Coloring Outside the Lines

No, I never did that as a kid. Teutonic upbringing. I was smart, though, and with education, age and wisdom learned to think outside the box. Clever girl. What I seek here is to use our home as we use it, not as it was designed.

We live in a box. Most people do. We live in a wonderful building with a terrific view but for weeks I’ve been stymied as to how to use the space. Not too much space, 1,248 sf for me, my husband and our dog, a herder. Ours is simple with a great view, others are more “edgy” and have more kitchen storage space which I love, but hubby made me a pantry.

I still have boxes to go through and save and destroy papers from 20 years ago. And a local charity is coming by tomorrow to pick up excess furniture and other items. So let’s start with a clean slate.

My mantra is open old box, give away, store or shred contents. Get everything up off the floor and pictures on walls, artistically of course.

Our place has a magnificent view and floor to ceiling windows in every room overlooking the lake. So, no furniture or art on those walls. We got it for the view, less for the layout.

It’s more of an open concept apartment setup, very square but with pillars to deal with, that hold up the 20-story building. Big, round pillars. One in the living space and one in the master bedroom.

Initially, I thought the small second bedroom should be my husband’s “office” as well as a guest room so we ordered an expensive futon that could be a sofa and guest bed.

He wanted a separate office/guest room when he worked from home, which he does not do. When he uses his personal computer, it’s usually in bed at night. I use mine during the day and right now am assaulted by the sun and heat it brings, even through expensive shades.

So now I’m coloring outside the lines and he’s considering my radical proposition to: move his desk to the living room (where I am now) or bedroom (we have 10′ from the end of our bed to the wall). I move my desk into the second bedroom with the printer and my cookbook bookcase and task board and framed photographs and we move the dining room to the windows to take advantage of the view.

The outside the box theory is that people always put their dining table under the chandelier (we do not have one, or any lighting in any room). Because of the windows and configuration the L-shaped sofa is placed in the only way it makes sense (the view) and we have 6-8′ of “unusable space” in the living area and MBR. I’d like to mix it up a bit.

Yes, dear readers, this is the kind of thing that awakens me at 3:00 in the morning. Some of my best ideas come to me around that time. Think of this. If all of our shelved (not stored) books are in the guest room/my office we can call it “the Library.” Very Brit, after those with whom we’ve lived and thank for hosting the thirtieth Olympiad.

Now, where do we put the dog beds? One so she can make sure her pack does not leave without notice (overlooking the front door) and perhaps the other one in the Library. She’s a herder and needs to be next to me or by the door at every moment.One thousand square feet and we might have a “library.” Go figure. Cheers! Dee