Premium Space

When you live in a small space, every nook and cranny is at a premium. My adulthood has been spent living in expensive cities where living spaces are priced at exorbitant prices per square foot so you a) try to get the most bang for your buck without sacrificing things like running water; b) try to get the biggest space to lowest vermin ratio; and c) get super creative at storage solutions.

My big city experience have been tested in the English countryside over the last three years-- because while property is considerably less expensive (okay-- crazy cheap), English people 200 years ago were apparently super small and had no stuff. So they didn't need things like closets. That meant that our little "two up, two down" (for all you non-English real estate peeps that means two rooms on the ground floor, two rooms-- and a bathroom on the second) needed some adjustments to make way for me. Taking advantage of the ceiling height, we built up in order to not make the already teeny rooms teenier.

There was one hold out-- the guest room/home office. While we'd created great storage where we could-- building narrow cabinets from floor to ceiling flanking my desk and converting an alcove over the stairs into a storage closet and accessible from the room, I was still reserving the majority of space for a bed for house guests. This week, I finally gave in. I figured that with only one house guest in three years, it makes absolutely no sense to reserve much needed space for a "what if." After all-- we live here everyday. So last night, I made a plan (and enlisted MRN to execute it right there and then) to free up some space in our cramped bedroom by converting the guest room part of the office into a much needed closet. I'm now in the midst of decorating bliss (really, just rearranging furniture and moving a dresser into the office... and freeing up some walls for artwork-- whoop-whoop).

And for anyone who may decide to visit in the future? I'm afraid it's the sofa for you.