Monday, March 28, 2005

Re-designing my room

Been hard at work for the past few days clearing out TONS of trash... I supposed to get my room re-organised as I'll be leaving the army in a few months time (less then 90 days to be exact) and I'll be embarking on my university life. So, I found it apt to "celebrate" this momentous time in my life with a change of environment(so to speak).

The changes are far from over as I trashed out loads of stuff. I'm even getting rid of my old faithful study table(yeah, it's a hand me down from my uncle). I'm taking the changes slowly as I'll probably pick up a basic interior design book of sorts to get some ideas on what to do with my room. I'm a lover of simple stuff, but i admit I live in a mess... so I think zen's for me, but i dun want my back to hurt if I always have to work without proper back rest.

Functionally, my room will have to be used for:
  1. Sleeping
  2. Study/Work
  3. Play (i.e. music/movies/modelling/drawing)

Aesthetic requirements:

  1. Creative!
  2. Spa cious
  3. Stylish
  4. Relaxing... like a spa...

haha... is this too much to ask for my room? haha... well, it's like the only space I "own" and since I spend most of my time in my room, I'm gonna be demanding of it this time.

paints, furniture, lightings? well, nothing should be too fixed as I tend to like to move things around... so I plan not to do too much drilling. Everything should be kept easy to clean too. I welcome any suggestions. time to consult some design friends...

oh yes... i forgot... budget... hehe.. right now there is no budget... as in (zero budget)... but the plan is probably not to spend more then a couple of hundred... tt's why I taking it slow... change can take place slowly.. furniture by furniture...

1 comment:

LeftAngle said...

First let me say your country thanks you for your service. What country's army you're in doesn't matter. You're owed a ton of gratitude.

Like you, I appreciate neatness, but it won't be me who makes it so. In the service, i solved my problem of a messy footlocker by tossing everything into closed cardboard boxes and stacking them neatly inside.

I use the same idea for my room. The cardboard boxes are now plastic containers. And a couple sheets of plywood and a bunch of 1"x2" lumber was all I needed to build shelves to store them and leave enough space to hold projects too large for boxes.

I scrapped the end tables at the head of the bed and built two sets, 3 shelves each, starting where the end tables had been and continued them along the wall, around the corner and down the wall next to the bed on both sides, My bed is centered on the wall, so the two "L" shaped shelves mirror each other. The parts next to the bed do double-duty as end tables and make a good surface to work on (sort of) when I wake up at night with a need to mess with something.

They're not always neat, but everything seems to settle in on a place and I know where to to look for them. Tools, projects gadgets and toys are always where I leave them and the people who can't stand my mess and have to make it better never move shelved things out of place (my worse nightmare). The shelves seem to define a valid space that keeps neat freaks and housekeepers at bay .

The shelves are stand-alone, so I can pull them away from the wall far enough to drop power cords behind and allows them to be removed once I'm gone without destroying the walls. One bit of advice; The wider the shelves are, the more you'll appreciate them. Mine could be 6" wider, half again as wide as a bookshelf. My lower shelf, two inches above the floor is where I mounted a couple of power extensions so I don't have to search too far for electricity. I also painted the shelves white, making tiny parts easier to see.

Good luck at school and civilian life. That's the path I took and I haven't regretted a minute of it,