The golden rule of renovations: Thou Shalt Not Freak Out.

Even before renovations began, we hit a freaky curve.

I spent part of one day in our Toronto apartment measuring every item of furniture, large and small, we intended to use in our Stratford house. We had agreed we were going to have a kitchen-dining room combo in the large rectangular room on the north side of the house, with a living room across the hall on the south side. We were going to create an angled wall for a corner fireplace and wall-mounted TV above it. Facing that would be our L-shaped sectional, Danish modern furniture I’d bought at the long-closed Jensen’s Furniture in London, Ontario. It needed reupholstering, but was a well-built, comfortable piece.

Fast forward to the Stratford house. Measuring tape in one hand and notebook of measurements in the other, I began to map out furniture placement in the kitchen that would be our new living room, post renovation.

Except.

There was no sane place to put a 94″ by 94″ sectional.

The things that made that room a terrible kitchen, it turned out, also made it a terrible living room. You really can’t place furniture in what’s essentially a hallway without a wall — the passageway between the door to the porch and the door to the office. Any couch would have to sit in front of that invisible wall. And that meant the L extended too close to the wall on the other side.

“We’ll just have to get new furniture then,” I sighed. “Something with a couch and just an ottoman on one side for me to put my feet up.”

My partner came very close to breaking the golden rule, that day.

“I like our couch!” he said. “I don’t want a new couch.”

He paced about the main floor. He waved me over into current dining room. “What would you think if we put the living room here and the dining room over there?” he said, gesturing toward the Problem Child room.

After much more measuring and considering, that’s what we’ve decided to do. In some ways it’s not ideal: having your dining room table near to the kitchen means a smooth flow. But we were able to find a spot for the living-room essentials (the couch fit!) and we could still have a gas fireplace in the new option, after having the installer verify it was a safe location. It will sit under a high curved window on the north wall, one of two such windows in that long, rectangular room. The Frame TV set to go above the fireplace in our first plan now will go to the left of the window.

Remember the up-and-coming very busy designer who provided a consultation for us early in our plans? The first thing she said when she walked into that space was, “I see a fireplace under that window.” I didn’t warm to her vision because I didn’t like the idea of someone getting roasted as they sat with their back to the fire at the dining room table. But it’s the perfect spot, she was right, that works when the room is for a reading/visiting/TV-watching space.

The Problem Child room does have one solid wall where our teak dining sideboard will go nicely and the table will anchor the centre space. On the few occasions in a year where we have every leaf open and a crowd feasting, we can nose through the invisible wall. We’re adding bookshelves between the bay window and the front wall, and plan to buy new comfy seating for the bay that overlooks the yard to create a mash-up dining room / library. Rounding out the room will be a small cupboard and a couple floating shelves between the door and the stained-glass window, a what-not drop-off spot for someone bringing in a tray from the porch, with storage underneath for board games and scrapbooks.

At least, that’s the plan. Check back with me in April to see if we haven’t hit another twist.