Man, learning my house should be for me is something I wish I’d known sooner.
For years I had a spare bedroom that was barely used, maybe slept in 15 nights a year.
I had it only because I felt like that’s the normal thing to do if you have a space for a spare room. That’s what people expect of you.
Meanwhile I’m doing soldering projects on my kitchen table as the only suitable surface in the house, shoving resistors and electronic components out of the way every evening so I can make space to eat.
And then I finally realised, I need to prioritise my utility, not that of other people. I have a massive couch - when a friend wants to stay over they can sleep on there, and be perfectly comfortable!
So I donated the spare bed to charity, turned the room into a space for projects with a huge desk, and I’m so much happier for it.
I thought long and hard about the best approach, but that just wasn’t feasible.
My couch may be big, but the house in general is very small, and is 120 years old so it comes with architectural oddities and features that must be worked around.
The room in question has a chimney breast against one long wall, at one side of which is a built-in wardrobe which also houses my central heating boiler and plumbing, and at the other side of which are integrated shelves and storage.
Of the other three walls, the room is quite narrow, so the “short ends” (one of which has the window anyway) are too short to do anything with, leaving only one wall left to go at - which also has the door on it, further cutting down on usable space.
So it was really a choice - a bed, or a desk.
My couch genuinely is comfy to sleep on though. You can lie totally flat on it even if you’re six-foot-some :)
Hell yes, friend. And off you aren’t already, apply that to everything and everyone in your life!
After living in a mostly untouched house for over a decade, now in the past few years I’ve been going nuts making it suit the personalities and habits of my family.
In my case, I think the old bullshit attitude was driven both by our hyper capitalist greedy individualistic conservative culture (why yes I’m in the USA) and wholesome traditional catholic guilt and self-denial.
How truly fucked it is that we live in a world where people will limit their life experiences in their own home for decades, just so that they can believe that after they die their home sells for 10% more.
Meanwhile I’m over here having my back yard turned into an active construction site all year, but that hasn’t hurt the enjoyment of my family or my numerous pets, and the next decade in that yard is going to be awesome.
Man, learning my house should be for me is something I wish I’d known sooner.
For years I had a spare bedroom that was barely used, maybe slept in 15 nights a year.
I had it only because I felt like that’s the normal thing to do if you have a space for a spare room. That’s what people expect of you.
Meanwhile I’m doing soldering projects on my kitchen table as the only suitable surface in the house, shoving resistors and electronic components out of the way every evening so I can make space to eat.
And then I finally realised, I need to prioritise my utility, not that of other people. I have a massive couch - when a friend wants to stay over they can sleep on there, and be perfectly comfortable!
So I donated the spare bed to charity, turned the room into a space for projects with a huge desk, and I’m so much happier for it.
You could always set up the spare room as a hobby space that also has a bed. That’s what I did with my spare room.
Alternatively to that, you could also just have a cot folded and tucked away
I thought long and hard about the best approach, but that just wasn’t feasible.
My couch may be big, but the house in general is very small, and is 120 years old so it comes with architectural oddities and features that must be worked around.
The room in question has a chimney breast against one long wall, at one side of which is a built-in wardrobe which also houses my central heating boiler and plumbing, and at the other side of which are integrated shelves and storage.
Of the other three walls, the room is quite narrow, so the “short ends” (one of which has the window anyway) are too short to do anything with, leaving only one wall left to go at - which also has the door on it, further cutting down on usable space.
So it was really a choice - a bed, or a desk.
My couch genuinely is comfy to sleep on though. You can lie totally flat on it even if you’re six-foot-some :)
if you can manage it, murphy beds are great for hobby rooms
It is difficult to escape one’s social programming.
Hell yes, friend. And off you aren’t already, apply that to everything and everyone in your life!
After living in a mostly untouched house for over a decade, now in the past few years I’ve been going nuts making it suit the personalities and habits of my family.
In my case, I think the old bullshit attitude was driven both by our hyper capitalist greedy individualistic conservative culture (why yes I’m in the USA) and wholesome traditional catholic guilt and self-denial.
How truly fucked it is that we live in a world where people will limit their life experiences in their own home for decades, just so that they can believe that after they die their home sells for 10% more.
Meanwhile I’m over here having my back yard turned into an active construction site all year, but that hasn’t hurt the enjoyment of my family or my numerous pets, and the next decade in that yard is going to be awesome.