Showing posts with label project move rooms. Show all posts
Showing posts with label project move rooms. Show all posts
Monday, 2 January 2012
Saturday, 31 December 2011
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!!
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!
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.
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!
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 |
 | |
| spare room before shot |
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!
Monday, 17 October 2011
only biting off as much as you can chew....
Of late, one project has been large in my mind - project move rooms. It started last year (in my mind at least) and is still going on, incomplete, still bugging me ....
It's all about getting Bub into the bigger room and making the smaller room my studio....STUDIO - see - time and space to create!! But then there is the giving up the spare bed issue, which was a reason to make me hang off a little, and then there was the bunk bed idea, which was meant to solve said spare bed issue. And I found this company called Fearless Mike that goes to Ikea for you and assembles your furniture for a reasonable rate which seemed like a brilliant idea. And then it's just been really graunchy, like a proper uphill struggle and added to that, this niggling feeling that I am just not heading in the right direction with it all and in fact most of it has been a massive procrastination and not been worth it at all.
All this FAFF so that I can have time and space to create. And how much time have I wasted on it? And hmm, how much Space have I got yet.....? hmmm. No Space.
Today Hub had a bit of a go at me for the jumble sale state of said 'spare' smaller room, adding to the whole thing that he thinks that sometimes I just dive in without thinking of a proper plan.... ouch! And I do realise that I stormed ahead and got rid of beds and stuff and piled all my art stuff into the small room and as yet have not had time to sort it out. OH and it's all there in this massive messy pile and I don't really have any where to put it. Nor the energy or inclination to tackle it.
And then today (all rushing action again) I got rid of a bookshelf - ostensibly in order to make room for these bunk beds, which I was starting to feel not good about..... and now we have 5 boxes of books cluttering up our bedroom. Hub is not pleased and I have to admit some sort of defeat.
Not that he wanted to talk about it, or help me find a solution! Off he goes out....
But I had my saving grace. I got an email from Fearless Mike. The bunk beds are out of stock. I leapt at my chance and cancelled the order. I can put the book shelf back for the time being and just hang with how things are for a bit.
Right now, I have enough on my plate. Training for new job, Yoga teacher training, gallery job, a bit of childminding still, art projects I want to get on with, let alone the whole family, social life thang.
I am going to leave 'project move rooms' on the back burner for a while. Let things settle. Seek for a solution. Let it all perculate and arise.
And the really funny thing is. That I just don't really really want to make that wee back room my studio at the moment. Its a bit poky and awkward. Its got a carpet and not enough floor space. And I had started thinking that maybe..........instead of making it my studio space, it would be more suited to being Hub's office hide out. And that we could put the TV in it, freeing up the downstairs to be - well a living space - maybe......... put a BIG TABLE in it and have it as part of the kitchen living space.
And today, Hub, totally independently (and obviously not aware of my year long quest to commandeer the box room) actually suggested that exact same thing to me today.
So today. Am stopping a project. I felt chaotic in it, unclear of my motives and as if I was making rash and not good decisions. I was trying to chew way more than I could and it was all getting lumpy.
I feel a massive sense of relief. My gut feelings regarding the bunk beds were the right ones to follow. Bub is a bit too young for them yet. Perhaps I will just get a double mattress? (yup I know I just got rid of one.. .doh!) which will alllow me to sneak in and snuggle up to him when Hub snores, for a year or so..... while he is still little enough to actually want that....
Sometimes you gotta know when its time to take stock and stop biting off more than you can chew.
It's all about getting Bub into the bigger room and making the smaller room my studio....STUDIO - see - time and space to create!! But then there is the giving up the spare bed issue, which was a reason to make me hang off a little, and then there was the bunk bed idea, which was meant to solve said spare bed issue. And I found this company called Fearless Mike that goes to Ikea for you and assembles your furniture for a reasonable rate which seemed like a brilliant idea. And then it's just been really graunchy, like a proper uphill struggle and added to that, this niggling feeling that I am just not heading in the right direction with it all and in fact most of it has been a massive procrastination and not been worth it at all.
All this FAFF so that I can have time and space to create. And how much time have I wasted on it? And hmm, how much Space have I got yet.....? hmmm. No Space.
Today Hub had a bit of a go at me for the jumble sale state of said 'spare' smaller room, adding to the whole thing that he thinks that sometimes I just dive in without thinking of a proper plan.... ouch! And I do realise that I stormed ahead and got rid of beds and stuff and piled all my art stuff into the small room and as yet have not had time to sort it out. OH and it's all there in this massive messy pile and I don't really have any where to put it. Nor the energy or inclination to tackle it.
And then today (all rushing action again) I got rid of a bookshelf - ostensibly in order to make room for these bunk beds, which I was starting to feel not good about..... and now we have 5 boxes of books cluttering up our bedroom. Hub is not pleased and I have to admit some sort of defeat.
Not that he wanted to talk about it, or help me find a solution! Off he goes out....
But I had my saving grace. I got an email from Fearless Mike. The bunk beds are out of stock. I leapt at my chance and cancelled the order. I can put the book shelf back for the time being and just hang with how things are for a bit.
Right now, I have enough on my plate. Training for new job, Yoga teacher training, gallery job, a bit of childminding still, art projects I want to get on with, let alone the whole family, social life thang.
I am going to leave 'project move rooms' on the back burner for a while. Let things settle. Seek for a solution. Let it all perculate and arise.
And the really funny thing is. That I just don't really really want to make that wee back room my studio at the moment. Its a bit poky and awkward. Its got a carpet and not enough floor space. And I had started thinking that maybe..........instead of making it my studio space, it would be more suited to being Hub's office hide out. And that we could put the TV in it, freeing up the downstairs to be - well a living space - maybe......... put a BIG TABLE in it and have it as part of the kitchen living space.
And today, Hub, totally independently (and obviously not aware of my year long quest to commandeer the box room) actually suggested that exact same thing to me today.
So today. Am stopping a project. I felt chaotic in it, unclear of my motives and as if I was making rash and not good decisions. I was trying to chew way more than I could and it was all getting lumpy.
I feel a massive sense of relief. My gut feelings regarding the bunk beds were the right ones to follow. Bub is a bit too young for them yet. Perhaps I will just get a double mattress? (yup I know I just got rid of one.. .doh!) which will alllow me to sneak in and snuggle up to him when Hub snores, for a year or so..... while he is still little enough to actually want that....
Sometimes you gotta know when its time to take stock and stop biting off more than you can chew.
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