. So we have put them in the living room/dining room area. Any ideas about how to make this work? We can’t paint and we don’t have the budget to invest in major pieces. Any miracle ideas out there?

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PRO

JudyG Designs

8 years ago

last modified: 8 years ago

Face the sofa to the fireplace. Put one buffet behind the sofa….(probably the one with legs because it doesn’t have the “backsplash” the other one has). Place the white rug in front of the sofa and invest $9.99 each for two of these Lack tables from IKEA to use as coffee table. This stain will match the rest of your pieces.

The blue wing chair move to the left of the fireplace and the rocker to the right side.

Flip the hutch with the other side board and put two lamps on the sideboard.

More from IKEA: each chair is $12.50 and the table is $39.00

Scroll through other IKEA products…like lamps and throw pillows.

This lamp is a favorite for $19.00 and these pillows at $6.00 each. I like that there is some blue in the print to go with the wing chair.

None of these pieces is precious, so if you leave them behind, maybe the next tenant will take them.

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Comments (8)

dyliane
8 years ago
a miracle idea is a new slipcover for your Ikea sofa from bemz.com
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PRO
JudyG Designs
8 years ago
What branch of the military? My daughter is Navy.
Angela
Original Author
8 years ago
We are USAF.
Deborah M
8 years ago
JudyG nailed it. Can’t tell dimensions, but the grouping around the fireplace sounds cozy, and that beautiful sideboard will be showcased.
suezbell
8 years ago
Would one of the buffets fit behind the sofa facing the dining area as a room divider?
suezbell
8 years ago
Also, if you do use one of your buffets for a room divider, it would not need to be the same height or length of our sofa -- most sofa tables and/or desks used for behind a sofa aren't.

Something to consider if you want your dining table to better "fit" a larger space. You could invest in a thick sheet of 4'x8' oak plywood and cut it to the size you actually want/need. Then sand and finish that oak table top.

Underneath you'd add four 1"x4" strips to create a rectangle space slightly larger than your table so you can cap that rectangle over your table as you put the oak top on your table.

This removable top could travel with your mattress/springs as you move.

You could also invest in some chair cushions -- the removable kind with a pair of strings on the back to tie to the chair frame. Chose cushions with dense foam -- as firm as you can find -- and without any pinched/button places ... they'll be more comfortable and last longer.
iheartsix
8 years ago
@JudyG designs - I love reading your ideas!!!!! You listen to concerns and you jump into action with great advice.