Rooms

Our bedroom is moderately sized -- about 13 feet by 14.5. It's not jammed packed with things, but there are no empty spaces -- not on the walls, which have five pictures; not on the floor, which has a bed, two night tables, a bureau, a bookcase, a small chair that serves more for holding clothes than sitting, a hamper, a pile of storage boxes (atop which is a wastebasket), and some other small things. And under the bed, too. It's not crammed, and I'm sure that we could eke some more space out -- say, put in shelving above the hamper, or - well, something.

I've always liked big bedrooms, though. When we've stayed in hotels that had spacious bedrooms, I've liked it; when I once sat on her bed while talking with a friend at her house, I didn't know which I liked better - the idea of being on her bed (thus fueling the occasional daydream), or the fact that her bedroom was big -- about fifteen by twenty-five, easily. So when I think of things that we could do to this house to make it long-term sustainable, moving this bedroom to a different space so that we can use this one to house an elevator was an easy idea to accept -- and since the space that came immediately to mind was something installed right over the garage, which space is, itself, 21 feet deep by 23 feet wide, it was an easy step to thinking of all that new space as being a bedroom. Oh, storage, too, but mostly: bedroom. Even practical considerations -- how will you keep from filling that space up, too; how will you ensure that there is a strong cross-breeze (the lack of which being my primary objection to this bedroom); how will you like paying for all that space -- don't entirely dissuade me. If anything, I find myself wondering if that's enough space -- gee, we are contemplating putting an extension on the garage to serve as a storage room, that's another fourteen feet; maybe we should include that in the bedroom, too.

It's about then that sanity begins to return. Do I want to pay for all that carpeting, or hardwood, or whatever? Do I want to pay for the room, itself, or the increase in air conditioning and heating and whatnot? In other words, just as we came to the conclusion that any new house, whether built by us or purchased, might not be exactly what we wanted, I've come to the realization that a big bedroom isn't, in and of itself, a desirable thing. It's only good if it makes desirable things possible.

Which doesn't, however, mean I'll stop thinking about it.