Monday, April 14, 2014

L IS FOR LOFT

     I've lived in my house for about 17 years.  For most of that time, the space above my garage consisted of some rotted-out wooden floorboards.  You could get up there via a rotted-out wooden ladder, if you were willing to risk it, but there wasn't much point to that because once you were up, wherever you set foot, there was a good chance of your crashing through the floor to the cement below.
     When my daughter was in middle school, my husband and I decided to hire a handyman to construct a real space up there, so that she and her friends could use it as a playroom.  He did a wonderful job, installing a sturdy floor, a window, insulation, electricity, and a staircase.  So of course, my daughter and her friends used the space maybe twice and then completely abandoned it.
     Meanwhile, at some point my daughter decided that one bedroom really wasn't enough to meet her very sophisticated needs, so she annexed the guest room.  This became her bedroom, and her bedroom became her closet.  The main problem with this was that the guest room, when not being used for guests, was supposed to be MY space, to be used specifically for writing.  Not that I actually used it very much, but still, at least it had been my theoretical space, and now it wasn't even that.
     It took a long time, but eventually I came up with the following thought: if she's going to take over my unused space, what's to stop me from taking over hers?  So I did.  Voila!  My writing nook:



 
 
 






     I adore my loft.  I truly do.  I decorated it with carpet scraps I cut up to form a patchwork, with bits of furniture donated from friends, and with pictorial references to every book I've written and some I haven't yet.  Maybe, if you've been following my A to Z posts, you'll have figured out that it's probably my adult version of a dollhouse.  Or maybe it's modeled after the Swiss Family Robinson's treehouse, another space I coveted as a child.  The key is that it's ALL MINE.
     There's only one slight problem.  I haven't spent any time in my beloved space in probably over a year.  After all the work I put into fixing up my nook, I do my writing at the kitchen table instead, right in the middle of whatever is going on around me.  Like daughter, like mother, I guess.  But it makes me so happy just to know my loft is there, waiting for me whenever I feel like visiting again...

8 comments:

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    1. Thanks, Yvonne! It really is, and I really should go back to using it!

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  2. Love your loft. I have to too, and it is my office, where I do write most of the time.
    Mine's not as neat as yours though!

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    1. Mare: if my loft is neat, it's only because I don't use it much! And anyway, the camera lies. I'm up there so rarely that at some point a black stray cat moved in, leaving hair all over every surface. I think the cat's gone now, but the ceiling still strews random debris all over everything. A spring cleaning is definitely needed up there! Thanks for stopping by.

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  3. Oh, I love this space! Totally envious, LOL.Maybe it's just a good place to read and dream before you write? Thanks for sharing--it's given me some ideas for my own wished-for room one day.

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    1. Thanks, Valerie! It does have a a few drawbacks - like no heat, and no bathroom - but doing this post reminded me how much I love my little garret. Have to get back to hanging out there! And I hope it's not too long before you have a Room of Your Own too.

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  4. I love this space...with 3 kids ages 20, 12 and 4 the idea of a space that is all mine is bliss.

    I linked to your #AtoZ participation on my post for N: http://www.e-bookbuilders.com/2014/04/navigation-methods-e-books/

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    1. Deena Rae: thank you so much for the link! Ah, you have a 4-year-old... I remember those days when not even the bathroom was sacred! Now my kids are 18 and almost 25, and getting enough space from them is no problem; I'm the one chasing THEM down! Thanks fo stopping by, and good luck in the second half of A to Z!!

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