Busy weekend. Lots of good family happenings. Long bike ride in the sunshine yesterday. And then I might have crashed, mood-wise. Suspect this may be the new reality over the next few months.
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| Well, yes, it does just look like a closet door. . . . |
Oldest granddaughter crashed as well, but into a horrid cough and cold rather than a case of the sads. So she’s here convalescing for the day while her parents get back into their respective workplaces after Spring Break. She is the perfect antidote for my mood, a gentle, entertaining companion, quite content to let me read as she draws or invents extended dramas for the inhabitants of her dollhouse.
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| But it’s so much more. . . a home for a Little Girl’s Imagination |
And Granddad pointed out that there was a light in the closet and enough room to make a tiny home. The nest was quickly feathered, doors secured against the world. Quiet: Imagination Working, a sign might say…
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| A different version of an imaginary home. . . I need to make sure my next home has room for some al fresca meals too. |
I’ll put mine to work as well and try to imagine the new home I’ll be describing to you in, what? Months? I hope not longer. For now, I’ll just remember how expansive five hundred square feet can be, with the right vision…
How sweet and lovely that your big little one is making a house in a closet. Almost as though her imagination is giving you time to practice for your eventual move. Play therapy, if you will, except the play being done by a granddaughter:).
So would that be outsourced play therapy? Very efficient of me, right? đ
Wonderful. Children's imagination is the best…and grandpas for great ideas to allow the imagination to wander. Good luck with your home moving. It will be worth it eventually đ B x
I do believe this, B, and it keeps me going: eventually it will be worth it. Thanks for the encouragement!
Ah yes, a secret hiding place, popular in my own childhood, then with my kids and now with grandson….and I wonder if my recurring dream motif of finding an unknown hidden room in my house has roots in that play? It does show how little space is needed to make some magic.
Hope the recuperation (from the cough/cold AND from the sads) continues to progress.
Ceci
Your comment reminds me that I've been meaning to haul out my worn copy of Gaston Bachelard's Poetics of Space. Do you know it? A wonderful meditation on the phenomenology of our relationship with space and home, the idea of home and the material reality. And much of his thinking concerns the oneiric . . . so your dreaming. . .
Yes, big little one is such a wise one. A perfect little spot for such a creative little girl. You will be telling us about a new nest one day soon. My favourite spot of all my life was my 47 square metres on rue St. Jacques and I had lots of Canadian guests in that space. In Canada, we do expect more space and hopefully a little outdoor space for plants, al fresco dining and of course reading. Hopefully Nola will feel better and the sun helps lift a bit of the sads.
I can't wait to tell you about a new nest. Funny, when I tried to describe to the realtor the mood or "vibe" I'd love I talk about New York brownstones I've seen in movies OR small apartments in Paris! I don't respond as well to contemporary concrete and glass and I don't need a huge space. I want atmosphere inside and neighbourhood out. . . The way you are able to hold on to that Rue St. Jacques home while still living a rich life "back home" inspires me to think I can take the best parts of this place along with me as well. Thank you!
Have you seen 5 Flights Up with Diane Keaton and Morgan Freeman?
Yes, delightful, but then they ended up staying . . . đ
Hope you both are feeling better now!
Wonderful place to play-isn't the imagination the best?
A year before I have found and bought my sea apartement- I was day-dreaming about my imaginary place: every possible room,bathrom,kitchen,balcony,choosing colours,materials,towels,even plates(I was beating some sadness,too)- so when it materialized I was ready in a second with little adjustments,deducting(a lot,it is small),adding (less) and with a final list in a hand.
There are rooms you can dream of (bedroom f.e.),and all other spaces (in general).
It is fun-if you don't believe,ask Nola!
You are building new routine now,with public parks,hiking,walking,cycling and running routes
Enjoy the new or less explored
Dottoressa
We are both on the mend. I think yours is a good suggestion, beginning to let myself furnish a new place in my imagination. I've held back, so far, because the market is so volatile (although upwards only, no hope for downward volatility!) that I'm not sure what we'll be able to move fast enough to buy — I haven't dared to hope. But hope and dreams don't cost much and now that we are close to packing up one place, I think I'll soon have energy to start doing that. As you say, no matter where we end up, we'll have a bedroom — at the very least, I can begin daydreaming about linens, choosing colours and textures. Maybe I could start checking out new tableware instead. Thanks for the idea!
