thinking about space…

I’m looking around and thinking about how to change or beautify the decorating scheme of our home.   I’m thinking about space.  Mom’s of many do this a lot, I think.   Interspersed in thoughts of “simplifying” and decluttering, I think we look around every day and say something like, “I’m sure there’s more space in this house― somewhere!” And then I think, hmmmmm, how can I get a bit more creative with windows, bookshelves and bunkbeds –bcz that’s pretty much the list of more prominent items or space grabbers in our home. I initially think perhaps we ought to downsize –the stuff, not the house(!!!).  Maybe get rid of some lots of the books—I sure don’t want less bunkbeds, that’s for certain.  And I wouldn’t want to trade windows for wall-space.  Then I think perhaps, no, maybe we ought to just get taller bookshelves.  Then I realize we cannot have taller shelves bcz they wouldn’t fit in the upstairs –both around the tight turn of the stairs themselves and in each of the low-ceilinged attic bedrooms.  Besides, the bedrooms are filled, with no space to spare, with bunkbeds and shelves already.  And, downstairs, well… windows.  But maybe… enough room to squeeze in another bookshelf or two.  The way we figure it, there’s always enough room for more children, more books and more teacups.

Full bookshelves do provide for interesting decor, however.  If the books are read and reread then the decorating scheme changes as the books are replaced on a shelf other than their original location.  But oddly, one bookshelf never becomes or looks sparse.  They are all overloaded, but that overloading is never due to one or another shelf’s diminished volume of books.  I don’t know how that happens.  And I don’t know how exactly we came to have all these books.  No, wait.  I do know… and it’s not just eBay and Vision Forum.  And we don’t own the ever changing mass of library books though they have a designated spot.

I don’t know where I was going with this, but initially I was thinking about making new coverings for the boys’ bunkbeds.  I s’pose they ought to be painted, too –the bunkbeds, never the boys.  So, a friend and I were discussing how the “bargain bin” at Macy’s always contains king-sheet sets and how I could get a few of those and use them for making duvet covers for each of the beds –coordinating navy, cranberry, and hunter greens by sewing tops and bottoms of different sheet colours together.   We thought of how we could make covers and sew extra large buttons onto the blankets/duvets and buttonholes in the top of the duvet covers so the duvets don’t slip down and around in the covers.  What a sweet gesture that would be and they’d (well, maybe) be enthused to keep their room tidier.

I then thought if I did that, then that same sweetness would be required at the other end upstairs as the girls’ bunkbeds would need new coverings also.  Then I thought… well, if I do that then maybe we ought to paint upstairs, too. But then I thought of all the bookshelves that line the hallway and in each of their rooms. Hmmm.  Maybe I will just go refill this teacup and think on this sweet plan a bit longer.