The Blog

Day 34:  (July 12)  Had a brainstorm idea today to combine the functionality of both my formal dining room and casual den.  My previous dining room had a two mahogany glass armoires, separated by a bridge, creating a singular wall unit.  It housed only formal china, crystal stemware, and fine decorative crystal.  Since my former den and this piece are now sharing the same space, I decided to re-purpose the two mahogany armoires and split the usage.  I condensed all the china and crystal to one armoire (adjacent to a wet bar) and utilized the other one to accommodate my family photo albums, board games, Cd’s, DVDs.  Now I’m talking happy….The room feels right now, albeit may not be the perfect design choice, but now the space matches the activity of the room , and everything I want and need from my den is there. It feels just like my old built-ins that I left behind.  Finding new creative ways to enjoy old things is very satisfying.

Resolved my abandoned customized desk issues from the old house, and purchased a desk with a hutch that has similar ergonomics.  Not exactly perfect, but good enough for sure.  A functional place for my computer, files, work stuff, etc., sitting right in my kitchen extending into my den.  Ideal for both home-office, organizing incoming mail and posting social activities. Thank you Raymour and Flanigan!

Day 16: (May 16) Went to the rental space we are moving to, where someone still lives.  We were able to measure all the rooms, so we could visualize the furniture configurations.  We created templates of  the dimensions of our couches and tables with newspapers, and laid them down on the floor. Room by room, we we were distressed that our furniture did not fit precisely as we would have liked.  The new space is temporary so for the time being, we will have to make it work. Adequate storage for all the things I committed to packing for this move is also going to be challenging.  So far I felt that I was in control of the organizing process, and now I am realizing that not everything can be perfectly organized.  Somehow, I’m going to have to implement some new creative and flexible systems to accommodate the things I desire to keep. As pictured, I will have to modify the functionality of the marble card table and re-purpose it as a kitchen table.