The book situation

We have a book situation, or maybe a book storage situation.

We finally got a big rug for the living room (this is related, trust me). The main reason I wanted a rug is so that Will can play on the floor. Even with a thick blanket, I don't like the idea of him bumping his head on the tile, so the only rooms he's played on the floor in are our bedrooms. A rug in the living room will hopefully make it easier for us to do things while he plays and still keep an eye on him.

The rug is going to go in front of the couches, but the coffee table is there now so I have to move the coffee table. But before moving the coffee table, which I'm actually going to relocate to the empty kitchen/breakfast nooky (that doesn't sound right) area, I have to clean it off. (Since Will was born the coffee table has become a major pile collector and has made me question the existence of it, but I love it. But, wow, does it look awkward in it's new location). So, I started cleaning it off last night when I was met with the book situation.

There are books on the coffee table, on the bottom shelf of the coffee table, and on the floor beside the coffee table. I checked the bookshelves and there is only room for 1 more book! I hate laying books across the tops of others on the shelf, so I refuse to do that. I looked over the titles to see if I could get rid of any but I don't want to do that either.



I would really like to have two "built-in" type bookcases, one on each side of the wood stove but that's only going to happen if we buy this house. For now I think I'll have to settle for creating another shelf by using a bookend on the top of this bookcase. And by "bookend" I mean stuff that's already there, like a photobox.



Really, I feel like the whole wood stove part of the room seems awkward (and now the coffee table in the breakfast area makes for matching awkwardness). It needs something on both sides to look right. Built-ins, like I mentioned would be perfect. Sigh.

Oh, and here's the rug, if you'd like to see. Bonus cute baby.



So now we have a coffee table problem, it looks odd where it is and I don't really want to part with it. I should have taken a photo of it so you can understand my love for it. I probably should just get rid of it though, I know it's not safe for Will once he starts pulling up on things, since it has wheels. The other half of the coffee table problem is that now we don't have a place to sit drinks or prop our feet in front of the TV. Husband wants to sit his drink on the floor, to me that's just asking for a mess.

While it won't solve the place-to-put-your-drink portion of the problem, I do hope to make an ottoman. I say hope because who knows when I'll have the time. Like how I keep thinking about getting my own sewing machine so I can sew things, but when would I even have time to sew? Silly. Anyway, I would make an ottoman using these instructions (though about half that size) out of a wood pallet.

Are you dealing with any silly home decorating situations? Want to buy a coffee table?

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