Inspire me with descriptions of your personal space

[marbel]

Most of us who hang out here share our home with other people.  Some have pets, too.   Some of us may have no space to call our own, within our own home.  

 

Lately I have been craving some private, personal space in my home.  We have a small house and there are no spare rooms.  I don't have a walk-in closet - in fact my bedroom closet is the smallest one in the house.  There is no place for a comfy chair in my room, either.  

 

So, I have a desk in the living room. It's my father's old desk, and it has great sentimental value for me.  There is a pretty lamp on it.  A radio to which I can hook up my phone for music.  BUT!  I have such a hard time keeping it neat.  Everyone (including me) tends to dump papers on it when we're clearing up the table for dinner. Library books and mail, too.  I want it to be clear and ready for me whenever I want to sit there.  I want to keep the drawers full of stationery (not like I write a lot of letters, but I might), have a few pretty things on it, but not enough that it's cluttered or too crammed for me to write there.  I want to do serious reading there - my weekly Bible study, nonfiction books that I want to take notes on, stuff like that.  I think that will help me be more disciplined in my reading. 

 

Tell me about your private space in your house, whether it is an entire room (I will be envious, but I can take it) or a corner somewhere. What do you keep there, how do you keep everyone else away from it... I'm just looking for inspiration to help me take better care of my little corner. 

Edited October 9, 2016 by marbel

[Alicia64]

Just an hour ago, I removed the bedside table sitting next to my bed -- and put a table/desk in the little space where I can work in peace. I've also had a desk in the middle of the living room (backs up to the couch) forever and I finally realized that I'm in the epicenter of everything.

 

I feel odd going upstairs and closing my door on the kids, but once in awhile I need it.

 

Alley

[Nan in Mass]

I have a desk in the livingroom. No matter what I do, it ends up as storage. I have tried for years. It is important because that is where we all dump important stuff, but it does not function as work space. The most consistant workspace I have is a lap board my father made me in college. That works as work space. It lives under the sofa. For personal relaxing space, I have a corner of the sofa or a chair or use my side of the bed. All of those work. The trick to making them work is to make someplace to set a cup of tea and to keep whatever book I am reading for escape there and remember to go there when I want to relax for a minute. Our galley kitchen is more or less mine, despite the fact that other people use it all the time. When in distress or unable to sleep at night, I wedge myself in between the wall and the stove. I,m not sure why. When my youngest started community college in high school and I began painting more, my husband walled off a corner of the bicycle shed for me for a studio. The ceiling is low and slanted. There are two windows that look out on woods. We painted the whole inside gloss white and put in 3 100 watt bulbs. There is a desk and chair, some hooks, and a long bench under one window that I can kneel ir sit crosslegged on if I want to work that way. It has a piece of white foam underlayment or whatever it is called. I store stuff underneath. Only painting stuff goes in there. I can listen to music or audiobooks. I was scared it wouldn,t work as a workspace when we were making it but it has turned out to be a great space, a place where it is easy to paint. Creative space can be tricky. Most of its success depends on building a habit of working there, but not all of it is. Some of it depends on factors that are more mysterious. The very brightly lit playhouse feel is somehow working for me. I don,t hang out there or use it for anything but painting or planning paintings, and the occasional made by me Christmas gift. Nobody goes in except me and the dog. Everyone else stands just outside the doorway. There isn,t enough floor space. It was weird having my own space at first, since I,ve always shared since the one semester I had a single in college. I got used to it, though. Painting, even when my husband and I are both doing it side by side, is a very private thing anyway.

 

Nan

[bolt.]

I don't have a space, but I do have a suggestion for your desk: fill it.

 

If you clear it off, then fill it in a decorative way, and leave no clear flat surfaces, it won't be treated as a clear flat surface. Imagine a row of books across the back. In the frontward area, nearly space out a few medium-large nic-nacks (a vase, a pretty pottery bowl of rocks, a candle or lantern, a globe, etc) plus a pretty pen tray, and your set of books/journal that you intend to use. Space the objects so there aren't any spaces large enough for papers or mail between them. When you close your main books, stack them nearly, and place one of the nic-nacks on the top of them.

 

This creates the impression of a decorative space with no room for junk.

 

Also, create an actual place where family papers and mail should go instead. I know it's just mess and it probably needs to be properly cared for: but if needs a holding place, it needs to be somewhere less annoying than your heirloom desk. Just pick somewhere. Somewhere else!

Edited October 9, 2016 by bolt.

