Literally. A 700 sq ft rectangular apartment above a carport. On Fairmount Ave in the city of El Cerrito. It's a city just north of Berkeley, and we are ourselves, just alittle north of the earth...ground, dirt, whatever you want to call it. We live on a Perch, overlooking the neighbors fences, with a sweet view of the Bart coming in and out of it's station, day in, day out. All those people with places to go and things to do. That view has mesmerized Zozo since we moved in at 7 months old. His first word? Not Mama or Papa, but TRAIN, in baby sign language. A little tight in our place, but we deliberately chose this lifestyle. Reduce expense, reduce income. Living in a compact space = lower rent = Mama no work = time with Zo. Plus, "cozy" is what you call this nowadays, right?
So let's think outside our box.
In my PreZo life as an interior space planner, my brain is wired to always be whipping up the "Layout of the Month." Humm...the sofa here, the chest there, let's turn that around...no, no, no, scratch that...from the top!
With limited amount of living space, the options are actually limitless! A box is the best open canvas. Lucky dogs...us.
As Zo grew in our little abode, his mobility increased but the size of our living area did not. The challenge was to carve out a dedicated area for Zo's budding curiosities and lessons for them. He has a place to sleep, to eat, to play, to bathe, but no place to work. I know, I know. "Work" sounds so serious. I just mean things besides "Playing"....Practical life stuff, so simple, yet so hard at times. I wanted "work" to be just another part of life, not something to dislike or to push against.
So here we are...our very small "Great-room" was about to see it's most dramatic transformation yet! The dining room will find it's new home by the living room. Our home office is now snuggling nicely next to our bed in the master room. And the old dining space, a 6x10 rectangular box (60SF), is now Enzo's new classroom!
For the classroom set up "Breakdown"...click on "Z school" at the top of the blog page, thanks!
Looks like we are not the only ones...for a related article on this same theme:
http://wondertime.go.com/life-at-home/article/create-a-playroom.html
No comments:
Post a Comment