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My Indoor "She-Shed"
Jun. 9th, 2020 12:52 pmI guess a lot of people have been working on fixing up their living-quarters since pandemic lockdown began. For some, that's been pretty much a necessity as their home becomes their office, the one-room schoolhouse for their kids, the entertainment centre, the workshop... and so forth.
I haven't done anything nearly that ambitious around here, but I have been doing a little reorganizing in the bedroom that our daughter occupied when she still lived here. The mattress on the Ikea bed in there was pretty much a write-off and we discarded it some time ago. When stay-home orders were invoked and we were perpetually at home anyway and suddenly had readier access to delivery services, I ordered a new mattress for it. I've also been removing the tired old wallpaper that used to cover one of four walls in there. It's not really the dry-strippable type but it does seem to be reasonably wet-strippable and I find it kind of therapeutic to listen to old music in there while I peel off old wallpaper. As far as the music goes, I have a kind of multi-use appliance in there now: it consists of a 3-speed turntable, CD player, and record-record function (by which I mean you can record from an LP or 45 or even a 78 if you still have them, on to a CD). It also has AM and FM radio. It doesn't play or record tapes, but I also have a portable cassette player in there. All of this is good since soon after lockdown, the amplifier in the living room died, leaving the CD player, turntable, radio and cassette player in there out of action. Components were considered the way to go back in the day when we first installed them, but I'm now mentally revisiting the merits of a self-contained console structure like I've got in my she-shed. Especially since I readily admit that I'm definitely NOT a techie (though luckily there's one in residence here!)
So yeah. I've always had a fondness for a lot my old LPs so there's nostalgia value right there. And there are a lot of kids' books (plus a few toys and games) still in there, including old Nancy Drews, Secret Circle and Enid Blytons, which ups the nostalgia value a bit more. I've weeded out some, of course, and have been sorting out the LPs too. It's great to see the vinyl renaissance since it means that those I DON'T want any more can hopefully live to see another day in another home. And hey, I just recently got an e-mail from Value Village to say that their Donation Centres are re-opening, albeit with reduced hours!
It's interesting to note that that bedroom has been used as a quarantine centre of sorts before. Five years ago, when my mother-in-law died and we decided to adopt her cats, we set up a temporary detention centre for them in there. This served to keep them apart from our existing feline in residence while we ensured they were in good health and their vaccine records were in order. Then we gradually integrated them into their new home and family and were able to enjoy their company for another couple of years.
Virginia Woolf wrote eloquently about having a room of one's own. This isn't the kind of Bluebeard's chamber or locked room of murder mystery lore but it does serve as a kind of oasis of childhood or youth when I want a break from the mundane tedium of everyday life!
I haven't done anything nearly that ambitious around here, but I have been doing a little reorganizing in the bedroom that our daughter occupied when she still lived here. The mattress on the Ikea bed in there was pretty much a write-off and we discarded it some time ago. When stay-home orders were invoked and we were perpetually at home anyway and suddenly had readier access to delivery services, I ordered a new mattress for it. I've also been removing the tired old wallpaper that used to cover one of four walls in there. It's not really the dry-strippable type but it does seem to be reasonably wet-strippable and I find it kind of therapeutic to listen to old music in there while I peel off old wallpaper. As far as the music goes, I have a kind of multi-use appliance in there now: it consists of a 3-speed turntable, CD player, and record-record function (by which I mean you can record from an LP or 45 or even a 78 if you still have them, on to a CD). It also has AM and FM radio. It doesn't play or record tapes, but I also have a portable cassette player in there. All of this is good since soon after lockdown, the amplifier in the living room died, leaving the CD player, turntable, radio and cassette player in there out of action. Components were considered the way to go back in the day when we first installed them, but I'm now mentally revisiting the merits of a self-contained console structure like I've got in my she-shed. Especially since I readily admit that I'm definitely NOT a techie (though luckily there's one in residence here!)
So yeah. I've always had a fondness for a lot my old LPs so there's nostalgia value right there. And there are a lot of kids' books (plus a few toys and games) still in there, including old Nancy Drews, Secret Circle and Enid Blytons, which ups the nostalgia value a bit more. I've weeded out some, of course, and have been sorting out the LPs too. It's great to see the vinyl renaissance since it means that those I DON'T want any more can hopefully live to see another day in another home. And hey, I just recently got an e-mail from Value Village to say that their Donation Centres are re-opening, albeit with reduced hours!
It's interesting to note that that bedroom has been used as a quarantine centre of sorts before. Five years ago, when my mother-in-law died and we decided to adopt her cats, we set up a temporary detention centre for them in there. This served to keep them apart from our existing feline in residence while we ensured they were in good health and their vaccine records were in order. Then we gradually integrated them into their new home and family and were able to enjoy their company for another couple of years.
Virginia Woolf wrote eloquently about having a room of one's own. This isn't the kind of Bluebeard's chamber or locked room of murder mystery lore but it does serve as a kind of oasis of childhood or youth when I want a break from the mundane tedium of everyday life!
