Thursday, October 16, 2014

Just Waiting for The Itch to Stop

I switched it back. Our living room, that is.



The other way looked ok in my blog header, but in Real Life? It felt too much like when Laura Ingalls thought of a way to cram (albeit cleverly) all the family's furniture into their tiny half-cabin, puzzle-piece-style, in Little Town on the Prairie. 

And I just couldn't take it anymore.

Both ways have their advantages, but this way, above, feels so right to me, kinda graceful like a painting, especially since I can sit comfortably upon the couch and stare at the river down the street. With the other arrangement, I had to face the back of the couch on my knees like a 6 year old. Not good.

Which, uh oh, means there is only one pleasant way to arrange my living room. Only one. Sigh. 

It's so easy for most people to talk about downsizing and fall all in love with those tiny houses springing up everywhere--but it's a whole other thing to actually live inside a small house built for munchkins while you've still got a home-loving heart and big, creative ambitions.

Tom and I are finding that out. I mean, for people who use their homes only as a place to sleep and wash, but are otherwise out and about hiking and exploring the big world out there, dancing the nights away and eating out on a daily basis, well, a tiny house would be a dream.

But we are so not those people. We are dedicated homebodies who still (unfortunately) love estate sales and dragging home odd, retro furniture like we did especially at our other suburb house. That's still our favorite sport.

Oh dear. We've both got that Three Year Itch to Move. Badly. Though maybe if we had some of that new-fangled stuff called storage, we'd feel differently. S-l-o-w-l-y we're coming up with ideas, though, there's still the thing that we can't have overnight guests who don't do stairs. sigh.

True, we need to find other hobbies, but we've seriously tried to do that these past 4 years, especially, and can think of nothing other than:

Estate sales.
Classic car shows (though we've not been to one in two years).
Visiting retro diners (which is becoming just a once yearly thing).
Country drives and car picnics (ditto).
The occasional theater movie.
Watching tv together (we're experts at that).

Yeah. We're pretty pathetic. But at least we can admit it.  :)

And I know. This, too, shall pass. A good, snowy old-fashioned winter always snaps us out of the desire to move like nothing else can. Heh.



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Autumn in New York! It really is as marvelous as they say. Cool, blowy, golden-hazed days.





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Remember Charlie and the Chocolate Factory? I found this short video about the boy who played Charlie, interesting. I'm always inspired when someone is making a living at what they love doing.


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Since giving up HGTV, I've thought a lot about the good old days of decorating and craft shows, ones like Carol Duvall, Kitty Bartholemew, The Home Show (loved that one!) and all these from The Discovery Channel. 

There's a Bible verse which says, "Do not say the old days were better than these," but oh my. That's a very hard verse to keep in this instance. :)

Though yay! For a Carol Duvall fix, I discovered today that I can go here. (And who knows? Perhaps YouTube has clips of these other shows.)

And for extra credit, give yourself 10 points for each of these shows you recall watching:

Lynette Jennings
Christopher Lowell
This Small Space
Decorating Cents
Curb Appeal
Changing Rooms
Room By Room
Small Spaces
Surprise by Design
Designing For The Sexes
Trading Spaces
While You Were Out
Awesome Interiors
Ground Force


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Home and Family on the Hallmark Channel can be interesting, but still, not quite like it used to be in the old days, imo.


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6 comments:

  1. I know exactly what you are feeling Debra! We have been in our down sized home 3 years this month and I am beginning to have the itch for something different. I still have too much furniture for this house but do not want to let go of anything else, a lot are family pieces. I love the neighborhood! So what to do? I do not know!

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  2. How wild, Elizabeth that you also have the three year itch! :) I keep hearing "just be content",but that's not as much fun as dreaming about moving someplace else. heh. What also keeps me here is our river and I feel pretty spoiled by that. Oh well! I think we'll both have to just work through this one step at a time, right? I'm glad someone understands, though, so thanks for commenting! Blessings, Debra

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  3. When we moved here 18 years ago I never dreamed I'd be ready to move on elsewhere. After all this is family land and my 'happy place' from childhood...and I have struggled with the idea that this is exactly where God means I am to stay. I have a fantasy life in which I move from small town to small town and rent a house and decorate it, learn the history of the house and place where I'm living and in six months or so move on to the next. My husband is aware of this and just shakes his head.

    And I too miss the days of decorating (different from remodeling and staging) on HGTV. I miss gardening shows and decorating shows and design on a budget.

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  4. Debra, I think "tiny abodes" are fascinating, but impractical for many of us. Maybe the deep desire for simplifying life is prompting people to pursue tiny homes. I'd love to know how long they last in those four small walls--especially if they have kids underfoot. I continue to look at homes that are for sale, and dream about moving or building a home, but at the end of most days, I'm all tuckered out, and glad to have our old home. It's dated, drafty, and the basement smells kinda funky, but it's paid for and pretty darned comfortable.

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  5. How cool you can see the river from your sofa. Downsizing is all relative; my friend's parents downsized from a 4,000 sq. foot home to a 2,000. Our house is spacious and less than 2,000 square feet. LOL

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  6. Rosemary8:44 PM

    Debra, thanks for the links to the Carol Duvall show. She made crafting look so easy and had so much enthusiasm. I remembered almost all of the shows on your list and really miss them too.

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