Rooms in Your House
Oct. 18th, 2006 10:30 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
livingdebI've finished my first read-through of Apartment Therapy. It's very easy to get through when you're not actually doing anything.
My favorite part was the exercise on pages 85 - 87 called "Decide What Activities You Want to Do in Your Home and Where They Will Take Place." First write down all the rooms you wish you had, then write down all the rooms you actually have. Finally decide which of your actual rooms will house the functions of each of the rooms you wish you had.
In the fictional example in the book, the two lists matched up perfectly except that the wish list also included a home office; it was decided that the home office functions would be added to the current living room.
I've already done some thinking like this, and here is how my house currently is (real room on left, functions on right):
Big living room - entry way, library, music making room, dance hall, overflow work space (sewing, carpentry, ironing, etc.)
Small living room - living room (socializing area), reading nook, music listening room, movie theatre
Dining room - dining room, overflow desk space, photography studio, smoking center
Kitchen - kitchen, laundry room
Hall - hall, library
Bathroom - bathroom
Master bedroom - bedroom, dressing room
Other bedroom - office, library, tool storage, overflow clothes closet
Most of these work great, but we have several problem areas.
Workshop - We don't have one. Everything has to be stored, and then all workshop activities have to be done outside or in the big living room. R. thinks that having just a large covered area outside (which one might label a "carport") would be good.
Laundry room - Actually, the washer is in the kitchen, the drying racks are in the bedroom, the laundry lines are in the backyard, and the ironing board is in the big living room. R. thinks it would help to have one of those ironing boards that hangs on the back of a door, so it would be easier to put away when not in use. I want it to be possible to have everything in one place, maybe a screened-in porch. Plus a dryer, although I still like drying racks. I'd like a full-sized ironing board that could always be left out. (I have seen some very decorative ironing board covers! And with a plant underneath, it could be beautiful.) And I definitely want the washer out of the kitchen and replaced with more continuous counter space and some cabinets or drawers.
Smoking lounge - Currently the smoking supplies are at the buffet area between the dining room and big living room, and the smoking happens right outside the back door under the tiny bit of shade we have back there. A big screened in porch would be better, or quitting smoking would be another strategy.
Photography studio - The photography tent is always out on the buffet except during parties. I have no idea what would be a better spot.
Kitchen - We would like a dishwasher and a better place to store water bottles (both regular and bubbly). One could argue that a water filter would take less space than two crates of water bottles, but it has been determined that this costs more per gallon. Maybe we should think about spending more to have the extra space. But I think the reverse osmosis from the machines gives you better water than you can get from regular filters. I don't actually remember, R. and (I think) S. did the research on this. Maybe we should look into this again.
More freezer space could also be put to use. (Perhaps the photography tent could live on a new chest freezer, wherever that could fit.) R. thinks replacing our top-freezer refrigerator with a bottom-freezer one with a pull-out drawer might make a big difference because then it's easier to find all the things you've frozen, so then you might use them, thus making room for more stuff.
Library - We have books all over the place. I like where mine are. I've got my cool books that I would recommend to people in the big living room. The cookbooks are in the dining room. And my other reference books are in the office (second bedroom). But R has more trouble locating his.
Dance hall - Our big living room is so full of stuff that when we do practice dancing, we usually end up in the kitchen. If we're going to be in the kitchen anyway, we may as well break up the big living room into a bunch of smaller rooms. But I don't want to. I'll never have enough space for tango or Viennese, but swing and rumba and cha cha and mambo and bolero and maybe samba could be possible. Big space also comes in handy for other indoor exercise like yoga.
Sewing room - It would be nice to be able to have the sewing machine always out and ready to use. In my fantasy home office, there are tables all around the room with bookcases on top of them. And on the tables are computers and sewing machines and other stuff like that.
Guest bedroom - I love guest bedrooms. Ours currently consists of a couch. And, um sleeping bags. Could be worse, but at my age, I rarely have friends who are that desperate anymore.
**
What odd uses for rooms have you liked?
I've seen a bedroom turned into a pillow-fight room (with wall-to-wall and floor-to-ceiling carpeting, plus a cage over the light fixture).
I've always liked using the breakfast nook to eat in and might rather use any formal dining room as a library and reading nook. And I've thought that these giant master bedrooms they make nowadays might be much better for a games room/living room or for a giant office space.
When my parents have been in places with two living rooms, they put the TV in one and the musical instruments in the other. I've seen where each spouse has their own extra bedroom to use as an office, game room, storage area or whatever kind of personal space they wanted. Then each spouse gets to keep some of their hideously ugly possessions and have one area that's exactly as clean or messy as they like, and exactly as frou-frou, Victorian, or whatever as they wanted.
I've heard of people building giant cat jungle gyms all along the walls of their houses. Similarly, train sets.
I've seen attached garages and basements used for all sorts of things. Ping-pong room. Christmas celebration room. Workshop. Laundry room. Car storage. Rock-climbing walls. Mmm, attached garage.
During the renovation at work, I've seen co-workers making little makeshift work cubicles in the (rather wide) hallway out of bulletin boards. They're so cute!
And people turn bay windows into reading nooks. And many-windowed rooms into greenhouses.
And around here where it rarely freezes, people do a lot more outside. I've seen swimming pools, hot tubs, barbecue cookers, and patio tables (and that's all at one house). Also volleyball and badminton nets, croquet sets, bocce ball fields. Gardens with walking paths and benches and sometimes food, growing right on trees. Not to mention treehouses. And mother-in-law trailers.
