I know, I know, moving your furniture around in a space a few times a year sounds like an enormous amount of work but it's worth it. After the jump find 5 reasons that moving your furniture can help you live more simply and efficiently.
1. Save your flooring. By moving your furniture around periodically it saves your flooring from wear and traffic patterns therefore extending its life.
2. Take advantage of changing light conditions. As the light changes from summer to winter the way your room performs changes as well. You may prefer to block a bit of bright sunlight from the TV screen with the low winter light, and will want to take advantage of long summer days other times.
3. Maximize solar performance. Think of your sofa as a giant solar heat collector and push it closer to the sunny winter window perfect for curling up on cold winter days in the warm sun, while in the summer you may want to move it further away to avoid having to turn the AC on.
4. It's so much easier to clean. Moving your furniture around gives you the best chance to clean under and around things. Get those hard to reach corners and under the sofa where the dog stores all of his toys. Use this as an opportunity to do a really good deep clean a few times a year.
5. Change is good. Moving your furniture around gives it new life and helps you appreciate it in a way that you hadn't previously.
(Image: Deborah Fallows)
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You're right. I'm inspired!
I wish!
We live in a small condo (under 1000sf) and the furniture we have fits perfectly, in one way only, in every room. We've maximized every square inch of space and of furniture to get the best use out of our small home, and that just doesn't allow for furniture rearranging. Plus, it would mean relocating things like wall shelves and art which are hung on concrete walls, and that's just not fun for anyone.
That being said, I wish it did! I love the breath of fresh air that rearranging a room gives. Just a little change makes a big difference, if you can do it!
I'm in!!
This is so true, love to change it up. We put a lot of our furniture on wheels so we can change it out whenever we want, its fun and different and love the idea of putting the sofa in the sun in the winter....
Yeah, I'm not doing that. While it makes sense, it's a major pain to move and my furniture is large and only fits a specific layout that I love.
Great idea! But our house of barely 1,200 very charming and awkward sq ft is committed to a certain layout. Our living room is an especially long, awkward, narrow space with a fireplace in the center and an entryway at either end, so we are very limited in how we can arrange our furniture in order to keep the traffic flow. We also have two rapidly growing boys who need room to move around, occasionally wrestle, etc. While there are certainly other options to arrange our furniture, they're few and far between, and none of them work for us as a family--no matter how nice they might be from a design standpoint. It just means I have more fun switching up things like rugs and throw pillows. :)
I tend to do this at least every two months, but sometimes every week. I have an addiction. Sometimes I just rearrange in a particular room or change a rooms purpose entirely. I have an 1800 sq ft house with three bedrooms, large living room, breakfast room/sunroom and a dining room. Although my two main rooms are completely different, my furniture seems to fit every which way that I put it. My kids tend to find my habit quite funny.
argyle, you are not alone. Our number is many and we are used to the mockery. Change is good!
Anybody else think it's weird seeing the president move furniture around himself?
banhmi - yes! It kinda makes him a bit more of a real person. I like to think he was playing a practical joke on someone. Push the sofa in front of the door sort of gag.
Rearranging the furniture makes me feel like I just bought a whole new house for free and I do it quite often. Like argyle, my husband (no kids) thinks it's a funny habit. The cat even flies into a room and inspects what has been done.
would love to do this but oddly placed and lack of power points throughout the house means the furniture gets placed around where the electronics go.
When I lived alone, I rearranged my furniture constantly. However, now that I'm married, I have to leave everything where it is, due to the awkward layout of our house and the fact that my husband freaks out when I change things.
I used to do this to my bedroom every 6 months or so in high school. I still do this occasionally with my living room but only because I haven't found any one set up that is satisfying.
Like @bookishnose, I used to rearrange things when I was a single student but my GF doesn't like it so now I have to leave things as they are. However, next week we're rearranging in a big way - moving out for 9 months while we renovate! That will be a big reorganisation :-)
I rearrange mirrors, plants, accessories, and artwork, but my main pieces of furniture really only fit well one way.
But there should be enough space for doing this shifting.NutraSlim
I live in a 900 sq.ft. house with my husband and 2 children. We rearrange all the time. In the winter we have to be careful not to block our heaters, but in the warmer months, things can be moved around. I have houseplants in the winter but everything goes outside in the summer. And with such a small house, we can live with a cozy arrangement or open it up for a more spacious feeling just by moving things around.