New Spaces!

The above picture is for Jon. Don't you want to come and fix that floor? Many years of use have left it sad, dry, stained, and wanting your loving touch! At least we don't have to put in a hardwood floor to exercise on!

So what is this all about? After months of writing the business plan, re-writing the business plan, searching for a location, finding a new location, and meetings with officials, we presented the plan for THE FIRE to a local lending organization to obtain funding for the move and expansion. On Friday December 5th we got the news that we were not approved. After a bit of heavy thought and weighing the options we came up with a new plan. (The last plan B put me back in school to get a teaching degree and into the public school system teaching math to high school students. Let's not go there today.) So, the new plan B was devised: Move the living room into the dining room, the dining room up to the craft area of the bedroom, and the living room becomes a new workout studio. The devising of the plan was rather quick. I think it took about 10 minutes to work out the details and envision the end result. The settling in of the plan took 48 hours. That is to say the first steps of execution were not laid until Sunday afternoon. Regrettably, I did not take any before photos. I thought about some during photos (that was when I remembered the camera). What we have is the end result photos. Really much more pleasant and less dust bunnies.

The first order of business was to empty out that dining room. The place looked like a green house with all the plants in for the winter. Now the guest room looks like a green house, more of that later and hopefully pictures too! Once the dining room was clear we were able to move the living room into it. I must say I prefer the new setting. It is cozy. The laptop has an easy Internet plug in and my favorite chair for knitting is located next to the table with the drawer full of knitting notion clutter (oddly no tape measure there, could be it was stolen to measure a client's waist). In this smaller space I will have to be mindful the projects do not get out of hand. That is to say they must stay at a limited number. Currently there are two socks in process (different pairs, different stages, different recipients), a scarf (not sure where to send that one), and the Sweater Girl for Kam. Fortunately my spinning basket still fits under the coffee table and does not need a new home. The hard part for this room was getting that 8 foot 150 pound couch in when the rug was already set. Kam's back is sore today if that is any indication of how it can be done! By the way, my favorite chair is the light green one. It is a rocker with old cushions in it. I don't want to replace them they are super thick stuffed with cotton wadding. I am not sure where to get such heavy duty cushions. The frame needs to be refinished and the cushions recovered. That may happen sometime in the future. I know I can recover the cushions. I know I can also refinish the chair frame. This is really the wrong time of year for that.


Isn't it cozy? Not too much cleaning to do in that room! Not much walking to be done in that room too. It is more of a sitting type space. Sit and knit. Sit and spin. Sit and read. Sit and write. Sit and watch a movie. Sit and talk to a friend. See, a sitting room!

Then we have the new studio. The floor is clear. I even swept away all the dust bunny families! There is enough room to accommodate up to 4 people working out at one time!! Soon I will be running classes. These will be fun classes. Sizzling Seniors, Fire Starters, Great Balls of Fire... Notice the mirror in the photo? It is old. It looks dirty when clean. It distorts the body and makes you look shorter. This is my idea of the perfect workout mirror. I am looking for one that makes you extra tall and skinny and another that makes you look all squiggly. (If you find one of either of these please drop it by. You can leave it on the porch if no one is here. Thanks!) Moon Kitty thinks this is a great new arrangement. He has been hunting mice and bird feathers. (No not real ones the stuffed ones that come from the pet store!) I have yet to ride the bike in its new home. I must add miles to the TdF today and there are still socks that have not gotten done for that gift giving day.

On the back wall we have a stereo. It is from the 70's. I want to convert it to XM radio. I like music while biking. I like music while writing too, but the computer is not wanting to play Pandora while I am doing other things on the net today. With a room this open we could have a dance party. I am also thinking the New Years Brunch will be easier with all this space for tables. It is OK with me if anyone wants to take our ideas and run with them. Big open rooms without furniture give options for lots of parties. I like parties. Kam likes parties. We like hosting parties. We like going to parties.
It is all so very new and exciting here. I am planning on new curtains in this room. We have discussed flame fabric. Kam is also thinking about making a new collage quilt. Can you guess the theme? Yes, fire. It will be a nice addition. The quilts help absorb some of the sound. Come on by and make some noise!