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Monday, February 27

Using Space

Anyone else ever inspired and baffled by Ikea?  Somehow they make it look like if you bring in a bit of furniture, everything will just magically find a home and even your closet will feel like a mansion.  I bought the Expedit bookshelf and desk maybe two years ago now.  I thought with all those shelves (I bought the big one, 5 rows) I would have a clean floor and a home for every scrap of fabric.  Not so.


I've posted about my sewing room being a mess before (reusing the picture).  It's the dumping ground of boxes and things to hide (say the 24 rolls of toilet paper that don't really fit in a closet) when people stay the night.  It's constantly in a state of disorder with bursts of tidying.  I get it clean enough for the project at hand and don't see the mess around me while I am working.
 We bought a new tv and it was delivered on Saturday.  The measurements on the web site for the TV weren't quite right, it's taller than stated by about 10cm.  We thought we could put it on a coffee table until we figured something out but those 10cm made a difference.  So we were off to Ikea on Sunday to find something suitable.  Of course being in Ikea leads to "why does our house not look like that?" line of thinking.

I have been thinking about my future dress form and where it would live.  Right now, there isn't a corner that doesn't have something in it, be it a box, a table, a pile of clothing...  it's just full.  I bought 3 more boxes that fit the shelves.  Hopefully I can police up more stuff to get old stuff off of those shelves and into a more appropriate home to make space.  I have enough square footage here if I was using it properly.  I want to be organized but I don't enjoy getting there.

This folds into other conversations and thoughts that I was having this weekend.  For whatever reason, Mr. Lina seemed to want to let out some emotions on Friday picking movies that would evoke an emotional response.  Now I'd pick something like... The Ghost and Mrs. Muir, An Affair to Remember, but more likely than not I'd pick something funny (Some Like it Hot) because I'll find a reason to cry anyhow.  Mr. Lina, he picks Star Trek 2:  The Wrath of Khan.  Net-net, we spent most of the weekend tending bruised hearts together, I didn't sew at all.  Part of healing was just cuddling and being around each other, part of it was talking.  Including talking about moving prior to adopting siblings.

Now I'm not saying we're moving next month even, but it's about the thought process.  Our three bedrooms are currently our room, my sewing room and the revolving door of a guest room.  Guest room could convert to a nursery, but really, if we adopted two kids, they (and we) need more space than our house allows.  This isn't our forever home and we both know it.  So cleaning out clutter is a good thing because if not now, it will need to be done then.  Maybe the act of moving wouldn't feel so overwhelming if I felt like I could see the floor.

8 comments:

  1. Oooh, synchronicity! I love your line "I want to be organized, but I don't enjoy getting there." Exactly!

    I wish I could get my sewing area organized like the kitchen. Not that the kitchen doesn't get disastrous, but everything has a place, and it's *capable* of being cleaned. The sewing-room, on the other hand, seems to be either mess in plain sight, or mess stuffed out of the way. /sigh.

    Do I hear between the lines that family options are being pursued? Exciting! (if, yes, a LOT of work...)

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    1. It absolutely cracked me up to read your post so soon after writing mine.

      Kitchen is a good comparable. I'm good there, things have a home and eventually they get put back and counters cleaned off. It's different for a sewing room sometimes.

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  2. Both of you cleaning up your sewing rooms/spaces, too funny. I wonder if it is a Canadian thing to do on Oscar weekend?

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    1. lol... I'm not sure. Maybe it's more to do with the late-winter blahs driving us all towards change.

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  3. I want to come to your house and Tanit-Isis' place and liberate you both. ;)

    Wow congratulations on the move and the sibling adoption decision! I think adoption is one of the best things people can do... I'm trying to convince my husband to think about it for the future....

    I hear you about it not being your "forever house." When I moved into the place I'm living now, it was supposed to be for a year, 18 months tops... Five years later, who knows when we'll leave.

    Ever try purging one room at a time? Last time we did a big one, we sat down and listed the areas that needed help. In great detail. Then you can check off the list as you go, I know it sounds SILLY but it's a nice way to feel like you're making progress... ;)

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    1. Oh, we're a few steps from looking at profiles. There are a lot of steps between what suits us and what will be involved with and the actual home study and courses we'll need to take. But it's always good to be talking.

      lol... 18 months to 5+ years. We wanted the 5 year house. We're at 7.5 now.

      Our house has a finished basement, so the issue is that there really isn't storage space anywhere. The garage works for things that can be frozen over winter, but not everything is okay with wide temperature swings. So... the sewing room is one of the dumping grounds. Clean there and the rest will be okay. We do have a huge collection of CDs and movies, but Mr. Lina is very good for culling the herd. Now toys from his childhood in the garage... not so much.

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  4. We moved into this house 10 years ago, thinking it was our "forever" home. Now we're wondering whether to expand the upper floor or move again so Oldest can have his own room. This is the longest I've lived anyplace, even as a kid, and I just DON'T WANT TO MOVE. Ever again. In college, I actually turned down a proposal from a military guy -- for many good reasons, but one of them is I HATE MOVING.

    Ok, enough about me! Adopting a sibling group would be exciting. At bare minimum, I think you'd need four bedrooms -- yours, a sewing/guest room, and one each for girls and boys. I've heard some of my adoptive parent friends say you need one bedroom for each kid, but I think they were adopting from overseas and that was the law in the home country....not sure.

    My sewing room is a disaster, too. I have the space, I have the organization tools, but my stash keeps growing beyond my life expectancy. AAGH!

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    1. 10 years isn't too shabby. My parents have been in the same house since 1978. It just seems like an overwhelming process to box things up. But I suppose, it means there is an exciting new house on the other side as incentive.

      Well, as mentioned to Stephanie, it's not quite decided, but the tone of the what would we need to do conversation is very positive. Points to consider in a future house would be enough bedrooms, a place for me to sew, a space big enough to continue with house concerts and a guest room of some sort. There aren't any restrictions for kids having their own bedrooms that I've ever come across. Lots of paperwork and courses and social worker visits, but as far as space, they really just want to see enough for the basics, parenting is more important than space or money.

      Stash beyond life expectancy is kinda scary. I'm not there... yet.

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Thanks for your comments, I love to have a two way conversation. I seem to be getting a lot of spam from anonymous users and am turning off the ability to comment that way. I really would like to hear from you so if you do want to add your two cents without an OpenId, email me at seraphinalina at gmail dot com.