spring makes me crazy

yes, i know spring technically only started a couple days ago. yes, i also know i’ve said many times that winter makes me crazy. adding it up, you’ll note that i’m crazy at least half the year, more when the weather is changeable or bad. so if you want me on a good month, get your requests in early, even though i travel on a whim and a moment’s notice. i’ll remember you fondly for inviting me openly and you’ll get me in a better mood all around.

what is making me crazy today? my unfinished house.

how long has it been unfinished? since we started it. over two years ago, if you count buying the trailer (i do – that was the commitment move). so instead of being crazy for merely half the year, i’ve been crazy for eight fiscal quarters in a row. this has to end soon. but i am fighting with the arrangement as things are. how are things? they are like this:

and like this on the other side:

and this at the end:

but before i did all that curtaining-off of bathroom space and moving-in of stinky IKEA cabinetry, i had a big, mostly-empty box:

and the port side:

the bump-out has also proved to be a bit of a waste, because it collects detritus.  part of the reason is, there’s nowhere to put anything as i haven’t built cabinets yet.  but the other part is, it’s just there.  i’ve tried to make it a wind0w-seat, a desk, and a small table.  none of those are working for me.

also – if you look as you come in the door, there’s not much for you to do right away except try to squeeze past me in the kitchen, which i find irritating.  i know my house isn’t ever going to be an entertaining mecca, but i would like to have one or two people over for more than five minutes once in a while.  like on girl day.  or when they have driven 80 miles to see me.  that sort of thing.

something has to change.  several somethings.

have you noticed anything conspicuously absent from all these photos?  the hob.  that’s right.  i have a camping stove, which is plastered with warning stickers foretelling immediate and certain death if you use it indoors.  because SuperG is a scientist, he is able to tell me more about the dangerous pollutants and how they like to move (CO, and like water running downhill) but i still don’t like to use it inside without a lot of windows open.  like in summer.  and who wants to cook inside in summer, anyway?

that cooker was just a temporary solution of course.  i realize that.  but it’s been … oh, fifteen months now.  no, eighteen.  something like that.  my temporary is a long time.

this must be rectified.

what have i been doing all day?  why am i still in a sweatshirt, and why is my hair badly in need of a washing?  because i had other things to do.  like re-draw the entire floor plan of my house, moving absolutely everything.

and including a hob.  of course.

so!

sadly, i did not bring the camera along on my current jaunt, so i had to take incredibly poor-quality photos with the built-in camera on my laptop.  you can deal, can’t you?  you wouldn’t want me to make you wait?  not after i’ve spent all this time talking up how brilliant my New World Order is?

what, i didn’t mention how brilliant it is?  how well-used the space can be?  how i made room for everything, including the pile of dirty shoes, in a manner that would make martha proud?

well, i did.

wanna see?

of course you do.  you’re the type who comes just for the pictures, i can tell.

well, yes – i am going to get around to that post about the sponge bathing … eventually.  that photo album will get me in the new yorker.  but getting naked is not what is getting me excited right now.  it’s rearranging furniture.

see?  i told you spring made me crazy.

so here!  here’s the plan view with the port side elevation drawing.  you like elevation drawings, don’t you?  i do.  they really bring an arrangement to life, don’t you think?

so: (L-R) look at the plan view to make sense of it, while i call out what’s against the wall:  toilet in the bump-out, curtained-off; bookcase (going all the way up to the roof); L-shaped dinette; fridge (low)/pantry (high) and cutlery drawer (middle); sink cabinet with drainboard; dead counter space in the corner (water storage beneath).

with me so far?  i know the photos are blurry, tiny, and poorly taken.  i’m so sorry.  squint a little, and try to stay with me.

wanna see the opposite wall?  here we go:

let’s go right to left this time:

porch; front door; hooks for jackets; settee with rolling storage beneath on the left and shelving for shoes (beneath the seat) on the right – facing the front door; closet; side door; butcher block countertop with rolling storage beneath.

not bad, eh??

you want to see what it’d look like from the ends now, don’t you?

of course you do.

view from inside front door on the left; from tongue end on the right

this photo turned out worst.  i tried and tried, but this is the best i could do!  with the limited patience i have.  you can forgive me, can’t you?  i’m crazy after all.

so on the left you can see all the crap i’ll pile on the bookshelf, only looking a lot more organized than it will turn out to be.  damn, i have a lot of books.  and crap.

and on the left you can see how i’d store my shoes at the end of the settee if i wasn’t a total slob about kicking them off right inside the door.  i thought i might put a mirror on the face of the closet that is aimed at the front door.  you know, so i can see if my hair’s all wonky before i go out to empty the composting toilet.  or to make sure my hat is on straight before rowan asks me to chase her all the way down to the river.  these things are important you know.

‘unimportant, your majesty means of course.’

“SILENCE!!”

ahem.  where was i??

you can see the front of my cute little stove at the very end!  in the center!  can you see it?  i don’t have it yet, but i hope to get one.  a hob would be a handy thing, since i’m not a raw-foodist.  or able to survive on pb&j like SuperG can do.  for years.

nope.  i want thai food.  which must be cooked!  the things i want, anyway.

so!  there you have it.  what did i miss?  did i miss anything?

yes, the futon on the end goes.  just like the sofa did.  it was a nice affair we had, but it only goes in that one spot.  and i want a kitchen there now, so.

i think it’ll work.

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