Living And Working Spaces

In our old apartment, we had an awkwardly shaped living room, that was allegedly space for both living and dining. This was wrong. Instead, we had space for "living" and our computer desks. Cramped would be a good word for the situation.
In our new apartment, we have two bedrooms and and living room and space in the kitchen area that could be for dining. It's like, well, a real place to live - ha!

So in our new apartment, I've learned something amazing (something I'm sure most people already knew).
Having a living room and an office is awesome.

And in the most obvious of ways - it's two separate spaces.
One for work, one for play.

While there is plenty of play that gets done in the office, it is still where the desks and computers and all that lives. The living room is a couch (thanks mom!), video games, and movies (and LEGO and my yarn stash, but that's okay).

The main thing is, there's somewhere in our house, besides bed, that allows us to relax. Most of our time, relaxing or not, is spent in the office. But, to have the space to go somewhere and be away from the constantly updating screens is quite nice. Having a space that isn't work-orientated, no matter how silly our desks may be, is lovely.
And, sometimes, a change of scenery is all one needs to get some motivation or inspiration - even if it is only a change of rooms.

When I'm not feeling up to snuff, but don't want to quite call it quits and go to bed, I head to the living room. Yeah, it still leads to naps, but it's not as dreary to wake up on the couch as it is to wake up in bed at 2 in the afternoon.
When I just want to knit and don't want to deal with YouTube or Twitter or Facebook (or whatever else there may be, who knows really), I can head to the living room, put on a movie (or two, or three!) and just have at it.
When the dogs need some attention (which is all the time, if you were to ask them), we head out and curl up on the couch. If it's nice, I'll even open the blinds so the little guy can find some sun to lay in (and sometimes, I join him).

Plus, realistically, it's another area of the house to make blankets for. And that's always awesome.

~Havok

P.S. I have tons of blankets already, you're saying. I agree. Except, let me explain. Two for the bed. One for the dogs (which goes back and forth between the office and living room with us) and one for their kennel, to kind of drape over the back (not sure if that does anything, but I like to think it does). Then the rainbow star afghan is the only one on the couch. And our couch is huge, there's no way only one will suffice.