Rearranging Our Basement Family Room {Prep for the Holidays!}
October 03, 2025
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Rearranging furniture to give a room a whole new look for free!
I can count on one hand how many times I've rearranged our furniture in our home in eight years! I think part of the reason is once I find the way I like something, I keep it like that forever.
The other reason is the open layout of our home doesn't really lend itself to moving things around much. There's more opportunities to move things around when you have four walls to work with!
The other day I was in our basement living room assembling a new chair for the space, and the layout of our furniture was just feeling off.
I first noticed it months ago, when we had a few neighborhood basketball playoff game watch parties in our basement. Thankfully we all like each other, because we'd have to sit pretty close to fit everyone on our sectional sofa. 😂
And no one liked sitting along this side, because it was awkward to watch TV:
When I was down there working the other day, my mind started going through ways I could reconfigure the sectional to make it a bit more open for easy TV watching.
This sofa has sat in this configuration since we got it eight years ago...we've only moved it to clean underneath occasionally.
I decided to try out a slightly different layout, so took the sections apart and started pushing them around. Basically I just turned it clockwise in the room, but this time, I moved one of the single seat sections to the long section facing the TV.
It created a much cozier feeling in here, but also opens up the seating area for the armchair:
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Just by turning the sectional and moving one of the seats in the sectional, it allowed the part facing the TV to be the longest section. It works so much better!
Plus now the armchair has a much better view, but since it swivels, it can turn into the room as well:
Swivel chairs are my favorite! I shared where to find some affordable upholstered swivel versions like the ones we have in our upstairs living room.
I've been looking for one in a green color (that wasn't crazy expensive) for down here forever. I finally I gave it another go recently and found this comfy dark green swivel chair that arrived super quickly:
It was a decent price and I was able to put it together in less than 30 minutes. It's surprisingly comfortable and we love that it has a nice, deep seat.
I've been making more small, low-cost tweaks to the room in the recently as well.
I found a pretty mirror on Facebook Marketplace for a future bathroom makeover, but it was too tall for that room. I may still try to make it work there later, but for now I hung it above our vintage dresser:
Every time I see a table or console covered with eclectic frames I just love it. It feels so cozy and collected. I started gathering frames and placing them on this dresser:
The marble and brass piano lamp is one of my favorite FB finds ever! I was watching one on there for months, but it was priced at nearly $200. I was thrilled when someone listed the exact same lamp for $40!
I love the look of it shining down on all of our family photos.
The decor on my giant DIY bookcase wall has changed over the years as well! Our son is a Lego nut, and we've started displaying some of our favorite sets on the shelves:
One of my upcoming projects is to replace the gray "tweed" wallpaper on the backs of the bookcases with this pretty green peel and stick grasscloth wallpaper:
It looks so great with the wood tones and will warm up the space nicely. I'm excited to start that project! And yes, that will be the third grasscloth wallpaper I've added to our home...I think it's a classic!
Another project I'm drumming up in my head is building a long sofa table for behind the sectional. It would be great to have a spot for drinks and maybe a small rechargeable lamp.
Now that we've moved things around a little, there's so much more space to add something:
Years ago I shared how to make a very simple DIY sofa table for a couch that sits up against a wall, but this one will need to be a bit more finished since it will be exposed.
It would be great to have a spot to pull up some counter stools back there when we have a lot of people over as well.
This tapered drum coffee table was another steal of a find on...you know where. It was in perfect condition:
Have I convinced you to shop FB marketplace yet? 😂
One of my favorite parts of this quick change was that it gave us a bit more room for a bigger end table. I brought my three tier wood end table downstairs that my Dad refinished for me more than 15 years ago:
I'm not sure if we will keep this layout forever, but it feels incredibly cozy and intimate with a simple adjustment of the sectional:
Plus this change gives us way more room for the Christmas tree. :)
We put it in between the bookcase and the window, and this will give it some room to breathe and allow us to really enjoy it:
Every seat will have a great view of the tree and I'm excited about that! Anyone else starting to get excited about Christmas decor? Too soon?
I was soooo happy puttering around, moving the sectional and figuring out the perfect layout. Since I never rearrange furniture, it was fun to create a new look without spending a dime!
Moving stuff around is one of the best ways to redecorate for super cheap. Or I should say, for free!
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