A well-placed couch

A well-placed couch can make all the difference. Let me explain.

An empty house is potential. Sit on the living room floor before filling its space with trinkets and memories. Consider your options. The standard oak spreading from beneath you to all four walls would not have been your first choice, but some things in life we do not choose. They come to us unforeseen.

The movers are gone. Easels and paint tins, shoved into a tight corner of the dining room behind you, wait for you to finish with pedestrian rollers on walls. Your mother always said off-white was best. It makes the room seem larger.

A crimson rug needs a partner to embrace it from all sides, but woe to the color that seeks to upstage its depth. Sky blue it is.

Lamps. Mahogany chairs. Hangings and shelves. Those are all easy enough. But placing the ivory couch with deep, soft pillows--that is where a life is made.

With a picture window behind it, there is light. On a winter day, blanket over your knees and coffee in hand, you can watch snowballs meant for other people's children fly. You turn. A backlit couch has no form.

There are many choices. Some better than others. Pulled towards the middle of the room the couch is its own wall, creating space within space. In front of the fireplace, warmth. Angled in a corner, interesting perspectives.

Inspiration often comes unexpectedly. Against the sky-blue wall, next to the stairs...with a toddler on top? That seems about right. A complete picture.