apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

I have a lot of stuff relative to the amount of space that I have, so I seldom rearrange major pieces of furniture. There are limited choices where everything that I have will fit and I do not want to rent storage space. I will rotate or move small items or change the artwork on the walls from time to time. I tend to make changes when I acquire something new or get rid of something old. I probably should be more experimental, but I think I am just too lazy or too tired from working.

i've only been in my place since september, so as i've experienced the space longer and accumulated new pieces, i've rearranged several times. i think i've come up with the right arrangement, at least for how things are at the moment. as soon as the renovations occur, i'm sure things will change again. ;)

My apartment is so small/awkward that almost every item of furniture is in the only space it will fit...otherwise there would be some occasional rearranging, for sure.

i've lived in my apartment for 2 years. we've never re-arranged the living room but are going to this summer. i rearrange my room once every 4-5 months. it's refreshing and it makes me feel like i'm in a new space.

I've moved around a lot and before I move into a new place I try to get my hands on a floor plan --- I'll spend a couple hours going over and figuring where I want everything, then after that, I almost never move anything untill I move again.

I have a very good visual sense, and work hard at planning my spaces before I move into them. Maybe they are not "perfect" but they are as good as I can make them all in my head before a piece of furniture is moved. I usually only change an arrangement if I get something new, replace something old with a different sized item, or have some kind of catastrophe REQUIRING changes. It has been like this since I was a teenager.

My apartment is small so the living room has only been rearranged once in the past 2 years. The guest bedroom has been through MANY transformations though!

http://thebluepearlgirl.blogspot.com

I rearrange about every 6 months, but I tend to do virtual re-arranging far more often. Years ago, I measured all my major pieces of furniture and made to-scale objects for them in CorelDraw. Now, every time I move, I build a quick floor plan with the details of the new living space and drag around the furniture until I think I like the position. It gives me a much better feel for what will fit where before I drag heavy bookshelves down the stairs.

I've lived in my studio for abut 4 years and I've re-arranged at least half a dozen times. Like ignescent, I do virtual re-arranging more often. I have a scale mock up of my apartment and furniture in Illustrator and move stuff around there before I move it.

I'm looking for a new apartment and I always bring a measuring tape & at least do a quick mock-up.

Do it right the first time!

it goes beyond just re-arranging the items in our home.
since 2004, we've wallpapered 3 times, and have painted our entire home a total of 6 times.

Currently my home is in the cool,small space contest,
displayed in "Twilight Slate", which is a blue/gray color, and a week after I submitted my photos, painted it to "Silver Sage".

i like to use our home as a canvas, and if the result is strong, use it to demonstrate to my clients their own home's potential. it's not even work to me, if I'm not painting for a client, I''m working on something in my own home, and the crazy thing is, I love it.

so completely updating our home has become quite the norm, and yes is a great source of stress relief and a wonderful creative outlet. for some of us, it's just another day.

Constantly! I took the wood legs off my chairs and ottomans and put on castors so everything can be wheeled around the room. The best part is vacuuming. I roll everything off the area rug, vacuum and roll it back on and try all sorts of arrangements. It helps that the tables are all small and light too.

Even crazier is the fact that I hung all of my similarly sized artwork (I'm and artist so have plenty to hang) with the hooks at the same height so I can swap paintings and they are automatically at the desired height.

I guess I just embrace change!

Everything was purchased to fit a specific space, so my furniture moves when I redecorate - Then it's out the door.

I love new ideas and constantly aquire new items and move things around accordingly. Of course when certain things no longer fit into my decor, I'd just give them away on Freecycle so others can use them.

In my current home, I have ample room and lots of defined spaces with a specific function for each space. Consequently, I have found that I am less of a serial arranger. In other words, those defined spaces and their stated function are fairly static.

In my last home, which was only 1300 square feet, my limited space had to serve multiple functions. As a result, I rearranged and changed on a continual basis to accomodate my lifestyle and my acquisitions. One room went from a TV/family room to a guest room to a yoga room to an office in a period of a few years. Another room transformed similarly. The basement went through several mutations. I had to be more creative in this smaller house/smaller rooms and continually rethink it's function to optimize space and adjust to my changing life.

In my current home (3500 square feet) I do more seasonal accessorizing and virtual rearranging as I scheme and dream about upgrading pieces and using the space in a smarter way (smart both in terms of its assigned function and its aesthetic). I'm still scheming and trying different things but it's less about sliding furniture around and more about making sure each room flows into the other and has a complementary voice.

If I had a choice to live in a capacious abode or the not so big house, I am inclined to elect small because of the demand it places on being creative and purposeful and functional. And by electing small, I know I will reclaim that need to be a serial rearranger.

