Saturday, June 11, 2011

Menopausal Stoners Temporary Headquarters in the 'Hood

I've made a diagram of the new apartment on graph paper. The furniture is made from scraps of paper from a lavender gift bag that I got yesterday from one of the kids. There used to be a jar of chocolate chip cookies in the bag from Sarah Beth's Kitchen. There are a few cookies left, and the jar itself is great for cotton balls or something - so that was a great little present for the teacher.

I'm not quite sure how to arrange the furniture yet.  I had planned on using the front room as the living room, but I think that the way the furniture would need to be arranged would fuck up my plan to have the sunbeam falling across the sofa for perfect winter afternoon naps.   If the sofa is on the east wall, the sunbeam will hit the sofa in exactly the same way that the sunbeam here in the marital residence hit the sofa before somebody built a dang 15 story building in the path of the sunset.


Now that I made little purple squares to represent all the furniture, it looks like Buzz Kill's Barcalounger is going to be in the sunbeam if it's going to be situated so you can kick back and watch TV.  This chair is significant because it's written into the divorce that I have to keep Buzz Kill's Barcalounger in good condition until such time as he had a place for it or we sold the apartment - which ever came first.  The minute we close on this apartment, I could put the chair in the dumpster and be within my legal rights, but everyone agrees that this is one comfortable chair.  Everyone except my mother.  She hates that chair.

I don't know, it may be a better idea to make the front room my room. Then the sunbeam would fall across my own beautiful new bed.  It's a little public because it is off the main living area which will be my library/dining room/office. There's a solid wood door, however, so it's really no bid deal.


Here's the reverse view - looking from the room that may or may not be my bedroom toward the hall.


The front door is just through the arch.  It's a nice sized room, like 14 x 15, and Dad will put a ceiling fan in there to pull in the AC from the front room.  I think my table will go into that sunbeam there.  It's a white 45" round table and matching chairs from Crate & Barrel.  It won't be centered under the fan since I've got to fit my office stuff in there, too, but I don't care.  Much.  I still have to get a new desk, though, since right now, my office is built into a gigantic hall closet.  I've loved this little cubby, but from a Feng Shui stand point, the boxes   on the shelves over my head are oppressing my creativity.  The whole point of the new Library space is to create a room of my own where I can write that book I've been threatening to write all these years.  I'll probably do The Menopausal Stoners Guide to Parenting first, then tackle the memoir.  I find the idea of writing that memoir alarming on many levels - but now that I'll have all my money from Buzz Kill, I don't have to worry about him giving me a hard time about my writing anymore.

About a year ago he said something about me saying shit about him on the internet - and I promptly said I hadn't said a damn thing about him on the internet.  PENolan may have said something about Buzz Kill, but that is also well within my legal rights. Besides, I'm pretty sure rambling on a blog doesn't count as Publishing anyway.  In my mind, if you're not getting paid, you haven't been published.  Not really.

If I make the front room into my bedroom, then I'd make the back room into a den.  There's all kinds of room in there, so the Barcalounger would easily fit.  Velvet thought he might like that room for himself since it has a "smoking porch."  It's really the fire escape, but since there's a door leading out to a large landing, friends can  sit on the stairs to the roof when they feel like smoking cigarettes.  I imagine that if anybody's smoking weed in there, they'd just open the door.  That pipe by the fire escape door is the radiator.


Then Velvet would go in the middle bedroom which has the smallest closet.


I was going to use this one for myself since it has the most flexibility for furniture arranging - but the good thing about me being in the front and Velvet being in the middle is that there would be no privacy issues when Cupcake sleeps over.  And we all know that Cupcake will be sleeping over.  Now that I think about it, if we set up the apartment that way, it would sort of be like the front is my space and the back is his space, with the kitchen and the bathroom in the middle.

I'd still rent his room out to traveling actors and production assistants when he's away at Tree Hugger, and the den could be an additional guest room.  And it will be just that next week when my dad is here.

The kitchen is minimal.  The appliances are nice enough, but there are limited cabinets and virtually no counter space.


