Dear Amy,
“For anything worth having one must pay the price; and the price is always work, patience, love, self-sacrifice.”
John Burroughs
I truly believe that anything worth having is worth waiting for and working toward. Remember that saying we had on the kitchen tile growing up? “What we achieve too easily, we esteem too lightly.” So true. And so apparent in my life. I have found that I do appreciate more things I wait for, save for, work toward. They hold greater weight.
R and I have long wanted to move. We live in an absolutely adorable house full of charm and unique attributes. With all of the landings and stairways in this house, there are 11 different levels! However, having been built in the early 1930s, our house is small and chopped up into tiny rooms. They are fabulous rooms, mind you, but small rooms. It’s not a lot of square footage we seek, but a more spacious house—larger rooms, etc. Our house is technically considered a story and a half, which means that the entire second story floor has slanted ceilings that follow the roofline.
It was inconvenient, but very doable for two people. Then the boys came. Now we feel packed into this tiny house with it’s tiny spaces. Since the boys arrived so suddenly, we really didn’t have time to think through where to put their rooms, where to fit their cribs and toys and clothes and assorted sundries.
So, we placed their bedroom in the most convenient room, the room that was the most easily replaced—the guest room. As we soon discovered, the new kids’ room was found lacking. For starters, it was directly inside the front door…NOISY. Second, it shared a wall with the kitchen…NOISY. Third, it was on the ground floor…COLD. Fourth, it’s 9’ x 11’…TOO SMALL for two cribs, a rocking chair and a dresser. Last but not least, the boys should not share a room at this point. They keep each other awake.
So, we put our house up for sale. I suffered through months of last-minute showings and interrupted naps, scrabbling to clean for the curious non-buyer. In the meantime, we could not find a house we wanted to buy. We were not falling in love with any standing structure within our town or the surrounding area. Huh.
So, we took our house back off the market. And we began working toward our goal…to build our dream house. We have made the decision to make this tiny house with no storage to speak of work for us for the next year and a half. With our low mortgage and new goal of living on half of R’s salary, we are saving toward our goal. We have always wanted a barn house….the kind of house that grows from within the structure of an old, salvaged barn that has been deconstructed, refurbished and reconstructed. I can’t wait! A green house built to our specifications…small, but spacious, with a place for everything.
Hence, my lack of posts recently. In an effort to make this house work for us for the next year and a half, we are moving all of the rooms around. The boys have moved upstairs. D is now in our old room (and has moved up to a toddler bed!), while Eric’s crib is in the small bedroom upstairs. We have moved downstairs to the 9’x11’ bedroom. It’s so small. With our queen bed, we scarcely have room to walk around. We have an attached bathroom that is the size of an extremely small closet. I’m still trying to sort through things and find a place for everything. For now, we are surrounded by piles and half-furnished rooms.
It’s been a hard adjustment, but I welcome the challenge of coming up with some creative storage solutions without adding to our “stuff.”
Before and after pictures to follow.
Wish me luck!
Love,
Kate