on the eve of the new year

I am very excited by the new year.  It is currently 22.51.  Bub is asleep and Hub has gone out for a quick drink at the local.  I am.....drum roll please.... in my room.  IN MY SPACE.  Its my studio, my yoga room and my office.  I am so so happy.  Its been such a long time coming.  I think maybe a year and a half? I will find the post somewhere am sure.  But somewhere last year, around the time of post Flying Lessons.  And I decided that Bub's baby room would become my studio.  And it has honestly taken since then to get it sorted.  Its been piece meal and has involved quite a lot of furniture tetris and even some elementary building work. 

I just want to get it all down.  SO sorry if its a bit dull!!

Box room before

Box room before

The story of this space.

LAst year,  Bub was in a cot (too small for him) and in the box room.  And I had this vision that, if I moved him into the spare room (much better for a growing boy) I could commandeer the box room as my studio.  So much had to happen for this to come to be!

before

 

First:  Walking home one day I noticed a sign in a window saying "single bed free to anyone who can take it away" and I thought, Bub will need one soon and we went and got it.  It was a horrid colour but clean and with a mattress and could be painted. I got rid of the cot and Bub slept onto the single mattress (on the floor). I started to make the black out blind for the spare room as it only had cream curtains and I knew there was no way I could put Bub to bed in a summer light filled room.  (and it took about a year before I realised I just didn't really know how and so I paid someone to finish it) Then I had to get rid of the double bed in the spare room soon to be Bub's new, big boy room. Sold it via Gumtree.  And then we were left with the double mattress on the floor in Bub's New Room.  And then we bought a new chest of drawer for us and a sofa bed from friends (who were moving out to go live on a boat) and Bub got our old chest of drawers, and we had a new 'guest' bed in the form of the sofa bed. Finally - Bub moved into his new room.

spare room before shot

His old room promptly becomes a dump room for random things.  stasis for a while.

The single bed, in the attic needed painting.  SO there was the whole palava of buying paint and getting the damn thing down from the loft and painting it blue.  And THEN when we got rid of the double mattress, I realised that I would have no where to go if Hub snored (had been used to sneaking into the spare room, or later, in with Bub on the double mattress.....)  And decided that instead of the single bed, we needed to get bunk beds.  BUT on measuring the space realised that bunk beds did not fit along the wall - and neither of course would the single bed.  ARGH.

I managed to cancel the bunk bed order.  and again.  STUCK.

Finally we decided that we would make space for bunk beds by knocking down one of the built in wardrobes...... And then, when our builder postponed, I had this revelation;  the space between the wardrobes, would be enough for a small boy to sleep on and a small platform bed could be built.  Genius and much less disruptive than removing the wardrobe. I began to investgate getting a mattress made to fit, and one of the foam places I called, mentioned (bless em) that the children's Ikea mattresses were pretty cheap (yup £24 rather than the £80 it would cost to get a piece cut and covered) and it turns out that the space between the wardrobes is EXACTLY the size of an Ikea Junior mattress.  Bish bash bosh!  Builder chap is rebooked and told the change of plan.  We book Fearless Mike to go to Ikea for us and in a jiffy, Bub has a new bed.  Its brilliant!  And should fit him for a good few years.  There is toy storage underneath.

And on the same day,  builder chappie knocks up some shelving in the box room and Fearless Mike also brings us some Billy shelves from Ikea.

And today....... TODAY.......  I finally completed the long, long, long long awaited plan of moving ALL MY STUFF into the box room.  It is SO COOL.  Its not a big room.  But its mine and its got my stuff in it.  And I can get up and come and do my yoga practise in it (2nd morning running this morning.  Its going to be every day for the rest of my life this morning Yoga practice.....) and its got all the admin stuff, my scanner and my printer, my sewing stuff, all my study books (art and yoga) and my art materials and equipment.  All I need is a sqaure of oilcloth to cover the carpet for when I paint.  Hope it doesn't take me a year to get that together.

Photos soon.  I promise!