[Closeacademy]

My space is behind the couch in the bay window area.  I have a small bookshelf for knitting books at one end, a desk with my computer and supplies, a file cabinet, a small weaving loom and a spinning wheel along the window.  Under the couch I keep boxes with yarn.  I kind of call it my command center because I take care of school, bills, and everything else from here.

[SKL]

I am single, so I have my own bedroom.  This is also my work office and my exercise room.  :P

 

It is the smallest bedroom in the house (other than what is now the guest room), but I don't care.  It is fine for me.  It has two windows that look over our street, which is a reasonably nice view with lots of trees.

 

It has a full-sized bed, dresser with mirror, and a taller dresser between the windows.  In one corner, under a window, is my favorite item: a bamboo moon chair, with the cushion covered with a flannel sheet so it fits the bedroom theme.  I used to sit there every morning and read (and listen to music) - before I had kids, LOL.  Now I mostly use it as a temporary junk collector, but I am not willing to give it up, because I plan to sit on it again someday!  I have some short white shelving units tucked away wherever they fit.  These hold all my (and my kids') personal papers, work files, and small gadgets like pens, chargers etc.

 

Just last week, I added my FitDesk between my bed and a window.  (This is where my office chair used to be, where I sat with my laptop.  I don't have a "desk.")  So I am sitting looking out the window and trying to find the right balance of movement and good posture while I work / surf.

 

My dressers and closet have way too much old stuff that I don't use, but I'm afraid to get rid of it, because I "might use it someday."  Or, my kids might want it someday.  I also have all my linens in the bedroom closet, because our linen closet was ripped out to make room for my kids' bedrooms.  Also my tools, gift wrapping stuff, suitcases, some files, laundry hamper, and the usual things you keep in a closet.  Since this closet is just average sized, you can imagine that every inch is packed, even though I'm not someone who likes a lot of stuff.  But, I just keep the closet doors closed, so I don't have to think about that.  :P

 

The only thing I don't like about my room is that I don't keep up with my filing as well as I used to.  I have piles of papers on my dresser and often other places.  I dislike clutter, so that really stinks, but I keep telling myself that I'm going to get it under control "soon."  :P

[SKL]

I actually don't manage to keep everyone else away from my space, but there are times when nobody else is home, so that's something.  :)

[TranquilMind]

I have my own desk area that no one touches.  In a house I am renovating, I will have an entire room with built-in shelves for my office.  Right now I have just half a bedroom.  It's enough, especially with the kids out most of the time. 

[Melissa in Australia]

I have a flower garden. It right in front of the house. It is fenced. Younger members of the family are only allowed in with permission. It is peaceful. Even on the days I cannot get time to walk through it, I can see it as I walk along the verandah and still get the feeling of calmness

[nd293]

Ds9 has a bunk bed, with the lower bunk directly on the floor. When my mother visited for a month I put curtains around the lower bunk so dd would have some privacy when she shared with ds. Now that's my special spot. It's cosy and feels private and has a little light for reading. We're moving soon and I'm claiming a room for myself. The older I get the more I want to have space (physical, mental) just for me.

[mom of 2 boys]

My husband made me a small desk that he attached right to the wall in our school room. To control the papers, I put a file cabinet under it and made a rule that every single piece of paper that I am tempted to just stick on my desk MUST immediately be filed instead. If I honestly don't know where to file the paper, then I make a new file folder for it. This has eliminated about 95% of the clutter from my desk. I learned that it literally only takes 10 seconds to actually file a piece of paper, and then when I need to find it, I know right where it is, instead of having to dig through a huge mess hoping to find what I need. I still struggle with papers that I "don't want to forget about" and end up leaving in plain sight on purpose (which is snowballing into a problem), but generally this system is slowly getting me on the right track! 

[Carol in Cal.]

I have a little writing desk.

It's very pretty.

We used to dump things on it.

Then I put it behind the sofa in the living room (it's right against the wall, and the sofa is spaced a couple of feet in front of it with its back to it.)  

We still dumped stuff on it.

Then I got a used piano, and put it on the same wall as the desk but closer to the 'access' end behind the sofa.

Now we no longer dump stuff on the desk but I never sit there because to get to it I have to climb past the piano.

But it's pretty and I'm glad I have it.

One of these days I will free it up.  No one will dump stuff on it anymore, so at that point I will be able to use it.  

[6packofun]

Just an hour ago, I removed the bedside table sitting next to my bed -- and put a table/desk in the little space where I can work in peace. I've also had a desk in the middle of the living room (backs up to the couch) forever and I finally realized that I'm in the epicenter of everything.

