Family Room Sections

So here is more of my work on the OHC.

As I mentioned before, sometimes a project in one room will lead to changes in others. So here is what happened while working on Week 21/29/33.

I was making a floor plan for my vision of the perfect home. Now this didn't specify exactly where everything went but it did help create a layout for the big furniture items. I was working on my Family Room desgin. I have a lot of items I wanted in this room and there was only one way to do it. Segragating with furniture and the like to make zones for different stations in the room. So after doing that I now have 5 specific spaces in our lower level, not including the open space that is to be used for different functions.

First is a place for Sewing and Craft Items location. I have a table workspace that fits nicely in the corner, next to my laundry room door(which needs to be cleaned off as it is piled with fabric and a couple sewing projects). Most of my additional sewing supplies are in the lower cabinet space in the laundry room (which needs to be organized but I will leave that to the Laundry Room week when it come us). The location makes it easy to transition between the rooms. My sewing maching is on a table and is easily movable to the open space in room if I need to work on larger project. All of my basic supplies are in the table space under my sewing machine or in a organizer within arms reach. I have trash can specifically for fabric, that way it doesn't have to be emptied all the time since it will not smell. I also have additional lighting on the ceiling that is directed right at my sewing area making it easy to see and work.

This space is also used to store my Larping supplies and costume peices since most of those items were either made or modified by me. It works well with our other costumes for conventions that all hang in the laundry room on a closet bar that was installed just for that purpose. (I will get to that room later as mentioned above)

Second is our mini Library space. This one really changed the look of our lower level. We always felt that our bookcases should be up against the wall. However, when we realized we didn't have to do that, we moved our loveseat closer to the fireplace, which is where we wanted it to be, it made it easy to decide to place the bookcases back up against it. Then we will be moving a couple other bookcases from one of our spare rooms downstairs and rearraged the books so that they were easier for my huband to access and vuala. A Mini Library. It will be more of an isle of 4 bookcases, with 2 on either side, but it works.

Third is our Fireplace Cozi. I really don't know what else to call it. It is a loveseat, a carpet runner and our fireplace with all of its supplies, which include the tools, the wood and its carrier, as well as candles, scrap wax and scrap paper to start a fire. I would also include the mantle space above the fireplace that runs the entire lenght of the brickwork surrounding the fireplace. The brickwork is fairly substaintial considering how small the fireplace is, but it looks and feels great. The only space that needs some organizing or maybe just made to look organized is the scrap paper. The candles look appropriate, while the paper is in a couple of boxes stacked on top of each other. They are not too out of place but as this room has come together, this has become more obvious that it doesn't quite belong.

Fourth is Matt's Office. Really it isn't an office but his computer and his desk where he plays games. So more like his game space. But since there is a fileing cabinet right next to this area, it felt more appropriate to call it an office. He likes it. It is right next to his books in the mini library.

Lastly is the Excersize & Entertainment space. Right between our laundry room and bathroom is a wall space that fits Matt's armour perfectly. We have since put the TV on top of it and are working to place the electronics inside of it: DVD, VHS & PS2. This is great since we have a hard base DDR board to play and excersize on. It slides right behind the armour when not in use and stays put on our open wood floor space when we use it. We also have 2 guitars for Rock Band that also fit under the armour perfectly. We don't currently own a drum set for Rock Band but I would find a way to make it fit around this space. A couple of the drawers will be for PS2 games. The rest of the space is currently unoccupied, which is weird to have unused space. I suspect that sewing and crafts may use it for stoage or I will put the extra cables and cords we have in them, but we will see how it works out. Then there is a gazell (excersize machine) folded up in the laundry room that can easily slide out and be placed in our open space for use and then put back away.

Each Space is important and we try to remember to keep them clean and organized so that they don't bleed into each other too much, regardless how big or small the space is. But it is hard when I work on a sewing project that I can't finish in a day to convince myself to put everything away just so that I can pull it all back out the next day. However, I keep reminding myself that I may not be able to get back to it again until 3 days later or even a week late and that I need the space for other things. It also makes it better for me when we have unexpected guests because there is nothing to clean up and put away or apoligize for.

Putting everything away for a long term project is a concept that is a bit foreign to me since my parents were the sort of people to leave a project as it was to come back to without having to spend the time to re-arrange everything that was needed to work on it. However, it will be advantageous to make this my personal goal to keep putting this away until it is habit. Then I won't have to think about it, I will just do it.

 I look forward to seeing how it will all come together in the near future, hopefully before the new year.

Love