Time Saving Furniture Moves

Our sojourn in the apartment which shall hereafter be affectionately termed “the Hobbit Hole” is giving me new respect for the power actual physical space has over my habits and determination.  All the good intentions and energy I can muster may have kept me from being as deeply ploughed under a crushing burden of housework as I might have been, but buried is buried. There has been no time for kicking back, for sewing, or even for stopping! I believe that creativity is one of my main purposes in life, but my creativity has been subsumed by the necessity of keeping a house running. Obviously this setup needs rethinking. Although I haven’t solved all of the problems yet, I have addressed a few to begin with. Maybe you have some similar struggles to address in your home.

One problem was laundry piling up in the master bedroom. Our sleeping quarters were arranged to allow for maximum storage in our bedroom cum U-Store-It Unit. That’s how the bed came to separate the closet from the dresser, and the dresser from the laundry hamper. I have to admit that leaving little piles of clothes around is a bad habit of mine, but since it was even more difficult than usual to put things away, the space around the dresser behind the barricade of the bed became a tide pool of sorts, attracting a microcosm of our wardrobes. It broke even Daniel’s tidy habits of putting his clothes away! Having a dirty bedroom is the beginning of the end for my self-respect and motivation for the day. Solution: I rearranged the bedroom furniture so that all activities related to robing and disrobing were as close together and easy to access as possible. Forget Feng Shui, this is life and death! 

 
A similar hitch was coming up with the microwave consuming most of the counter top in the tiny galley kitchen. Every time I needed to load the dishwasher or roll out some dough there was an hour– no kidding, I timed it– of kitchen tetris before I could be productive in there. I was sorely tempted toward cooking the ship’s galley way, with canned goods and worm-eaten ships biscuit, or better yet, resorting to takeout! I may have succumbed to that last one. Banishing the microwave to an Elfa shelf unit away from the action has saved my sanity and our finances! I will probably always hate doing dishes, but now I don’t hate my life, so that’s progress. 

Finally, my sewing machine was stashed in a dark, unwelcoming spot. I brought it forward into the prime real estate under the living room window– a place where I feel happy– and sent the stroller to lurk in the gloom. I still haven’t had time to sew yet, but I have done other projects and If it doesn’t bear good fruit, I will try something else. 
  

 Most women feel like we have to balance our day to day responsibilities against our callings. It's all hard enough without fighting the furniture too! I hope this inspires you to evaluate a few simple structural changes that could free you up to be more... well, more of whatever you are!