When you are living in rented accommodation (and/or you don’t have huge funds at your disposal) it can be a challenge to make do with the furniture you have. And make it fit! I have spent plenty of time in both situations – often at the same time.
It’s hard to know which came first – chicken or egg-style – but I love to shift things around at home. It’s like a 3D jigsaw puzzle*, sometimes with only one possible ‘right’ way to get the pieces to fit. Whether I love it because I have always had to find that perfect solution or the other way round I might never know. Although my Mum has an incredible capacity for solving complex ‘furniture in to pint pot’-conundra and is also a mahoosive puzzle-lover so perhaps it is genetic.
Now that we live in our own house, we have all but eliminated that regular change. No, we haven’t yet got everything how we want it to ultimately be. Yes, we are making do with much (?all) of the furniture we moved in with. But it has been almost two years now and I miss that variety. It is the spice of life afterall.
It’s hard to know which came first – chicken or egg-style – but I love to shift things around at home. It’s like a 3D jigsaw puzzle*, sometimes with only one possible ‘right’ way to get the pieces to fit. Whether I love it because I have always had to find that perfect solution or the other way round I might never know. Although my Mum has an incredible capacity for solving complex ‘furniture in to pint pot’-conundra and is also a mahoosive puzzle-lover so perhaps it is genetic.
Now that we live in our own house, we have all but eliminated that regular change. No, we haven’t yet got everything how we want it to ultimately be. Yes, we are making do with much (?all) of the furniture we moved in with. But it has been almost two years now and I miss that variety. It is the spice of life afterall.
I have made a start. We recently switched our boys in to the bigger bedroom and my teenage daughter in to the ‘cosy’ box room. It was her choice and one I supported in the vain hope that it would give her less room for the mess! It has been like one of those darned puzzles with 8 tiles and 9 spaces that have to be shuffled in perpetuity until the correct image appears. Currently the boys’ bunk beds are disassembled and residing on the landing! They are sleeping on a mini-mountain of one double mattress and two singles. There was a fortnight where I couldn’t locate any of their trousers and we were frantically keeping those we could find in a laundry perma-cycle. Chaos.
Next job, decorate and define the boys’ new and very magnolia bedroom. All I can glean from my attempts to extract their preferences is that dinosaurs will feature. I also know that there are many items of furniture I am not prepared to replace so they must be rehoused. As such, you will find me Googling phrases like, “Ikea Kura hacks”, and “paleontology bedroom ideas” for the next month.
It isn’t just that I don’t mind rejigging things. Not even close. I derive such pleasure and a palpable sense of satisfaction from ‘solving’ a space. Eventually there is that smallest breakthrough thought that makes everything else fall in to place. It’s delicious. And when I haven’t moved house for a while (like now!), I miss it. I crave it. I need it.
I am sure someone out there with psychology credentials will attribute this to commitment issues or a troubled relationship with a parent. Maybe I’ve missed my vocation – Interior designer? Puzzle maker? Mathematicianº? The problem-solving element of my current role is the most appealing part for me. Being able to identify the crux of a client’s challenge and apply my knowledge of our system or the current regulations to guide them to a solution. It’s all that same part of my being that is sparked.
Long may it continue too. Now, who knows a psychologist who wants to have a poke around inside my brain?
* Massive jigsaw fan too.
º As if!
#writeto40 #problemsolving #jigsawpuzzles #interiordesign #changeisasgoodasarest
Next job, decorate and define the boys’ new and very magnolia bedroom. All I can glean from my attempts to extract their preferences is that dinosaurs will feature. I also know that there are many items of furniture I am not prepared to replace so they must be rehoused. As such, you will find me Googling phrases like, “Ikea Kura hacks”, and “paleontology bedroom ideas” for the next month.
It isn’t just that I don’t mind rejigging things. Not even close. I derive such pleasure and a palpable sense of satisfaction from ‘solving’ a space. Eventually there is that smallest breakthrough thought that makes everything else fall in to place. It’s delicious. And when I haven’t moved house for a while (like now!), I miss it. I crave it. I need it.
I am sure someone out there with psychology credentials will attribute this to commitment issues or a troubled relationship with a parent. Maybe I’ve missed my vocation – Interior designer? Puzzle maker? Mathematicianº? The problem-solving element of my current role is the most appealing part for me. Being able to identify the crux of a client’s challenge and apply my knowledge of our system or the current regulations to guide them to a solution. It’s all that same part of my being that is sparked.
Long may it continue too. Now, who knows a psychologist who wants to have a poke around inside my brain?
* Massive jigsaw fan too.
º As if!
#writeto40 #problemsolving #jigsawpuzzles #interiordesign #changeisasgoodasarest