My husband and I recently made a half-cross-country move that meant adjusting our apartment-sized living room furnishings to a house. Our apartment had a main room in it about the size of our new living room: it was used for kitchen, dining, and living. The Brooklyn living room (top row) shows the room as it was before we moved. The Lawrence, Kansas living room (bottom row) was snapped right after painting and moving in our small bit of furniture:

As different as these two living rooms are in setting and size, you can see some similarities, too, that come from our preferences: old bones with moldings, wood floors, fireplaces, bookshelves, and ample windows. We miss the high ceilings of Brooklyn, but love the quiet nights of Lawrence. The Brooklyn floors were beautiful and more complex, but the Lawrence floors are in better condition.

Now, as we adjust into a larger living space, we want to acquire additional pieces: Replace the chair (we salvaged it from the trash set out on a curb in Greenwich Village and brought it home on the subway at 2am) with a matching pair of upholstered seats, place a desk or table behind the sofa, find a larger area rug, and put in a comfy corner chair for reading.

It will take some time to add more pieces and make the room feel less sparse, but we're willing to move slowly as our budget permits. Stretching a 400 square foot apartment into a 1700 square foot house feels vast and impossible at first, but we look forward to taking the time to work our old apartment contents into a house. We would love to hear any suggestions you have on what pieces might work well in the new space!

(Images: Regina Yunghans)

You might also like