I Should Keep My Mouth Shut
ealdthryth is obsessing about decluttering. Not a bad thing in and of itself, but it brought up a sidebar conversation about how "nice" the living room feels without all the incidental pieces of furniture in it--the little bookshelves, the coffee table, the DVD shelves, the small file cabinet, the end tables. We're down to the couch, a pair of floor lamps, and the entertainment center. She seems enamored of an idea she spotted in one of the handyman magazines--knocking out drywall and making shallow built-ins. It sounds like a clever storage/display solution.
Of course, if we are in the process of decluttering, do we need to make more storage? We complain about not having enough wall space to hang artwork--this will actually make the problem worse, and make our living arrangements much less flexible, so I'm not in favor of the idea in general.
But then I opened my mouth.... The fireplace is a huge space waster and locks us into one or two furniture layouts. In the 10+ years we've lived in the house, we've never used it as a fireplace. Sure, the mantle is used to display decorative items, and we've used the hearth as a staging area for clutter, but as a fixture of the room, it isn't useful, and it's overwhelming presence limits our perception of how we can use the space.
What if we blocked up the fireplace or used it as the entertainment center? Lots of people put their television sets in front of disused fireplaces. We sort of liked the idea until we realized what it would do to the traffic flow of the room: effectively it would turn the couch into a major roadblock. But then I started thinking about "what if?" What if we removed the mantle, blocked the fireplace, and installed a built-in book case? That would definitely change the room's dynamic and open us to other possible arrangements. We could reduce the number of shelves in other rooms and gain back living space we currently have log-jammed by clutter. It seemed like a rational and logical suggestion at the time. Until I started thinking about how big a transmogrification it would be. The prospect of such a radical change to our living space started upsetting me, whilst simultaneously, it captured ealdthryth's imagination--she loves the idea.
This gigantic change requires a lot of effort (not a problem), including ancillary work down in the woodshop (which needs to happen anyway). BUT! We haven't even started working on Phase II of the reflooring project, and I despise the way we keep starting projects without completing others--it frustrates me immensely. As an interim measure, I suggested putting a set of shelves on the hearth in front of the fireplace, so I could get used to the idea somewhat gradually. My sweetie pooh-poohed that concept, although she made the irrational concession that we could keep and store the mantle. Um....mixed signals plus it was late in the evening, so I got more aggravated and decided I should go to bed before I really got angry.
I know I suggested the idea in the first place, so I only have myself to blame. Next time, I will not speculate out loud. Somehow, eliminating the fireplace seems inherently wrong, and I don't know how to articulate why. My mental model of the world has the fireplace and hearth as the heart of the home, and blocking it off fractures that model. I've lived in apartments before, so it isn't like I've always had a fireplace in the home, but this is a *house*. It feels like a fundamental axiom of the Universe is that a house have a fireplace. Look at any kid's drawing of a house--there is a smoking chimney. Just like kids draw a train with a steam locomotive on the front even though we haven't used them in regular service for over 40 years.
Maybe I just need to let some ideas percolate through my head.
HANG UP AND DRIVE
'Nuff said. But I'm gonna' rant a little anyway. Sure, I see plenty of folks blathering away on cellphones while driving. Occasionally one of them will drift into my lane because the conversataion they are having is more engaging than paying attention to guiding a few tons of metal hurtling down the Interstate at over 60 miles an hour. I'm sorry you are so bored that you must have one hand plastered to your head instead of on the steering wheel where it belongs.
OK, that was only a little snarky. The folks I am really annoyed with are the ones lined up on the exit ramp to my office this morning. Most people who use this ramp realize that it splits into three lanes--two left turns and a right turn lane, and in the morning, they self-organize into one line of cars turning right, and one line that eventually makes it to the left turn lanes. This morning, there were an inordinate number of clueless people who thought it was socially acceptable to ride down the middle of the ramp, blocking people from queuing up per accepted norms (although, admittedly, they were following the original intent of the existing painted guidelines). That was merely annoying, but resignedly acceptable. The real goombahs that need a whack with the clue-by-four were the folks yapping into their cellphones while trying to figure out which of the three end lanes they wanted to be in.
Being a somewhat debatably more patient driver, I hung back a bit, hoping to not be involved in a traffic accident caused by these indecisive dumb-clucks. As a result, I could not get into the lane I needed to and had to drive an extra traffic light past my turn and perform a (legal) U-turn.
First world problem, but it doesn't make it any less aggravating when it is occurring. The slight amount of salt in the wound is that I was stuck behind an AT&T repair truck sporting stickers advocating "No texting while driving". Dude. I am not the audience you are looking for. Move along.
New Hiding Spot Fu
Now that most of the furniture and random clutter is out of the living room, Kiera has adopted the space under the table serving as our entertainment center as her new "den". She feels secure because she is surrounded by her shadowy "cat cave", and can still see out and observe where the pink hairless food monkeys or her Sweet Baboo are. That means she is no longer hiding behind the couch. It is somewhat pathetic that we regard this as Kiera being "more sociable".