That dollhouse is charming! If you have time (ha!) you might enjoy looking at some blogs that feature small apartments sch as apartmenttherapy.com/categories/small_spaces
When we went from 3700 to 1200 sf, I thought we might feelcramped, but thanks to very good layout and extre high ceilings, have not. (If Le Duc had not needed a home office, could have gone smaller.) Also, we put a sleek Murphy bed in that office, terrific extra bed option.
I've been very pleased with this little Playmobil Dollhouse — $70 well invested.
That's a drastic reduction, and I'm so encouraged to hear that you still feel good about it. That's about what we're aiming at, and we only have 1700 right now (well 300 additional in our wee guest cottage).
I love ApartmentTherapy although I haven't spent much time there lately. Between you and Dottoressa, I'm thinking maybe it's time to start daydreaming, looking forward. We're thinking Murphy bed as well, although perhaps will do an Ikea loft bed option instead. . .
Well , at least you won't be downsizing quite that much !
Hope you've both recovered and can now roam as far as a good ice-cream parlour .
True enough, although the market's pretty hot, who knows what we'll be paying for a closet space — if it could just fit a tiny microwave and maybe a teakettle?!
I hope your spirits pick up. Downsizing is freeing and constructing at the same time. I'm still dealing with it myself
It's true that some of the letting go feels really good. . . Do you think you'll stay where you are now for a while?
Downsizing is a challenge but you will weed out what you love and it is quite a wonderful exercise.
Looking forward to seeing your new home in the big city.
Hope your spirits soar in this sunshine. The weather is warm and the forecast is for more!
Me too, L, me too — I can't wait to see my new home. Just have to find it…
Such gorgeous weather this week — hope your shoulder is letting you play in the garden.
I wonder whether it is the loss of moorings which is bringing you down. The not knowing where you will be living in a month, three months, a year. In my experience of our last house move it was the inability to plan which got to me. No amount of counting of blessings helped.
In my case, our moves have been upsizes as our family grew – and therefore voluntary – but I can see that our next move – a downsize or a resize at least when the children leave home – will be harder.
I am sure that women find this between stage much harder than men, not sure why. And how do military wives cope? Does the provision of housing mitigate the inevitability of upheaval?
Ceri, this is it, bang-on! I feel as if I'm in Limbo, except that Limbo is supposedly stress-free, if I remember my (apocryphal?) theology correctly.
We didn't move as military families do, but the moves we did make for my (civil servant) husband's work were well supported by some real estate guarantees, commission costs picked up, full-services move paid for, etc. That definitely eased the stress of earlier moves.
I am so grateful for this phrase of yours "No amount of counting of blessings helped." Thank you! I do hate not being able to plan; I hate feeling Reactive, dependent, and having to feel guiltily ungrateful on top of that doesn't improve my mood. Still, I do know that a good attitude is the best way to get through this, and most days I do muster that. Overall, I'm so glad I decided to do this while we are young enough to move positively.
How wonderful that your granddaughter has created her own space. I loved closets as a child; still do. I hope your spirits have revived, but I can see how this period of transition can lead to some rocky times. Hang in there.
Well, you've been through transition, so you know. . . I'm hanging in, thanks! đ
I hope you climb back out soon.
On house/flat size, as you probably know in the UK we don't sell houses by the square footage/square metres, but by number of bedrooms. So I have no mental image of the changes coming up for you, except smaller. Duchess e's suggestion for getting creative juices flowing by looking at blogs is a good one. Sending good climbing – out wishes.
Head's peeking up and over again, thanks! đ
We have three bedrdooms in this house, with two additional (and a toilet/shower/sink) in our guest cottage. We're looking for at least two in the city with at least two bathrooms (full–toilet and shower/bath and sink).
I used to have my little cupboard under the stairs when I was a child. Cosy and dark with the electricity meter humming away. If things get hard, why not crawl into the closet for a bit? Bit back-to-the-womb but soothing.
My nephew actually had a clever wee bedroom under the stairs when his family shared my mom's home for a few years. I'm not sure how soothing I'd find it now there — instead, it's rather my fear given the prices of the Vancouver market!! đ It might not be much smaller than what we have to settle for!
What a lovely den for your granddaughter! I do hope you soon have a new den of your own to show us. Good luck with the home hunting.
Thanks, Marianne. What's happening on your home front?
Lovely little den for Nola. Thanks for sharing this. She seems like such good company….very thoughtful and wise for her age. I hope this week has gone well for you all.
Rosie
She really is, thanks Rosie. Hope yours was a good week too.