Yesterday afternoon, while working on a project for the TSP, I looked around the office/studio and realized something: What I had envisioned many months ago had become a reality.
I’ve already used the desk countless times for research and blogging. Since the day I moved into this space, I’ve had the TSP sitting on the extension. But this day was different, I was actually sitting in my desk chair, swiveling between the desk and the extension – which is actually a sewing table – and I was working in both spaces at the same time.
I had to take a picture to show the reason for my sigh of contentment.
This is momentous for yours truly. I’ve spent the last ten years in this cottage carving out different spaces in which to work, shuttling back and forth, doing one thing here, then running up the stairs to do another thing there. The dollhouse was rehabbed on the kitchen table; I painted many a piece on the kitchen island. I made furniture on the table. I wallpapered it in the living room. I cut and stained sticks for the floors on the island, glued them down in the den.
When I had my little tiny studio in the hallway upstairs, I would run back and forth from the sewing table to the bedroom, where I was often ironing fabric, to downstairs where I would cut the fabric on the kitchen island. Not to mention the fact that there was so little space to work in that I felt like I was in the tiniest of closets.
I’ve done much of my Shakespeare research on the kitchen table, moving mail and other assorted ‘stuff’ out of the way so that I could spread everything out, then packing everything up and getting it out of the way in time for dinner preparation.
You see the pattern? Some things here, some things there, but nothing in the same place at the same time.
And I could never shut a door for some quiet and privacy. I can now.
We have enough open floor space in the office/studio for me to use the floor if I need to, or tuck the TSP in a corner of the room while I work on the extension table. I can answer comments on the blog while waiting for paint to dry. I can set up the ironing table in the same space where I’m cutting fabric.
It’s amazing.
I know that many of you already work this way. But here in this little tiny cottage? It’s a miracle. Getting rid of the bed (though every once in a while I miss it) was the best thing we could have done. Given the fact that 99% of the time it’s just Don and me, it seemed silly to keep the bed any longer. It took me a while to get on board with this idea, but I finally realized that this house is for us. And we should use the space in a way that suits our lifestyle.
I can do pretty much everything in one place!
Sometimes I choose to work downstairs, like right now as I’m writing this post. But now I have the option, which is so different than the past.
Huzzah!
In other news: This is blooming…
Our trustworthy Flowering Quince has blessed us with orange/red blossoms.
The lilac flower buds are getting bigger. Some volunteer plants in the big garden bed were too shocked by the sudden snow and ice that happened a few weeks ago and they came out of the ground. Some plants are still not showing themselves. It’s a mystery right now as to what will come out of the ground this year.
What can you do?
Don and I are getting ready to cast our votes in the New York State Primary and then we’ll treat ourselves to some breakfast at our local café.
Happy Tuesday.
