We're going through quite a bit of upheaval round here at the minute. It's like some kind of epic spring clean, except the weather is not very spring-like, and so far there's not been much cleaning. But there has been an awful lot of sorting out. This is our loft. Well, one of our three lofts (the other two contain mostly mouse droppings). Neither of us have minimalist tendencies, and as we've gone through life, we've collected many things that 'might come in useful one day'. Many of them have, and our propensity to buy things when we see them cheap and squirrel them away has saved us a fortune over the years. Still, times change, and we're getting to a point where carrying round old projects and endless tubs of beads, paperclips and crayons just doesn't feel quite so appealing. Many of those projects have been unfinished for a decade or more, and now feel more like sources of guilt than sources of fun. With our new decision to get the builders in to sort out the kitchen and bedroom, we're looking forward to a more organised space, and it feels like a good time to start clearing some stuff out. Of course, it does mean that things become yet more chaotic in the meantime, piles of boxes and bags for the tip collect near the back door. We're fortunate that we have two relatively local household recycling centres, and between them they have recycling bins for metal, plastic, wood, clothes, books etc, so not much is going to landfill. In another time, we would likely have donated to charity shops, but they are all closed now, and many of the donation bins have been removed. We might also have put stuff on Freegle, but that feels like quite a daunting task (and also we're not in a town, so I wouldn't want to be encouraging a flurry of special trips out here to collect individual items right now). It feels odd to be getting rid of this much stuff. Ornaments I've looked at for 15 years are disappearing, shelves are emptying, and the amount of space in the loft now is really quite shocking. Peter's been doing most of this clearing out. I'm focusing on the kitchen ceiling for now - but the more he clears, the more obvious the rest of my stuff is. I certainly won't be throwing everything away, but I've got a decent stash of fabric that I've probably had for 20 years and not done anything with for a start... The other activity at the minute is planning the kitchen itself. This has become more of a fun activity now we don't have the prospect of figuring out how to fill massive holes in the walls, and can instead thing about paint colours and tiles and where to put the kettle. The kitchen/dining room has four windows now, and I am loving the way the sun streams in. Can't wait to sit at the table with a cup of tea and a jug of flowers. It's a bit daunting making choices though. We've spent so many years making do with what we had, picking up what we could for free or cheap, that our decisions have usually been along the lines of 'how can we make good use of this?' rather than 'what do we want?'. 'What do we want?' feels like such a big question. (I should point out that I'm fully aware how fortunate we are to be in a position of deciding what we want, and I'm not remotely complaining about it - it's just interesting how difficult it is after years of having decisions bounded by other factors). This is the kitchen in our old house - it looks so empty because it's taken on the day we moved out. We just had one strip of work surface, and the fridge was round the corner near the back door. There never felt like enough space. This is the temporary kitchen we've been using for the last 18 months. It's pretty tiny, but if it was properly laid out as a permanent kitchen, it would still be a reasonably useable space. As it is, it's a bit of a nuisance to do anything in.
So what do we want from our new kitchen? We can't move the drain without a big faff, so the placement of the sink is already decided. We want a four ring hob and a full sized oven (what luxury!), and I want plenty of worktop space, and enough storage day to day things and also empty jars and bottles for preserving food. Of course there are other decisions too. What type of kitchen? Should we have a tiled splashback above all of the work surfaces, and what colour? Shall we re-do the dining room floor now, or wait until later? Where should we put an extra radiator? I do know I want it to be a productive and welcoming space. I want to make cheese, preserve food, bake cakes, and batch cook dinners. We already have a big table, and I'm looking forward to having people sit round it. Maybe there'll be a window seat too, and a breakfast bar. Right now the prospect of other people in the house feels a lifetime away, but I do hope it'll come round eventually. The builders are coming in July, and in the meantime we'll keep sorting and tidying and passing things on. Between the building work and the space-clearing it'll be like having a whole extra house. If you haven't been round in a while, you might get a bit of a shock...
6 Comments
Maria
14/3/2021 12:34:45 pm
Spring cleaning is fantastic, I find it bloody hard work to get rid of things! (also not a minimalist!).
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Maria
24/3/2021 01:21:07 pm
I had a similar fear! A bit of a cop out, but my other half has more experience of redoing places so I let myself be guided a lot by him (as in, do you think x would like ridiculous? Yes? Okay then, let’s try Y instead ).
Karen Rowe
14/3/2021 02:08:13 pm
It's exciting to be planning your new space. We did our kitchen for something to do during the first lockdown. I would have a long think about a breakfast bar. We had one in our previous house but it was high and needed stools which we both hated so never sat at it and it became a bit of a dumping ground. In hindsight I would have preferred more storage and worktops. But it's great to have time to think about these things while the builder is doing the big jobs
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Interesting Karen, thank you! Yes, we will indeed have a good think about the breakfast bar. In our case it might be less of an issue - half of the room is higher than the other half, it would be a normal height work surface in the kitchen bit, and then we can just have a couple of higher chairs in the dining area bit (as the floor is lower there). So hopefully it'll be multi-functional (and if we never use the chairs, we can just get rid and it can still be used as a normal height kitchen surface. Lots to think about!
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Chris
15/3/2021 03:49:34 pm
I really wish I could tackle my loft. It is so full of junk that one day I fear the bedroom ceilings will collapse. I do go up periodically with good intentions, but I get engrossed in reading something I had completely forgotten about and then I get fed up or cold or hungry and I find a morning has gone and the loft is as full as ever.
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Hello!Sit down and make yourself comfortable. I'm Jenni, and I write here about our new foray into country living, which includes growing food, knitting, baking, wandering around the fields, and seeing which local cafe serves the best cake. Categories
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