The King and I moved into our current house when we outgrew our starter castle. Two young(ish) people with the usual assortment of starter-outer stuff had become two not-as-young(ish) people with two toddlers and a rapidly expanding amount of stuff. Rather than continue to make the boy-child sleep in what was basically the hallway, we pulled up stakes and moved. We gained a bedroom for the boy-child, if not much more in the way of storage space.
Years passed and what was once cozy for two
adults, two small children, a kitten, and all their stuff, became
claustrophobic for two adults, two teenagers, a full-grown cat, and
all their stuff. So we added on, expanding by approximately 860
square feet. And one teenager left the roost.
In a time of
down-sizing and “tiny houses,” we added the equivalent of two
tiny houses to our already regular-size house and decreased our
population density. And there still isn't enough room for
all our stuff.
The worst part is that we haven't added
any new stuff since the
remodel. In fact, we've gotten rid of stuff. While I was
packing up stuff for storage I sorted, donated and threw away stuff
we didn't use or need. As well as stuff I was tired of packing. I
repeated the process when I started unpacking stuff from
storage – sorting, donating and throwing away stuff I realized I
hadn't missed while it was in storage. As well as stuff I was tired
of unpacking.
We have twice as many cupboards in the
new kitchen, and yet I still have pots, pans, dishes and gadgets
sitting on counters (and in totes) waiting to find a home. The closet
in our master bedroom is almost half-again as big as our old closet,
and yet we still have totes and bags of clothes waiting to be put
away.
The Little Prince, who is so
low-maintenance he could subsist on air alone, moved into a room
twice the size of his old room . . . and immediately filled up the
larger space. Granted, his drum set, which once took up a big part of
the “toy room” now takes up a big part of his bedroom.
Unfortunately this did not (surprise?) free up any space in
the room formerly known as the “toy room,” presently known as the
“I don't know where else to put this stuff room.”
The only room in the house that doesn't
seem to be overloaded is The Princess' room. I suspect that is
because she has moved out of our house and into an apartment at
college . . . where her room is filled with stuff. And to be honest,
here at home her closet, bookshelves and the space under her bed are
filled with stuff . . . that wouldn't fit in the “I don't know
where else to put this stuff room.”
Evidently I had developed some
seriously next-level, Tetris-master type storage/stacking skills
pre-remodel, when we first realized we were space challenged. In
theory, what I need to do now is figure out in which of the remaining
un-unpacked totes those skills are packed.
Because I shudder to think what might
happen if I had to pack everything up again while we add on even more
space.
