When going from 1635 square feet to 1134 feet, empty rooms are filled up very quickly!
Some things really shrunk - the living room for example, went from 40 feet long to 23 feet.
Some things stayed the same - that will save us from insanity! Hubby and I are not happy without our books. So these 2 bookcases in the living room with a window in between, and a whole wall of books in one of the bedrooms moved with us. We both agreed to put some books away. So in the same space we now also fit the cook books, office supplies and a few other things.
You still see some boxes in the pic:)
Some things got bigger. Hubby made this easel from oak wood. It's big enough to hold 10 foot paintings on there. You can see that it almost reaches the ceiling. So I am the proud owner of this beautiful piece of equipment!
We have one desk less, where I used to put all my painting and cleaning supplies on. What to do? If you look behind the big shelf, you see some plastic bins on rollers, where I could put most of my stuff in.
Some things just were rearranged, such as my plants. They are spread out now. This house has less light, so I put them at places where they can soak up lots of light. The dining table moved to the kitchen, and my paintings will have a better place, which I will show in one of my next posts. Happy that my lipstick plant is such a trooper and blooming for the second time this year!
And the rest, mes amis, is to be honest, still a mess!
28 comments:
As in all things there is the good side and the bad side. :) I really love that easel. What a beautiful one it is. I love oak. Hubby is VERY good!! I have to say I love my books, music and plants so even if I had to get rid of other things, I would still find place fr these. :)
Ah books, I love books and have a large collection as well, but do not read much at this time. Mine are all read and there are a few collector types in the collection.
I like your easel, but could never use one with my water colors (too much dripage).
Plants! I understand the light issue, I had to get a grow light for the winter months tho.
God luck on your rearrangements!
So far it all looks lovely. As regards books I have become very practical. I don't want dust and sun to get to them, so they're kept on shelves in glass window covered bookcases.
That is one fantastic easel Jeannette; lucky you to have a hubby that can build one! Have never seen a lipstick plant but it's both beautiful and curious.
Well you are getting settled then! It looks fine already! Congratulationd with the new house! Have a happy time together.
Jeannette...it looks good to me! LOVe that Lipstick Plant! Are you happy with the move? :)
Wow, it barely looks like the same room. I like what you've done. Unpacking in a new space should be fun and not rushed.
It was nice to have a look inside your new house. The bookcases look nice and you sure have one heck of an easel. That's for very serious artists. I know you will come to love your new house very well. You're giving it those special touches. Gezelligheid!
That is quite an impressive easel - stupid question, but how do you reach the top of the painting on that easel??
and still the 'high' theme - I've always wanted floor to ceiling bookshelves with one of those rolling ladders.
As you see, my time in Holland has had a lasting impact on daily life, even though I've been living here for more than 20 years:)
Yes, hubby is very good, and wish he would go more into teaching his craft, but he likes doing it himself too much!
Joey,
I understand because your eyes are still recuperating - hopefully they'll get back to full use, my friend.
Question: where do you buy a grow light? Because in the winder, even in Calif. there are many days without sun.
Duta,
Yeah, I haven't shown the messy sides yet, Duta LOL. My,your solution for your books is practical! It might be very costly for me, since I have many big odd size books.
Jane,
My kids have a joke: if dad builds it, it will hold up for 300 years!
The lipstick plant originates from African and seems to be a distant relative of the African violet. There are blooming and non-blooming varieties (Aeschynanthus). In Africa they grow in the wild, so I've been told by a bloggie friend.
Reader Wil,
Thank you Wil! You would say, a smaller house is easier to clean up, but I guess I'm so used to space that I still scatter all my things around LOL
Carol,
Thank you, I love indoor plants, now especially when I don't have a yard anymore (I do have a deck though and plan to have potted plants).
Still adjusting to the move, Carol. My old neighborhoods were always family oriented - kids playing in the streets. But here it's upscale, single and couples mostly without kids - which makes the atmosphere very different.
Gaelyn,
Glad you like what I've done with the space. Wish I had more of your disposition about unpacking! I am the driven kind who does not relent till it's all done:)
Irene,
Thank you Irene - I am very proud of hubby building that. He has seen me painting on stage, so he knows painting is "my life."
You made me smile -gezellig is an atmosphere that you can't guite translate. An American friend who has lived for a decade in Holland once told me, "Gezellig, the Dutch know how to do that." She is right - that's very important for me:)
VioletSky,
No, it's not stupid:)-thanks for asking! If I would have a 10 foot painting, I would use a ladder, or those rolling platforms you can raise in house buildings. I probably would roll the easel unto the deck, since I would have more space there.
The big shelf to put the painting tubes and brushes on can be cranked up and down with a handle (it's on the side, but you can't see it in this pic). Hope I made it clear.
Things are coming together!
Looks like you have a lot of wonderful books on those shelves.
Jen,
Yes, it has taken a lot of interruptions, but things are finally coming together LOL Individual interests of each of us need a lot of shelves to cover a lot of subjects:)
It all looks lovely Jeannette. Always takes a while to get organized in a new home doesn't it? We are already looking to the time when hubby retires in a few years, and are trying to downsize right now. That easel is a wonderful one by the way. Your husband must have a gift!
Denise,
Thank you Denise,
Has been 15 years since we moved, so I had forgotten about all the ins and outs that go with moving. Good you are already preparing for the task, then you don't have to go through so much stuff later!
Because of all the comments about the easel, I'm thinking about a specific blog post about it:)
Well, it is all looking very organised you must have been working hard. Like you we like to have all our books around us, I think we have books in nearly every room, whilst we have been reorganising and decorating our upstairs rooms we've had them packed away and I'm so relieved that they are now back in place:)
Rosie,
Had to smile about your books, because you work in a library, right? (that was my first one-year job :) ). Yes, when you have more than one story in your house, it's easy to postpone things. In Holl. we had a split level home, but as long as we've lived here, we had the whole house on one story (more common here).
I agree with Irene - it is very gezellig! I suppose it is a change to adjust to a smaller space but I hope you will be very happy here, you have a beautiful easel to paint on and all your books have a good home on those great shelves. I haven't been great at either blogging or reading other blogs much lately so it is nice to catch up.
Good luck with settling in!
Catherine
Catherine,
Haha, you can't be married to a Dutchman and not know the word gezellig LOL.
For Dutch standards this would not by any means a small house, but our former living room was 40 feet long, which is now slashed to 23 feet:)
Yesterday I tried to explain to my brother (in Holl) what a gated community is -they have many here in Southern CA - and I couldn't quite make him understand that it's not an old folks home as he calls it:)
Hi Jeannette - we must be online simultaneously as your reply came in almost immediately. I replied to your comment on my post over on my blogpost on Shakespeare.
I do know what a gated community is, we have some in Ireland but they are mostly apartments and not houses, though there are lots of housing estates. Are they mainly for security reasons?
as for the size, 23 feet is big by my standards, as our living room is about that long, maybe our sunroom is about 20 feet long and 15 wide, not sure, you can get an idea of its size by looking at the post of the view from my laptop, the previous one I think.
40 feet would be very big I think. What I loved about Dutch houses first times I was in Holland was the open view into the houses, after coming from the land of net curtains it was quite literally an eye opener! I loved the abundance of plants as well, and the knick-knacks, which didn't look at all cluttery or untidy. Houses were meant to be looked into I always feel. Here I don't have net curtains and never draw the curtains so people can see right into our room, and I love the view from the street into our house, it is full of plants too.
So gezellig is dat ook!
Catherine.
Post a Comment