New Life for the Living Room: Part 3

Oh, the living room. We never knew how much we didn't like it until we really started digging in and changing it. Dave and I had painted the walls, rearranged the furniture, and added new lighting and artwork, and we still had more on our to-do list. We were on a roll.

Problem #1. See the corner fireplace?

Previously, the only cable outlet in the living room was located above the fireplace. Clearly, this was not the best arrangement for catching up on our latest shows. The TV sat in the corner, and viewers would have to turn their heads all the way to the left to watch. Talk about cramping your style!

Problem #2. See the huge wall mounted bookcase?

I've never liked that bookcase. It's huge, it makes furniture arrangements look horrible, and because of its size, I always felt like I was going to hit my head or run into it.

Good news for our two problems: there just happened to be a cable outlet on the kitchen side of the partition wall.

We knew that cable outlet hidden away in a kitchen cupboard would come in handy!



We could install a new cable outlet on the living room side of the wall, rip take that huge bookcase down, and have a whole new TV viewing area - problems solved! Awesome! But first we had to do the work. Dave and I didn't know the condition of the wall behind the bookcase. We hoped it wasn't in need of too much repair. Standing on stools and 60 minutes of unscrewing and prying, and we had a partition wall in pretty good shape, bookcase-free ... and a cold air return???

Sure enough, the bookcase had been mounted right on top of the living room's cold air return. Score! Dave and I were feeling lucky. No damage to the wall from the huge bookcase and we gained a cold air return? Was this Christmas? Nope, it was better  than Christmas! This was the bee's knees, people! We wasted no time painting where the bookcase had been, installing that cable outlet on the living room side of the wall, and moving the TV to its new home across from the couch. We just so happened to have a sofa table that we weren't using, and the TV fit perfectly on top. With the painted black bookcases flanking the TV, we were well on our way to loving the living room.

We weren't finished yet. More to come.