Rearranging. Again.

I've been accused of constantly rearranging rooms, furniture, pictures, whatever, when we lived in our house and rightly so.  CountryBoy would come home from work and things would be in a different spot.  I would continue to arrange and rearrange until I felt the space/room was being utilized in the best possible way with what we had and yet comfortable with that 'lived-in' cozy look.

Now that we're living in a small space, a 31 foot 5th wheel to be exact, one needs to be willing to change things up in order to best utilize the space.

There's not much that can be done with furniture placement but how I use the furniture that is in there and the cabinet space available is what I take in to consideration.

When I joined CountryBoy out west almost six months ago I insisted on bringing a small desk that I would use as my sewing table.

CountryBoy wasn't sure it would fit but I knew I could/would make it work.  (That's just the way I am when I get something in my head *smile*!)

I put the table/desk in front of one of the windows where the recliner used to be and moved the recliner closer to the end of the couch leaving a direct, but narrow, walkway from the bedroom/bathroom to the kitchen.  (I never liked the recliner there anyway.  It was in the way of getting in and out of the door and you couldn't see the TV from that angle.)

The table/desk fits well in this corner with the kitty box tucked nicely out of the way.

As I sat on the couch opposite the sewing area this past weekend doing some crocheting (image that!) it dawned on me that I am not utilizing this space very well.

After all, I've not used the sewing machine in a while since I am busily crocheting items for my Etsy store.  But, I DO use my computer on a daily basis several times a day and sometimes a good bit of the day if I'm editing photos or doing some design work.

My current computer desk/space?  The dining table...

... which has worked fine but I am constantly moving the computer at dinner time or when I need the table for something throughout the day.  And the power cord?  The outlet is on the wall under the plant so the cord hangs down ,wraps around and behind the bench and it's difficult to plug in and out if necessary.  I do not get it out again after dinner because I would have to put it back up since CountryBoy uses the table when he's packing his lunch in the mornings.

And the weekends when CountryBoy is home?  Forget about it.  I just didn't even bother getting it out.  With two adults, two cats and a small dog the space gets even smaller really quick.

Then he wanted me to look something up over the weekend.  I got the computer out and left it out for a while but then had to put it up when it came dinner time.

That's when an idea hit me later that day as I sat on the couch looking at the sewing area....

So yesterday I put the sewing machine and sewing box in the closet, cleaned up the whole area (it gets rather dusty from the kitty litter) and proceeded to see if I would like using this space as my 'office'.

What do you think?  I'm liking it.  I can leave the computer out all the time, I can see the outdoors and I can also watch my birds flock to the feeder and get drinks from the bird bath while I'm browsing or being creative.  And when I want to do some sewing it will be easy enough to move the computer and get the sewing machine out.  (And no, I don't even know the kitty box is there even after it's been used!)

This time when CountryBoy came home from work and saw the new arrangement I got a rousing 'that looks good.  I like it!'  Whew!

Now for that cabinet above the stove...

Till next time,

Custom Spice Rack

When living in a small space, one must carefully utilize every inch of space to maximize storage and to accomplish daily tasks as easy as possible.  And, for me, that means that it can't be cluttered either.  Maybe that part comes from my training as a graphic designer and from the few photography classes I took where we learned about the importance of white space.  I digress.  (Squirrel!  (a few of you will get that, ha!))

Anyhoo, little by little I'm coming up with ideas to best utilize the space I have here in the 5th wheel.  The latest being a spice rack to hold my growing collection of spices.

Funny, when CountryBoy was doing the cooking before my arrival he only had a couple of spices... sea salt, ground pepper, meat tenderizer and chili powder!

Since my arrival, the spice collection has grown!  When it began to outgrow the cabinet space they were originally in I purchased a double-tiered (cuz that was about my only somewhat suitable choice at the superstore) and put it by the stove where I would be using the spices.

Problem was, it took up a lot of precious counter space.

I came up with the idea of making a spice rack that would mount to the outer wall of the fridge (not the fridge itself) which is to the left of the stove.

CountryBoy put it together for me in less than an hour and wullah, my new spice rack...

I absolutely love it!

It's out of the way yet so convenient and, I have my counter space back.  Yay!

I smile every time I look at it and when it comes time to cook I appreciate the ease of getting to my spices.  Love it!

