Our tradition on NYE is shrimp. My Pops used to splurge and buy one of those 5# boxes of shrimp for a treat. Now Christy and I have traded that in for a nice shrimp remoulade for dinner since we're about ready for a salad supper by then. I make mine into a big shrimp salad with celery, some chunks of swiss and lots and lots of walnuts. I use the remoulade as the salad dressing. Today I had a Hawaiian traditional good luck brunch by having capellini for brekkie.. who knew. Supposed to have long noodle for luck and long life. This evening we had merliton casserole with shrimp. Mac an cheese made with rigitoni, steamed cabbage, roasted butternut cubes, blackeyes and rice made with nice Camelia black beans straight from La., and for our pork I roasted a couple of pork tenderloins. Not hard to do but the pork came out so perfect. Tomorrow we'll have our choice of leftovers. More shrimp salad sounds good to me with a side of merliton casserole.

I looked at storage boxes but sometimes space and spending money on that may not work for everybody, and bringing them in and out was annoying on a daily basis... I bought a giant square cover that goes over the sectional couch and then the fire pit props out the empty corner - just throwing that over everything was the cheapest and easiest solution for me. I'll bring cushions in for the winter and use the same cover over the furniture frames, even if I have to buy a new cover every year or 2 it still made the most sense. Any recommendations for patio furniture that is comfortable WITHOUT cushion, please post! :)

Did you not measure the space before buying the sofa? I’m assuming those are doors behind the curtains and not windows? I would normally [not really]* suggest moving the sofa down so it’s not sticking out past the wall and mounting the tv with an articulating tilt mount but if those are doors, it will interfere with the function of them, regardless if they’re french doors or sliding. My suggestion would be to check the return policy where you bought it. Or if they have it in a smaller length, see if you can exchange it. *not really because the sofa is too big for the space. Measure twice, cut once. Another possible option would be to clear everything off the mantle and place the tv up there or get an articulating mount and mount it on one of the side walls above the mantle. It will swivel out so it looks like it’s parallel with the mantel. Then place the sofa so it’s facing whatever’s behind the curtains. There needs to be enough space to walk, though, and it looks like it might block off the room if you do this layout. How much space is between the walls? And what’s The length of the sofa? Ideally, you’d want space on each side of the sofa but that doesn’t look like it’s possible here. It also would be pretty close to the fireplace and with the tv mounted above it, that’s asking for major neck strain. My suggestion still stands to return the couch and find something smaller.

I would put the bed under the window; proven you get more restful secure sleep when the bed is on the wall opposite the entry door. If you plan to have TV here, place the wider dresser left of the door and put TV on it. If no TV, then put the dresser in the alcove so the light from the window will help you see yourself in the mirror (hung vertically.) Place the taller dresser on any of the remaining walls that make it convenient for storing folded clothing that you want to access as you're on your way to the bath. Art and window treatments will help flesh out the rest of the room.