616 Cubic Feet

The neighbors down-sizing with their kids grown up and out of the house reminds me of my own down-sizing endeavors that have taken place; the most recent, of course, coming to Pennsylvania with what I owned packed into my pony Subaru, and the rest in nine cartons aboard a Greyhound bus.

After several attempts to civilize my 8 by 11 foot bedroom here in Wendy and John's household. I arrived at what is still a work in progress, but mainly is livable and has entered the realm of comfort, sustainability and even, sometimes, sanctuary.

I can see in the world of housing and decorating there is a trend away from the McMansion's of the greed glut, and has entered a phase of making what you have work, and, in some cases, even resorting to tiny houses. I like that. Grandma and Grandpa Steinbach, ancestors of my mom's side, arbiters of a true frugality, keepers of the dictum "live within your means" could have held their heads high with this recent trend. They worked for and took care of what they had, had what they needed, lived modestly with enjoyment, wasted nothing, and reared six kids.

I'm sure my iPhone fits into that picture, though by Grandma and Grandpa's standard it is expensive, since they did have the fundamental stuff of their era. And, I have mine.

The room measures 8'W x 11'L x 7'H = 88 sq ft area, or 616 cu ft overall. My pony Subaru would fit nicely with room for a canoe on top.

Corner to corner is 11 feet. The panorama feature makes the picture bend. But, you get the idea of the layout.

And, the other long wall of the rectangle. The window (left) faces south southeast.

Far end of the room. This of the two windows faces slightly west of south. Good light all day.

The entry end of the room. My shoes have a home on the door. Toby isn't in the house to chew off my shoestrings.

So that's the four walls.

Details...

The two drawers under the bed are holding mostly art papers, portfolios and sweaters, right now. The nightstand is removable--one side hooks onto the bed frame, the other has legs standing on the floor. This is all of a good hardwood and the mattress is excellent. Yea.

After long consideration about a wardrobe, there is no closet except in Wendy and John's area, I came up with this chrome wardrobe since it has moveable shelf features, hooks to hang things on it, it's very sturdy, and it's not constrained by doors and side walls so I can fit odd things on it. To the left between the wardrobe and the wall is an ironing board that has seen a few poker games with Aidan. Baskets are filled with clothing, other containers are a mix of art supplies, electronic devices, tools, binoculars, sewing supplies--even the sewing machine (which I don't want to expose to the extremes of temps up in the attic).

The business side of the room--computer, printer. And pictures. I didn't fill all the space with pictures since too many make a crowded  atmosphere. I'm not satisfied with them sitting on top the shelves and don't quite know what else to do about them since they are of my kids, grands and great-grands and I'm loving them.

The table is my drafting table on casters (one broke) that I moved in from the barn where it was too hot, too cold, afloat with hay, bedding and feed dust--no place for Goldilocks. A collapsible table (or none) would be a better choice. Keoni added the ceramic jar that's just right for brushes.
That's Ridge Road out the window.

Aidan has added an origami turtle and leaping frog plus the stuffed frog to keep me company.

I've reduced my files to the blue notebooks. Much can be stored electronically these days.

The file cabinets hold all my picture albums, desk supplies and electronic stuff. There's a tiny shredder and cordless vacuum underneath. The double layered boards on top are single side veneer plywood cut to size at Home Depot; sanded and varnished by myself. Before Keoni left for DC he crawled around beneath on a wire-reduction project for me.

Next is the bathroom which is almost the same dimensions as my bedroom, a half foot narrower, and shared with my two grandsons. That carries with it a sharing of the water supply with them as well as Wendy and John. Water supply does not imply it is the usually heard reference to running out of hot. It's the supply. We must be careful, so showers are staggered as are laundry loads, dishwasher loads, and, so far, we're fairly successfully. The last thing anyone wants is the water to run out with shampoo still in your hair...in winter.

The well, to explain, is producing just fine though it's dimensions need to be altered in some way which has been explained to me a couple of times, but what malfunction is happening still eludes me. It has to recover if we run it dry which it does in 20 minutes to 2 hours depending on what you need to do next with water. The cure I understand is to deepen the well, but that can't be done since it was made before code, and is too close to the house. There is another, newer well on the property which might provide an alternative if running the line isn't too expensive and a lot of other things involved. But if you have shampoo in your hair you can walk over to the pasture and rinse your hair with the hose...in summer.

Now that I've talked about water, there are the grandsons sharing the space with me. One of them is prone to scatter management of sundries and personal tools, and the other isn't. Let's say towels are hung up and dirty clothes are carried away to bedroom laundry baskets. And let's say I don't mind putting away strewn sundries and swabbing it all down and leave it at that. There have been no squabbles in two years.

Keoni's departure leaves an empty towel rack by the door. It means I now get the first early shower in the mornings.
(I think I hear the Hallelujah Chorus.)

The triple mirror cabinet gives each of us a portion.

This portion has drawers below that I utilize for my array of personal items and tools, and a cabinet for our bath linens.

Where did those nine boxes I sent on the Greyhound go? This is my space in the attic. Little by little it evolves. The winter things that are exchanged for summer are there including Toby's igloo parts. It is usually too hot or too cold to stay up there long. The clothes tree was in my room and had to leave when I dragged in the drafting table. I love the old wooden desk chair from some former owner. It is the most comfortable in the house, but it tips over backward. Alas.

The greatest down-sizer of all time, Henry David Thoreau, and my grandparents would probably have some suggestions, but in all likelihood give my approach to "less is more" a nod of approval.

In the end, it's all stuff. As Toby assures me, "We're all mad here!"