I'm still trying to decide whether I should paint or stain it or do I want to just leave it natural.  Although, I will probably need to do something to it so that it will be easier to wipe off.  After all, it IS near the stove where messes can happen!

Till next time,

The Organizing Reveal

For those of you who have been following along on our new adventure you know that I recently joined CountryBoy out west where we are living full-time in our 5th wheel with two cats and a dog while he works at restoring an old mine.  Along with me joining him came a lot of stuff that we packed into the cargo trailer.  Kitchen stuff, craft stuff, pantry stuff, shipping stuff, animal stuff, sewing table & chair, cat box, etc.

What you may not know is how much CountryBoy was concerned about all that stuff and where it would go in the 5th wheel without being cluttered and crowded.

Oh he of little faith!

So last Friday morning, after lots of coffee, I began the process of finding places to put all the stuff.

First up, I had to move the cargo trailer up a few inches.  Unfortunately, when the trailer was backed into place, I failed to make sure the power cord would reach the power box on the other side of the 5th wheel.    It lacked less than two inches.  Sigh.  Luckily, it's been really cold here so we did not need power to keep the contents of the freezer and small fridge that is in the trailer cold.

I wanted to get the trailer in place, plugged in and stabilized before I was going to be in and out of it all day.

I backed the Jeep up and was ready to hook it up when I realized that previously we had to take the tire off the back in order to hook the trailer up.  So, I pulled the Jeep up and proceeded to take the tire off and tried again.  I pulled the trailer up about a foot, got out to make sure the power cord would reach and then unhooked the trailer, pulled up and then put the tire back on.  Then I put the jacks under the back of the trailer and now we were good to go!

Next up, the cabinets.  Here's what we had in there before all the stuff arrived...

Notice the very few pots and pans!  Needless to say, it's been interesting trying to cook with what I had.  We had originally set the 5th wheel up for camping where we mainly cooked over a fire or on the grill.

Anyhoo, here's the after...

Plenty of pots and pans and baking dishes, yay!

Keep in mind, that the 5th wheel is currently set up to stay in one location for a while.  When it comes time for us to move on I will have to pack the glassware up to put in the cargo trailer while traveling.

Only a few things were changed on the counter tops...

Before

I added the toaster oven...

 and my chicken teakettle...

I may not have the real thing anymore but at least I can still enjoy my chicken stuff!

The dining table...

... used to eat at and is also where I sit when I'm on the computer.  (Notice the blue cable.  This was our connection to the online world.  And I mean literal connection.  We physically had to move this cable to whatever device we wanted to get online with whether it was the computer, Xbox, Netfilx, etc.  It was a pain in the neck.  More on that later.)

Now...

A relaxing space to eat or peruse the online world!  (Notice the blue cable is GONE, woot!)

CountryBoy's biggest concern was the sewing table and chair that I wanted to add to this corner...

Originally, I wasn't sure if we would be able to keep the recliner once the table and chair were in place but I hated to lose the seating space.  I moved the chair closer to the couch but the portable gas heater has to stay where it's at and ended up being in the walkway.  I, then, moved the chair back over almost to where it was before but more in front of the pantry door (you can see the open door at the left of the above photo.  It has to stay open as long as we're using the portable heater because that's where the gas line comes out.  Don't ask.  It was that way when we bought the camper.  I would have put it somewhere else or at least scooted the line over so that the pantry door could at least be partially closed.)  I did have to lose the end table though.  I found places for everything that was on it and even hung a small rack by the door to hang our keys on that were originally just tossed onto this end table.

This is what I ended up with...

I like it.  The cat box is sandwiched between the leg of the sewing table and the pantry wall, out of the way.  There is plenty of room for the chair to swivel or lean back in any direction.  And the portable heater can stay where it needs to stay.  Win!

Here is the view that CountryBoy came home to that evening...

(only I was sitting on the couch crocheting!)  His words when he walked in, "Oh wow!  It looks so homy!  And, it's still not crowded."

Yes!  Mission accomplished!

It was a lot of work and took me all day but I thoroughly enjoyed doing it and CountryBoy's reaction and approval was the icing on the cake.

It's been several days with this arrangement and it is proving to be working really well.

One thing I've found when living in a small space is it's best to put things away immediately and not let things get piled  up.  Then you avoid messes and clutter that can quickly make a space seem smaller and much less inviting.

Till next time,