Difficult Music

Here’s a top tip for all you budding interior designers: If you’re stuck for a satisfactory living room furniture arrangement, just take all your stuff and push it up against every available wall. This pleasing “perimeter effect” opens up a lot of floor space for exercise, slot-car racing, or eating risotto. If you’re not satisfied with your first attempt, try aiming for symmetry—BILLY bookcases flanking the TV, or twin cabinets on either side of the chesterfield. If you’ve only got one of everything, you’re SOL, I guess. But if you went to the same two-for-one sales as us, a beautiful apartment can be yours as well.