 

I feel odd going upstairs and closing my door on the kids, but once in awhile I need it.

 

Alley

 

I am planning on doing this as well!  Did you get a desk especially for the space?  If so, please share, because I'm looking for one!  :)

[Alicia64]

I am planning on doing this as well!  Did you get a desk especially for the space?  If so, please share, because I'm looking for one!   :)

 

I had a table/desk that one of the kids took, but never used. So I took it back -- ds didn't care. I needed a chair and found a great one at Good Will.

 

You can find a lot there.

 

Alley

[SparklyUnicorn]

Anything that is dirty and needs cleaning belongs to me.  Nobody else seems to want to have anything to do with it.

 

:closedeyes:

[marbel]

Thanks for all the replies!    For some reason, reading about other peoples' spaces made me happy.  

 

I actually sat at my desk today.  It was so nice.

 

 This is good advice: 

 

I don't have a space, but I do have a suggestion for your desk: fill it.

If you clear it off, then fill it in a decorative way, and leave no clear flat surfaces, it won't be treated as a clear flat surface. Imagine a row of books across the back. In the frontward area, nearly space out a few medium-large nic-nacks (a vase, a pretty pottery bowl of rocks, a candle or lantern, a globe, etc) plus a pretty pen tray, and your set of books/journal that you intend to use. Space the objects so there aren't any spaces large enough for papers or mail between them. When you close your main books, stack them nearly, and place one of the nic-nacks on the top of them.

This creates the impression of a decorative space with no room for junk.

Also, create an actual place where family papers and mail should go instead. I know it's just mess and it probably needs to be properly cared for: but if needs a holding place, it needs to be somewhere less annoying than your heirloom desk. Just pick somewhere. Somewhere else!

 

There are places for mail, receipts, etc to go, but it's quicker to just dump it all on the desk.  It happens when we are getting the kitchen table ready for dinner, and there is no time to actually deal with the stuff.  I am very good at getting rid of unneeded mail, but there is stuff that needs to be dealt with.    And yes, we are kinda sloppy.  Filing is boring.  

 

[kroe1]

I work out of town and live in an RV while I am out. So, technically, I have my own private potty and microwave and bed.

[Wheres Toto]

I've enjoyed reading about everyone's spaces and it's inspired me to work harder to find my own space.  I don't have anything right now.  Our house is really really really small and we don't have any free space at all.

 

Right now I kind of have a small area in the corner of the living room.  I have a recliner chair, a small table with lamp, and some shelves to keep my buju supplies, books I'm getting ready to read, my papers for the kids school.  I'm working on fixing that up more but it's not really a personal space.  I'm literally two feet from dh in his chair, it's the only place for dh and I to watch tv so it's not quiet unless no one else is home.  I will put on my headphones when he's watching football or something else I'm not interested in and that helps a little but walking anywhere in our house involves walking right by my chair (like inches away).  There aren't a lot of options for rearranging the living room but I'm hoping to convince dh that the kids can have their computers set up in their bedrooms when we make our annual attempt to fit the Christmas tree.  And maybe they can stay there once the tree comes down.  That would give me a slightly out of the way corner I might be able to stick a desk in.

 

Other Possibilities:

Our bedroom - it's extremely tiny because Dh basically built walls around our bed for privacy as the kids came along.  There's about two feet of space on the side with the door (at the end of that space) while the rest touches the bed on three sides.  In that space are an over-the-bed shelf unit with plastic drawers under it for some of my clothes and the hamper.  I could possibly condense those down/put some of my clothes in DD's room (she has the biggest room because she shared with her big sis) and stick a small desk there.  Problem is this room doesn't have heat or AC going to it so it is super cold in the winter and hot in the summer (which is why we haven't stuck one of the kids in there now that we're down to two of them at home).

 

I have an old fashioned secretary/hutch with a fold-open front.  I've thought of setting that up as my desk but it's right in the path between kitchen and living room so we'd have to find a new place for it.

 

I tried for a little while to set up the dining nook table as a desk/workspace but it's the only flat surface in the house so ends up with stuff on it all the time.  Not necessarily a dumping group for junk, but things that legitimately need a place temporarily.  It's where I test and gather stuff I need for 4-H meetings, it's where I keep work supplies, or paperwork I need to do.

 

Unfortunately the best options involve adding on to our house, and I'm not sure how likely that is anytime soon.