Monday, September 21, 2009

How ingenious is that!


You have to agree that this fits with my blog persona!

There simply is not enough room for a wardrobe upstairs and I am loathe to set something up downstairs even though that is where the bathroom is. So I bought two lengths of 22mm dowel from Bunnings: one was 1.8m and the other 2.4m. Then wedged them into the V of the window.

The one that rests on the brick of the shoe rack is the most "fragile": but I am training myself not to be too bull-at-gate on that side. It is a challenge to change the bedding, but I am up for that! Kirsten reckons the clothes should not get too dusty if I cycle through them on a regular basis.

When you get your breath back, let me have your thoughts ... gently, of course!

10 comments:

Joan Elizabeth said...

Well I think it is totally ingenious. Pretty bad really that it either doesn't have a built-in or room for a wardrobe However, I reckon I would have settled for squishing the clothes a little tighter (or put out of season ones in a suit case) and settle for hanging space on just one side to make the bed a little easier to manage.

Julie said...

ooo ... had not thought of that, putting them in a suitcase.

Lots of older places dont have wardrobes built-in. This is not really old ... 20 years maybe. It is just the shape and the size. As you can see the double bed is a squeeze.

I will give it til Christmas and see if it is giving me the dry rots, viz I keep knocking the shoes everywhere!

My intention is to stay here about 4 years. We'll see how I cope with the summer in that A frame. There is a humidifier down here that I will get Alastair to lug up the stairs for me.

Anonymous said...

I don't see why this wouldn't work. Small spaces are a nice intellectual challenge. I actually lived in one place that was 400 square feet total (and I think they lied about that). But it's sort of like working a puzzle, isn't it?

As to summer temp in the upstairs, have you considered a swamp cooler? Many people in my area use them; they're much greener and cheaper than air conditioning.

Your sheets are lovely. What's the book?

Joan Elizabeth said...

I know about no built-ins ... my house has none but I have wardrobes inherited from my parents, grandparents and in-laws as well as a storage room under the stairs so have storage covered (at least until hubbie accumulates more junk).

Dunno what type of bed you have but rollaway storage under the bed is also a good idea for shoes or out of season gear. I've done a lot of living in flats :-)

Endless Waterfall said...

You could always get some of those plastic bags that you suck the air out of? They are great for storing stuff such as bedding & clothing that you are not using for a while. And it keeps them safe from moths and the likes?

Perhaps you can stick the bricks and planks of wood together for a more stable shoe rack? Or double up the number of bricks and then glue them to the wood...

Julie said...

Karin : I will do a post on my humidifier in the morning.

The book has just been released. It is a analysis of two Australian Prime Ministers, Keating ('91 - '96) and Howard ('96 - '07) and is called "March of Patriots" written by a well respected journalist, Paul Kelly. My daughter and I went to an interview he gave to Maxine McKew (a TV journalist turned politician, and the one who turfed Howard out of his own electorate in 2007!) in the city on Friday night. Love that sort of intellectual challenge. Shall take the book to Tassie with me on the weekend. Plus a couple of others!!

Julie said...

Marieke: A friend does that with her out-of-season stuff - puts it into vacuum bags.

I could construct the shoe-rack more solidly ... but that might only mean that when I knock it, it really really hurts. I will give myself time and see how the whole thing works. I have been here 6 weeks now, and like it more and more each passing day.

Julie said...

Joan: The hassle with this bed is that it is massive. I went for comfort when I probably should have compromised! This one has a post underneath in the middle which is a bit of a pain. I have a foam mattress under there for when relies and friends come to stay. However, I will check out that sort of horizontal chest-of-drawers. So long as things are not too big and too heavy. There is very little storage in this cottage but I am getting used to divesting myself of things. I have some paper boxes stored in the wingss under the eaves. Other than that, I have downsized considerably which is no bad thing.

Martina said...

Yesterday I read this posting and all the comments and was wondering why we Germans do not have built-in wardrobes.
Today I was at the Mathildenhöhe and learned that for the First Exhibition 1901 Joseph Maria Olbrich designed the Wilhelm Deiters' House with a built-in wardrobe. Critique found this "too much English Yachting style" and since then there are no built-in wardrobes in German houses. Don't know if this is true but our tourguide said so. Hm, thought this interesting ... ;-)

Regarding your wardrobe: besides dust what about ultraviolet light? Even here in not so sunny Germany clothes' colours fade when not in a wardrobe/commode etc..

Anonymous said...

How creative! Why didn't I think of something like this? My house was built in the 50's, before people believed in closets.