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lagilmanI am not what you might call a fan of Routine, at least not where my living/working space is concerned. As a kid, I used to come home periodically and Change Everything in my room. When I was in college, I routinely (at least once during the school year, usually twice) rearranged my furniture. Even when I was working in a wee cube, I found a way to change it up on a regular basis. It was, I suppose, both my rebellion against standardization, and a way to keep my surroundings from stagnating (monotonous surround = monotonous interior?).
When I lived in a larger house (we had 11 rooms, incl the basement. For 2 people. Insanity), the space overwhelmed me, and I could barely bring myself to do anything, even when I knew I needed to. An oversized living space is, for me, worse than a small one. It sucks the energy out of you...
Now that I'm in a NYC apartment, where my 750+ square feet is considered good-sized for a one-bedroom, I find myself in the happy medium of not needing to change things, but having the desire/energy to do so. Over the time I've been here, the living area has been in a constant flux, finally - with the purchase of the new sofa - settling into a nice, flexible arrangement that can be changed-up according to the day's need. Plus, I have what I refer to as the Modular Office - the desks and chairs rearrange easily to create different working configurations (or to become a formal-ish dining area).
This is probably the key to apartment living, for someone like me: make sure everything's flexible. Except the bookcases. I never want to move another bookcase EVER.
[random aside: my old boss, an architect/designer, haaaaated sectional pieces. For a woman who specialized in smaller houses, she never quite 'got' the concept of flexible arrangements.]
Anyway: having more-or-less figured out the public and working spaces (and having had the kitchen renovated to my specs) is probably why, this weekend, I looked at my bedroom and decided that four years with one set-up was long enough.
[cue furniture moving, much consultation, and some moderately freaked-out felines]
The original set-up had decent feng shui, I suppose (except the beam-over-my-head), and it looked nice, but I always felt that the room wasn't being used to its full potential, with half the space "hidden" on the other side of the bed [and therefore rarely used], and having to walk past a large window to get clothes out of the dresser was, um, occasionally awkard. So now the bedroom has terrible feng shui (head to the window, feet at the door), and it's a little cramped on either side of the bed (about 3' of clearance on either side), but the dressers and the closet are now at the far end, closer to the bathroom door, so it feels more like a suite set-up. Overall, it's a better use of the space - this is where I sleep, this is where I get dressed/have room to do yoga, and the tv rotates to either face the bed, or the open space (for Wii, etc).
I'm not sold on it yet, entirely. I think I'll keep it a week, and see how it does. But I will tell you - the past two nights have given me the weirdest, most vivid, reality-based dreams. I know some people would consider that a negative: I find it fascinating.
So. For those of you who made it all the way through, or just skipped to the bottom: are you a "set and settled" householder? Or do you shift with your whims?
When I lived in a larger house (we had 11 rooms, incl the basement. For 2 people. Insanity), the space overwhelmed me, and I could barely bring myself to do anything, even when I knew I needed to. An oversized living space is, for me, worse than a small one. It sucks the energy out of you...
Now that I'm in a NYC apartment, where my 750+ square feet is considered good-sized for a one-bedroom, I find myself in the happy medium of not needing to change things, but having the desire/energy to do so. Over the time I've been here, the living area has been in a constant flux, finally - with the purchase of the new sofa - settling into a nice, flexible arrangement that can be changed-up according to the day's need. Plus, I have what I refer to as the Modular Office - the desks and chairs rearrange easily to create different working configurations (or to become a formal-ish dining area).
This is probably the key to apartment living, for someone like me: make sure everything's flexible. Except the bookcases. I never want to move another bookcase EVER.
[random aside: my old boss, an architect/designer, haaaaated sectional pieces. For a woman who specialized in smaller houses, she never quite 'got' the concept of flexible arrangements.]
Anyway: having more-or-less figured out the public and working spaces (and having had the kitchen renovated to my specs) is probably why, this weekend, I looked at my bedroom and decided that four years with one set-up was long enough.
[cue furniture moving, much consultation, and some moderately freaked-out felines]
The original set-up had decent feng shui, I suppose (except the beam-over-my-head), and it looked nice, but I always felt that the room wasn't being used to its full potential, with half the space "hidden" on the other side of the bed [and therefore rarely used], and having to walk past a large window to get clothes out of the dresser was, um, occasionally awkard. So now the bedroom has terrible feng shui (head to the window, feet at the door), and it's a little cramped on either side of the bed (about 3' of clearance on either side), but the dressers and the closet are now at the far end, closer to the bathroom door, so it feels more like a suite set-up. Overall, it's a better use of the space - this is where I sleep, this is where I get dressed/have room to do yoga, and the tv rotates to either face the bed, or the open space (for Wii, etc).
I'm not sold on it yet, entirely. I think I'll keep it a week, and see how it does. But I will tell you - the past two nights have given me the weirdest, most vivid, reality-based dreams. I know some people would consider that a negative: I find it fascinating.
So. For those of you who made it all the way through, or just skipped to the bottom: are you a "set and settled" householder? Or do you shift with your whims?
