We ran by before dinner. Because they had the floors cleaned, they had put ALL the dinky tables in the garage, which was a huge improvement. Because her car will not fit because of that, we will put anything that doesn’t work/fit out there as well. The desk that was in the living room is now in the primary bedroom and there is a different desk in front of the window - it’s larger! No chair at the desk. It’s just there - like the other one was.
I’m going to have the movers put everything where she told me in the primary bedroom unless it is physically impossible for them to walk around the bed. There are two end tables, and other odds and ends that she didn’t tell me about that are in the house. If there is no logical spot for them, I’ll put them in the garage. All small.
I cannot begin to tell you how messy and crammed full of stuff his office is. Piles everywhere! Such a shame because it is immediately to the left when you walk in the front door.
Earlier this week I thought I was in a meeting with @Hoggirl. H and I were doing some paperwork with this woman and I was sharing about cleaning out Mom’s house and she volunteered she had helped her mother combine households when she remarried and it sounded very, very similar to what’s going on with Hoggirl’s MIL. I almost blurted out “Hoggirl?” but then remembered she didn’t live in Virginia.
This saga as well as my own mother’s habit of keeping everything has really pushed me to get rid of the clutter and extra stuff. I don’t own any little spindly tables, happily!
We have a trailer (a junkyard built it out of the back end of a Chevy pickup truck) and we keep filling it with stuff from our house. When it’s full, we take it to our local transfer station. I’m hopeful we can make a dent in the mountain!
So, all the tiny tables are in the garage. We added two more end tables to the collection. We didn’t bring any of them inside. Honestly, I’d call Habitat for Humanity and have their restore folks come pick them all up they are already staged in the garage for pick-up!
They had not cleared off the tops of the nightstand and dresser that were being moved from the primary to the secondary bedroom, and they had not stripped that bed for moving either. We took care of that this morning before the movers arrived. Chair she wanted moved from the primary to secondary would not fit in the secondary at all. Into the living room it went.
Everything she wanted placed in the primary is in there. You can walk around, but the chair she brought from the bedroom at her house was way bigger than I remembered. Desk is tight. It’s all tight, and I wouldn’t have that much in there, but it can exist like that.
I was sending pics as the movers were working. She didn’t like where I’d placed the two white chairs. “I wanted them this way.” Me: “That doesn’t work right now because the chair from the primary you wanted in the secondary had to go in there.”
The desk in the living room is dumb, dumb, dumb. They aren’t using it as a desk. They would have a lot more options if they got rid of it. The too small coffee table is out in the garage. We didn’t bring it in for her - they can do that. She wanted no furniture legs on the rug other than the coffee table, and that’s what she got. The rug is too small for the room. Nothing is symmetrical. It would all drive me crazy, but I don’t live there. But, she has a permanent set up for a prayer circle or book club, if she needs one! “Ring around the rug.”
I am torn between setting up the main living area in the best way possible (minimalist look) so that MIL/Bob can see what it should look like (and piling everything else into the spare room) and setting it up as MIL/Bob wanted with no room to move around the ‘living room’. I think I’d go for the minimalist look and explain that you just wanted to set up the basics and let them move other things as they found the perfect spots for them.
And to be honest- it looks like every apartment I’ve ever delivered Meals on Wheels, paid a “just checking in” visit to an elderly person in the community who got out of the hospital or is recently widowed. Even once they put back the tiny end tables- I don’t think it looks awful, and is definitely “age appropriate” based on what I see out there in my own town!
I have never been a big fan of double doors into the bedroom. I have double doors from the kitchen into our diningroom and I am not a fan. You have to reach around the door to get to the light switch.
Looks pretty good! (except for that big desk in the LR–nice desk but not for the space).
I see the couch got moved to not go outside the wall area.
Where are the book cases?
A lot of bedroom furniture was sold in sets which included a desk. It’s probably hard to break up the set even if you don’t need a desk.
I can see why your mil wants to move some of her belongings to CCRC. She wants some of her stuff too! I like the desk and chair in the bedroom, very nice.
I also don’t think it looks bad. It’s a lot of stuff but no more than I also see in many other homes I’m in.
I have a similar bedroom set up, with too much for the size of the room. All bought together. I told my husband that when we renovate the primary bathroom, I’d like to buy new bedroom furniture. With less pieces
Other than the desk and chair, my mil has almost the exact same set up in her house. In approximately the same size room
@Hoggirl — you are a great sport about all of this! Everything looks fine, even if the prayer circle is “interesting.” Oh well, I guess they’ll have to have guests to fill up their chairs. If they aren’t, maybe they will sit in a different spot/chair every day of the week?
crazy, but I don’t live there. But, she has a permanent set up for a prayer circle or book club, if she needs one! “Ring around the rug.”