The good news is that the opposite wall is totally empty.  I suppose the landlord believes it's an eat-in kitchen.  I'll be putting the dresser we pulled out of the trash some years ago in there.  Once my mom cleaned that dresser up, it was perfect for storing my table linens and silver, and now it can provide additional counter space since the dish drainer will have to go on the counter by the sink.  I'll put two tall sets of shelves in there, too, for open storage.  Soon, I'll get one of those little rolling carts with butcher block top to go in the space between the stove and the window so there will be a place for one of my vintage oscillating fans.  The way I cook, there totally has to be a fan in the kitchen.

10 Comments:

Blogger Jerry Critter said...

It a nice looking place. I like the floors.

June 11, 2011 at 7:06 PM  
Blogger mac said...

It's nice. The arch adds a lot. The kitchen may be small, but it appears to be in very good shape. It looks new.


If it were me, I'd take the biggest bedroom. The kid will be gone a lot, he won't be needing it as much.

June 11, 2011 at 7:13 PM  
Blogger Jaliya said...

Sunbeam vectors + furniture placement = critical! Absolutement, especially if your home includes cats ...

Honey, I love how you tell a story. Especially the one about the chair. I have such a chair. It was 'the Guy Chair' when I was married. It's what I blob into when I watch a movie or OD on *The West Wing* so my integrity stays intact.

The Guy Chair is ripped to shreds, thanks to the cats. It's butt-ugly ... and it's cozy. One of my kittones loves to jump onto my chest and knead when I'm serene in the Guy Chair. And dammit, I still call it the Guy Chair ... Actually, it's fine by me, I realize. When the day comes that I have another guy in my life to consort and cuddle with, the Guy Chair'll go into the dumpster, or I'll leave at the front door of the man who used to claim it as his.

Ooh! -- a writing nook. Yum.

Glad to read that your dad's coming to visit after you move. There's nothing like blessing your new home with the presence of people you love :-)

I like the front-middle-back arrangement re: privacy. Makes sane sense. ;-D

My kitchen's the size of a postage stamp, with 1/4 that being counter space. Good thing I'm a minimalist ;-D You'll get used to it ...

xo

June 11, 2011 at 7:18 PM  
Blogger PENolan said...

Jaliya - everybody needs a chair like that. Everybody needs sunbeams, too.

mac - He'll be happily installed at Hookah House at the end of August, but he's leaving the Xbox here. Could a successful semester be on the horizon?

If he's in the middle room, there will be enough room to store all the stuff I'm not even going to unpack - like my china and crystal, the Christmas ornaments, Curriculum books, etc etc etc. I'll be looking to buy a place after the first of the year. Smaller - which means one more downsizing, which I'm thinking is a good thing.

Thanks, Jerry. And nice to see you

June 11, 2011 at 8:34 PM  
Blogger Leslie Parsley said...

I think it looks neat as hell. Shucks, you can always rearrange furniture - several times or according to the seasons. I have two bookshelves in my small kitchen - cookbooks in one and cookware in the other. I agree that you should take the big bedroom, so there - that's settled. ; )

June 11, 2011 at 8:53 PM  
Blogger PENolan said...

Leslie - I knew if I polled the delegation, we'd get it all sorted out before my dad gets here tomorrow night.

June 11, 2011 at 9:04 PM  
Blogger Makropoulos said...

Yeah, those floors rock! Kitchen looks pretty nice too. Enjoy moving in!

June 12, 2011 at 12:26 AM  
Blogger Cali said...

Nice apartment! Quite spacious by NYC standards. It looks like a great spot to catch your breath and plan your next move. I love the hardwood floors, too. I only wish I could come to the housewarming!

June 12, 2011 at 5:14 AM  
Anonymous dissed said...

GREAT floors. Furniture can be moved. Rooms can be switched.

I'm sitting beside your mother on the recliner issue.

June 12, 2011 at 10:55 AM  
Blogger Susan Tiner said...

Your place is beautiful. I love the idea of prioritizing your work space, above all, and also keeping in mind the velvet/cupcake boundaries.

It's really all about how you want to spend your time alone and with those you love.

Don't worry about Feng Shui, just your own personal flows.

June 14, 2011 at 9:02 PM  

Post a Comment

Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]

<< Home