Have you ever had a purchase just mess up your whole groove? Or throw off your feng shui or what I like to call “funky sway”?

Funky sway is easier to spell and speaks to me people, it just does.

Anyway, whatever you want to call it, this messed mine up: a brown sectional sofa.

The low down? It was purchased as a solution for more seating in the living/keeping room off our kitchen. The plan was to purchase the most seating (for the least $) without it feeling stuffy and cramped.

It’s an odd space because while the fireplace is centered in the room, one side has a walkway/traffic path that throws things off a bit and the only other wall has a triple window and one of the few floor vents in the entire space. Personally, I like symmetry and balance, and don’t like the idea of putting furniture in front of windows, but I know I’ll have to bend on one or both of these things.

Anyway back to the brown sofa. In December we began the hunt. We headed to my favorite upholstered furniture manufacturer, Mitchell Gold, who also happens to have an outlet (with real deals to be found) not too far away, in Hickory, NC. Mitchell Gold has been a favorite of mine for many years because of their clean lines, classic color/fabric palette and slipcovered selections.

I like slipcovers. With children and dogs, slipcovers are some of my best friends.

The thing about the outlet is you never know what they’ll have in store. To make a long story a tad bit shorter, we purchased a chair (which if you could love furniture, I would)…

And the sectional.

Not that I have anything against sectionals, but I didn’t leave home with any intention of buying a sectional. It was an emotional purchase enhanced by fatigue.

Soon after arriving home and trying every combination with no success, the anxiety began to set in.

Now let me explain two things about myself:

One, I’m the type that will go long periods of time with bare walls or, say, no dining room chairs (for 3 years!), waiting for the perfect piece. Notice the table stacked with magazines. We’ve been pouring over them looking for inspiration. They taunt me with their beautiful rooms.

And number two, I’m a neutral kind of a person. I so enjoy visiting many of my friend’s homes who have everything so nicely coordinated with fabulous color combinations, but whenever I’ve tried to broaden my decorating scheme it just never feels right. It’s not me. So I’m always drawn to neutral bases (walls and big furniture pieces) and add small amounts of color here and there.

And while I consider chocolate brown to be a neutral, the sectional is dark and modern and not slip covered. Plus the seat height was off – too high. It felt like a big black brown hole in my space, totally wrecking my funky sway.

We quickly moved the chaise section to my husband’s office, and tried to make do with the remaining love seat. I actually avoided sitting on it and averted my eyes when passing by the dang thing.

Furniture purchases like this one are not a regular thing around our home. To me it’s a big purchase. So you can imagine how wretched I felt when I finally told Randy that I hated it and the remaining love seat section had to go in his office as well. Last week we finally moved what remained of the brown hole to his office. He now has the nicest upholstered piece we own in his office.

I couldn’t be more happy for him.

And guess what? Even though what remains in the living room doesn’t match, I can already feel my funky sway coming back. Just a little.

But now we’re back to square one.

Here’s the deal, the room connects to our kitchen and is adjacent to our dining area which creates traffic paths that flow on all sides of the designated living room space except the fireplace and window walls.

We have a neutral slipcovered sofa (that I can purchase a new slipcover – custom made for that sofa), the new neutral chair (also slipcovered), and a white chair (yes, slipcovered) that has been borrowed from our bedroom for the time being.

Have you noticed the neutral? Neutral sofa, neutral chairs, neutral walls, neutral drapes.

And the neutrals? All different, none matching. And the furniture styles? All different too. What was I thinking?

Apparently I wasn’t.

The thing is, after being so disenchanted with the sectional purchase, I’m kinda okay with just leaving everything like it is for a while. What I need to do now is decide on a few options and just casually keep my eyes peeled.

Here’s what I’m thinking and I’d love your input.

A) I could keep this configuration, replacing the white chair with a chair and matching ottoman in a neutral small pattern or texture or color? What color I don’t know. I like blue.

B) Purchase 2 matching chairs to be placed side by side (or angled) in front of the window with a small table in between (pretend these are matching chairs – for placement only), leaving the sofa where it is, maybe getting a new slipcover for it, and keeping the boxy neutral chair to the left of the fireplace. Note: the black armoire will eventually be removed and replaced with built-ins.

C) Start new with 4 matching chairs angled in with a large round ottoman in the center.

D) A love seat where the sofa is, 2 matching chairs in front of the window, the boxy neutral chair to left of fireplace.

E) Remove all furniture, buy a bunch of floor pillows and call it day.

Help. Please?

Any suggestions? Anything?

Are you by chance Candace Olson? Or know her personally? Can you you tell her I need her to help me get my funky sway back?

I need it back.

Can’t wait to get your input. A big thanks ahead of time y’all!