Sequestration
I was suddenly reminded today of a mid-1980s Don Rickles interview following his visit to Congress. He is obviously in favor of sequestration and made the following comment with regard to our Congresscritters:
They should all be put in a home somewhere and stop bothering the Nation.
Of course, if we are in the process of decluttering, do we need to make more storage? We complain about not having enough wall space to hang artwork--this will actually make the problem worse, and make our living arrangements much less flexible, so I'm not in favor of the idea in general.
But then I opened my mouth.... The fireplace is a huge space waster and locks us into one or two furniture layouts. In the 10+ years we've lived in the house, we've never used it as a fireplace. Sure, the mantle is used to display decorative items, and we've used the hearth as a staging area for clutter, but as a fixture of the room, it isn't useful, and it's overwhelming presence limits our perception of how we can use the space.
What if we blocked up the fireplace or used it as the entertainment center? Lots of people put their television sets in front of disused fireplaces. We sort of liked the idea until we realized what it would do to the traffic flow of the room: effectively it would turn the couch into a major roadblock. But then I started thinking about "what if?" What if we removed the mantle, blocked the fireplace, and installed a built-in book case? That would definitely change the room's dynamic and open us to other possible arrangements. We could reduce the number of shelves in other rooms and gain back living space we currently have log-jammed by clutter. It seemed like a rational and logical suggestion at the time. Until I started thinking about how big a transmogrification it would be. The prospect of such a radical change to our living space started upsetting me, whilst simultaneously, it captured ealdthryth's imagination--she loves the idea.
This gigantic change requires a lot of effort (not a problem), including ancillary work down in the woodshop (which needs to happen anyway). BUT! We haven't even started working on Phase II of the reflooring project, and I despise the way we keep starting projects without completing others--it frustrates me immensely. As an interim measure, I suggested putting a set of shelves on the hearth in front of the fireplace, so I could get used to the idea somewhat gradually. My sweetie pooh-poohed that concept, although she made the irrational concession that we could keep and store the mantle. Um....mixed signals plus it was late in the evening, so I got more aggravated and decided I should go to bed before I really got angry.
I know I suggested the idea in the first place, so I only have myself to blame. Next time, I will not speculate out loud. Somehow, eliminating the fireplace seems inherently wrong, and I don't know how to articulate why. My mental model of the world has the fireplace and hearth as the heart of the home, and blocking it off fractures that model. I've lived in apartments before, so it isn't like I've always had a fireplace in the home, but this is a *house*. It feels like a fundamental axiom of the Universe is that a house have a fireplace. Look at any kid's drawing of a house--there is a smoking chimney. Just like kids draw a train with a steam locomotive on the front even though we haven't used them in regular service for over 40 years.
Maybe I just need to let some ideas percolate through my head.
HANG UP AND DRIVE
'Nuff said. But I'm gonna' rant a little anyway. Sure, I see plenty of folks blathering away on cellphones while driving. Occasionally one of them will drift into my lane because the conversataion they are having is more engaging than paying attention to guiding a few tons of metal hurtling down the Interstate at over 60 miles an hour. I'm sorry you are so bored that you must have one hand plastered to your head instead of on the steering wheel where it belongs.
OK, that was only a little snarky. The folks I am really annoyed with are the ones lined up on the exit ramp to my office this morning. Most people who use this ramp realize that it splits into three lanes--two left turns and a right turn lane, and in the morning, they self-organize into one line of cars turning right, and one line that eventually makes it to the left turn lanes. This morning, there were an inordinate number of clueless people who thought it was socially acceptable to ride down the middle of the ramp, blocking people from queuing up per accepted norms (although, admittedly, they were following the original intent of the existing painted guidelines). That was merely annoying, but resignedly acceptable. The real goombahs that need a whack with the clue-by-four were the folks yapping into their cellphones while trying to figure out which of the three end lanes they wanted to be in.
Being a somewhat debatably more patient driver, I hung back a bit, hoping to not be involved in a traffic accident caused by these indecisive dumb-clucks. As a result, I could not get into the lane I needed to and had to drive an extra traffic light past my turn and perform a (legal) U-turn.
First world problem, but it doesn't make it any less aggravating when it is occurring. The slight amount of salt in the wound is that I was stuck behind an AT&T repair truck sporting stickers advocating "No texting while driving". Dude. I am not the audience you are looking for. Move along.
New Hiding Spot Fu
Now that most of the furniture and random clutter is out of the living room, Kiera has adopted the space under the table serving as our entertainment center as her new "den". She feels secure because she is surrounded by her shadowy "cat cave", and can still see out and observe where the pink hairless food monkeys or her Sweet Baboo are. That means she is no longer hiding behind the couch. It is somewhat pathetic that we regard this as Kiera being "more sociable".
Sequestration
I was suddenly reminded today of a mid-1980s Don Rickles interview following his visit to Congress. He is obviously in favor of sequestration and made the following comment with regard to our Congresscritters:
They should all be put in a home somewhere and stop bothering the Nation.