Simon Says - "Space for my hobbies"
Like Dear Sweet Leah, I have been having fantasies all day every day, to the point where it's tough to sleep at night because I'm thinking about all the fun stuff I will want to do with this house.
I preface this by saying that we will be what my mom calls "house poor." No money left after bills. This means that the fun we have will be in the house, not going out. The fun we will have will be based on how much we can do without spending more money than absolutely necessary.
1. The music room! I am a musician of sorts. I play bass in a band, I have a bunch of guitars and amplifiers, I have an organ that I modified into a computer desk and midi controller, I have a Hammond organ with a rotor amplifier, I have electronic drums, I have digeridoos, I have a sitar, I have microphones, I have a glockenspiel, etc, etc. Right now, they are crammed into the front part of the front room of our apartment. I can no longer really use any of the instruments, because I can't get to them. Soon, I will have a music room. The amps will line the walls, the guitars will hang from the ceiling, the organ be right under the window that overlooks the neighborhood... this is so incredibly exciting to me, I cannot explain the giddy anticipation that fills me. I can run my cables from guitar to recording console to computer, and not necessarily unplug them when I am done. This, my dearies, is big.
2. We won't be able to afford furniture. In order to fill this house, I will be learning how to build furniture. I love woodworking, but I've never had any sort of shop to call my own. Now I have a big-ass basement (well, not THAT big, but big enough for a table saw, a lathe, a router, a planer and jointer, maybe a grinder, a workbench, etc. Not that I can afford to buy all of these tools, but hooray for Craigslist, I see that I can get these babies for a song). I'm glad we are going craftsman, because I think that I can do that stuff. There are lots of straight edges, etc. Good place to start. As of now, I have made a pencil holder and a custom casing for a USB stick. The next step, naturally, is a set of drawers with custom inlaid mother of pearl, don't you think? (I have been told in the past that I have a bad habit of setting lofty goals for myself, thus setting myself up for failure. Here I go again!)
3. The Media Room! I am looking forward to having a home theater room that doesn't also double as the storage room for everything that I can't fit in the closet. It is with great earnestness that I hope for a media room that is relatively devoid of clutter, one in which I can sit and watch movies or listen to records, and not be surrounded by piles of crap.
4. The kitchen. THE KITCHEN! Dishwasher! Garbage disposal! Pantry! Nice countertops! Tons of cabinets! Ice maker in the freezer! In addition, there is a Polish fridge (Leah calls it the Mormon fridge--we are from different cultures, you see) in the basement. That's the one that you use for drinks, party platters when you have a party, etc.
5. Hot tub! Hot tub! Hot tub! Hot tub! Hot tub! Hot tub! Hot tub! Hot tub! Hot tub!
Hot tub! Hot tub! Hot tub! Hot tub! Hot tub! Hot tub! Hot tub! Hot tub! Hot tub!Hot tub! Hot tub! Hot tub! Hot tub! Hot tub! Hot tub! Hot tub! Hot tub! Hot tub!Hot tub! Hot tub! Hot tub! Hot tub! Hot tub! Hot tub! Hot tub! Hot tub! Hot tub!Hot tub! Hot tub! Hot tub! Hot tub! Hot tub! Hot tub! Hot tub! Hot tub! Hot tub! Hot tub! Hot tub! Hot tub! Hot tub! Hot tub! Hot tub! Hot tub!
6. The garden! We will have a reason to get up on Saturday mornings! I plan on having a nicely weeded garden, and what a garden it is! Big and beautiful, but kind of wild, in a sort of English garden way. And edibles! I picture getting up on Saturday, and heading out to the deck (one of the decks) to have a spot of tea and a crumpet while checking my email. Then to the garden, where I will weed for an hour, listening to classical music and wearing my sun hat. I'll then have a cup of fresh lemonade made by my faithful girlfriend, and we will shower before taking our morning stroll through the neighborhood. Idyllic? Oh yes.
7. Bike Storage! We can keep the bikes in the basement! Right now they live in our kitchen. That is not good.
That's all I have time to write now. We are busily working on our contingencies, so I have to go do that now. Plus carry on in my regular job. Oh, so much to do, and I sure want to get into that house!
I'm a lurker, I just wanted to say congratulations on getting a house! I got my first house a year ago and I still have trouble sleeping at nights when I think about projects too. It's a LOT of work... but so fun and so worth it.
Wow! That all sounds just thrilling. I can't wait to see pictures once you've moved in.
We just moved and I recommend getting someone to help you get rid of the "crap" you mentioned above. I actually caved and (gulp) hired an organizer to help me purge. It was much better -- faster and easier -- than doing it ourselves. Whatever you do, don't move stuff you "might want someday." I know this sounds obvious, but I just wanted to throw that out there.
Best of luck -- your house is beautiful!
Ah house poor. I know that well. It sucks. But in a really good way. We own a house! And it rocks! But bye bye plans to go to the Keys. We have a house.
It's tons of fun though.
I am sooooo jealous of the floors.
Okay.
I AM SO EXCITED! FOR YOU TWO! ACK!
I am rather envious of #'s 4 and 5. But mostly 5.
Yay for the house!
If I could, I'd store at least one bike in every room. For some reason the wife isn't keen on it. Alternately, I wanted to hang a small boat from our living-room ceiling. She won't go for that, either.
I do have an attached two-car garage and a detached 18x30 shed for all my space-eating hobbies.
Wow it sounds huge if you are able to dedicate rooms for music and media.
I'm so happy for you two.
Also, jealous. But not TOO much!
The pictures are awesome and the space for your hobbies is precisely the reason I want a house-- so I can have a studio that isn't a cramped storage room in the basement.
Congrats!