The Library Gets a Loveseat, or: Perspective Rears its Ugly Head Again

It's been nearly a year since we bought a bunch of Billy shelves for the library. We're still very happy with the shelves, but the armchair in there was always just a placeholder until we could get something nicer. We picked up the chair for $40 on Craigslist, and I think we've gotten $40 worth of use out of it. By "we" I mostly mean the dogs. They love that chair. You can tell from looking at/smelling it.

Here's what the library looked like until last weekend:

There's a beagle wearing a sweater in that chair.

So the chair was fine. Very basic. A little more traditional than I wanted. It wasn't in terrific shape even before our dogs slept in it for a year. My plans for replacing it changed over time. There was a period where I really, really wanted a Strandmon chair from Ikea for example. But one of the nice things about sticking a cheap placeholder chair in your library for awhile is that it gives you time to figure out what you really want. And it became clear over time that one thing we wanted was a bit more seating in that room. It's a lovely room; we all like being in there, but there was only room for three people to sit down before. I thought a full size sofa would be too much for the space, but a small loveseat might be perfect.

I started casually eyeing Craigslist awhile back. And then, sometime last week, I spotted the one we finally wound up with. When I first saw it, it was priced at $150. I wasn't in a rush, and I wasn't totally sold, so I didn't make a move for a few more days. By the time I did get around to showing it to Dave and then e-mailing the seller, it had been sitting on Craigslist for...maybe a week? And she was eager to sell. "Make me an offer; it needs to go!" she told me. So I offered her $100, and she said yes.

Here it is:

As you can see, foster beagle Bella already loves the new seating. When I'm not taking pictures, there's a sheet on it, though. Spot the baby! (hint: he really loves electrical cords)

It's a pretty basic, dark gray, velvet-ish loveseat. I'm really liking it in front of the shelves. I thought it was going to go in front of the windows, but no. It definitely wants to live in front of the shelves.

But here is my problem.

It is so...petite that it makes the green chairs and chess table look ENORMOUS. Like a giant might sit in them, while chatting with the elves who hang out on the loveseat.

Let me show you:

It actually doesn't look quite as ridiculous in the picture as I expected. But still not what I want. (The chess table I had to just shove in another room entirely. I think it's going on Craigslist itself very soon).

So that's the story of how my $100 Craigslist loveseat means I have to buy new chairs. And a coffee table. Maybe also a rug. I kind of love it with just the loveseat. So dramatic! Shelves pop! But the whole point of the loveseat was more seating. So.

I have some ideas for that, but it's late and I need to go watch TV, so I'll save them for another post. Let's just say that I think I need to ask for Ikea gift cards for Christmas.

What do you guys think? What else would you put in this room with the world's most miniature loveseat? Besides more beagles?