Right now I have considered re-arranging the furniture in the living area, but the way the room is and it's shape roughly 11.5x9 Ft max in the living/dining room (entire space is 11.5x22Ft), furniture placement is rather limited in large part due to the slider that shortens one wall to roughly 7Ft and I have a view and have full sized components w/ floor speakers for A/V gear so there really is only one way to effectively place all the furniture so when I redo the space it's pick up and declutter, re-arrange stuff on the walls, which I've done to add 2 LACK shelves and some new grouping of Jazz LP covers going up over the couch mostly.

I did last fall replaced a dull beige sectional sofa that was a hand me down so was free, but a bit too large for the space and just didn't do anything for the room at all with the red leather Klippan I have now and that made the biggest difference in the space bar non. I did a little lamp swapping and right now the space needs picking up.

So if anything at this point it's move small stuff around, re-arrange artwork etc on the walls and stuff like that.

And I should say that I've been in the space a bit over 5 years and it's been a work in progress as I replace, upgrade/update of a look I've been striving for.

I live in a 500 sf studio apt. Due to window and door placement and natural traffic flow, my furniture placement is fairly limited but I do believe it is in the best place. Everytime I get a new peice of furniture, I try in a few spots until I settle on one that I like best. I think I can only rearrange accessories right now to give my place a different look.

The only thing I would LOVE to do but haven't tried is to flip flop my bedroom area and my living area. But that would mean my bed was between my front door and the door to my deck. I think I could live with the rooms being flipped within my apartment, but I don't think I could get a decent night's sleep if I put my bed there. My apt is on the second floor and my door is right at the foot of the landing... all my neighbors who live on my floor or the floor above seemingly STOMP their way up the stairs and past my door...ERRR! I also have caught too many conversations wafting through that one exterior wall to count.

Rearranging furniture--typically within 1-2 rooms, but sometimes completely from one end of the apartment to another--is something both of us do. We moved the dining table to the far end of the living room at the end of February and it was exactly the right decision. We aren't afraid of change, and even if we "think" we had it right for a long time, the change is typically welcome. We moved our bedroom around basically completely earlier this month and now both sleep better, even if the feng shui recommendations would suggest otherwise; sometimes the flow is counter-intuitive.

I try to rearrange my place with the season. basically in the summers and autumn. its good to keep shuffleing your furniture around. dont get sick of your furniture. accessories can be changed seasonally too. It helps keep you feel fresh.

Probably averages monthly, with overall frequency determined by stress levels (rearranging furniture is soothing). I've been a chronic and serial rearranger since childhood and if it furniture arrangements were a destination rather than a journey, I'd say I'm getting close to perfecting it. But they're not, so I'm just enjoying it.

For me, it's not about getting it right. Right is temporary. I want to know what else I can do with what I have and enjoy the challenge of reorganizing, redecorating, and repurposing. My room mate thinks I'm insane because I've rearranged my bedroom at least 5 times since moving in 9 months ago. Just can't settle :]

http://meowmineh.blogspot.com

I love that, "right is temporary"! Totally agree.

We moved from a two-bedroom house to a studio flat last September, and brought too much furniture with us. At the time, our goal was to simply get the move over with and cram all the furniture into the one room, so ever since them I've been reassessing which pieces we need and what we can throw, and how the remainder can be better arranged.

I think I never got over the dollhouse thing. Its just now things are full size instead of miniature. I love to move things around and play with my space. I find it fun.

I think there should be an option which says:

"Frequently -- always in search of that elusive best arrangement."

Because I do, but I don't like to live in a state of flux. Every time I move stuff around, I like to feel like I am done. If I truly felt like I was done, I'd probably leave things alone and just fuss with the dressing.

Since i live in 375 square feet, I'm moving things constantly.

I purposefully planned my apartment with side tables that could double as stools that could triple as seats (with a pillow), tables that could fold out and expand, carts that spin and roll, and, best of all, no couch - instead, I use two awesome CL Armchairs that are light enough for me to literally pick up and move.

The only issue I ever have is my bed - I really wish there was a bed that i could just pick up and move whenever I wanted, but I don't think that's yet possible with it still being comfortable.

I'd like to move things about more often, but since I moved in to my home, I found out my dog's going blind. He, understandably, freaks out and has a hard time adjusting to the new layout. So I really have tried to make sure that I got the furniture where I want it because it's gonna stay there for awhile!

I am a compulsive re-arranger, and find I do it when I need my energy cleared out or shaken up. I've lived in this apartment for almost 6 months now, and just rearranged the bedroom yesterday for the first time since moving - and it's perfect. I now have a place to put my boyfriend's antique chair, and a plan for a few other additions....and I think that room will be done. I probably won't re-arrange because it actually feels *right*.