And kids can turn anything into caves (couches, ladders and sheets, etc.). As adults, we forget how important indoor spelunking can be for your psychological welfare.
My favorite part was the exercise on pages 85 - 87 called "Decide What Activities You Want to Do in Your Home and Where They Will Take Place." First write down all the rooms you wish you had, then write down all the rooms you actually have. Finally decide which of your actual rooms will house the functions of each of the rooms you wish you had.
In the fictional example in the book, the two lists matched up perfectly except that the wish list also included a home office; it was decided that the home office functions would be added to the current living room.
I've already done some thinking like this, and here is how my house currently is (real room on left, functions on right):
Big living room - entry way, library, music making room, dance hall, overflow work space (sewing, carpentry, ironing, etc.)
Small living room - living room (socializing area), reading nook, music listening room, movie theatre
Dining room - dining room, overflow desk space, photography studio, smoking center
Kitchen - kitchen, laundry room
Hall - hall, library
Bathroom - bathroom
Master bedroom - bedroom, dressing room
Other bedroom - office, library, tool storage, overflow clothes closet
Most of these work great, but we have several problem areas.
Workshop - We don't have one. Everything has to be stored, and then all workshop activities have to be done outside or in the big living room. R. thinks that having just a large covered area outside (which one might label a "carport") would be good.
Laundry room - Actually, the washer is in the kitchen, the drying racks are in the bedroom, the laundry lines are in the backyard, and the ironing board is in the big living room. R. thinks it would help to have one of those ironing boards that hangs on the back of a door, so it would be easier to put away when not in use. I want it to be possible to have everything in one place, maybe a screened-in porch. Plus a dryer, although I still like drying racks. I'd like a full-sized ironing board that could always be left out. (I have seen some very decorative ironing board covers! And with a plant underneath, it could be beautiful.) And I definitely want the washer out of the kitchen and replaced with more continuous counter space and some cabinets or drawers.
Smoking lounge - Currently the smoking supplies are at the buffet area between the dining room and big living room, and the smoking happens right outside the back door under the tiny bit of shade we have back there. A big screened in porch would be better, or quitting smoking would be another strategy.
Photography studio - The photography tent is always out on the buffet except during parties. I have no idea what would be a better spot.
Kitchen - We would like a dishwasher and a better place to store water bottles (both regular and bubbly). One could argue that a water filter would take less space than two crates of water bottles, but it has been determined that this costs more per gallon. Maybe we should think about spending more to have the extra space. But I think the reverse osmosis from the machines gives you better water than you can get from regular filters. I don't actually remember, R. and (I think) S. did the research on this. Maybe we should look into this again.
More freezer space could also be put to use. (Perhaps the photography tent could live on a new chest freezer, wherever that could fit.) R. thinks replacing our top-freezer refrigerator with a bottom-freezer one with a pull-out drawer might make a big difference because then it's easier to find all the things you've frozen, so then you might use them, thus making room for more stuff.
Library - We have books all over the place. I like where mine are. I've got my cool books that I would recommend to people in the big living room. The cookbooks are in the dining room. And my other reference books are in the office (second bedroom). But R has more trouble locating his.
Dance hall - Our big living room is so full of stuff that when we do practice dancing, we usually end up in the kitchen. If we're going to be in the kitchen anyway, we may as well break up the big living room into a bunch of smaller rooms. But I don't want to. I'll never have enough space for tango or Viennese, but swing and rumba and cha cha and mambo and bolero and maybe samba could be possible. Big space also comes in handy for other indoor exercise like yoga.
Sewing room - It would be nice to be able to have the sewing machine always out and ready to use. In my fantasy home office, there are tables all around the room with bookcases on top of them. And on the tables are computers and sewing machines and other stuff like that.
Guest bedroom - I love guest bedrooms. Ours currently consists of a couch. And, um sleeping bags. Could be worse, but at my age, I rarely have friends who are that desperate anymore.
**
What odd uses for rooms have you liked?
I've seen a bedroom turned into a pillow-fight room (with wall-to-wall and floor-to-ceiling carpeting, plus a cage over the light fixture).
I've always liked using the breakfast nook to eat in and might rather use any formal dining room as a library and reading nook. And I've thought that these giant master bedrooms they make nowadays might be much better for a games room/living room or for a giant office space.
When my parents have been in places with two living rooms, they put the TV in one and the musical instruments in the other. I've seen where each spouse has their own extra bedroom to use as an office, game room, storage area or whatever kind of personal space they wanted. Then each spouse gets to keep some of their hideously ugly possessions and have one area that's exactly as clean or messy as they like, and exactly as frou-frou, Victorian, or whatever as they wanted.
I've heard of people building giant cat jungle gyms all along the walls of their houses. Similarly, train sets.
I've seen attached garages and basements used for all sorts of things. Ping-pong room. Christmas celebration room. Workshop. Laundry room. Car storage. Rock-climbing walls. Mmm, attached garage.
During the renovation at work, I've seen co-workers making little makeshift work cubicles in the (rather wide) hallway out of bulletin boards. They're so cute!
And people turn bay windows into reading nooks. And many-windowed rooms into greenhouses.
And around here where it rarely freezes, people do a lot more outside. I've seen swimming pools, hot tubs, barbecue cookers, and patio tables (and that's all at one house). Also volleyball and badminton nets, croquet sets, bocce ball fields. Gardens with walking paths and benches and sometimes food, growing right on trees. Not to mention treehouses. And mother-in-law trailers.
And kids can turn anything into caves (couches, ladders and sheets, etc.). As adults, we forget how important indoor spelunking can be for your psychological welfare.