I’ve Been Swamped!

I have not posted for a week or so - OK, so two weeks - we have been flooded.  We got water (a lot) in our basement -for the first time - during the huge rain storm a week ago.  The fire department came to pump us out and realized that there was nothing they could do until it stopped raining.  Instead they shut off the gas to the house (furnace floating was kind of bad), so we had no heat, no hot water, no way to cook.  The house was yucky and freezing.

(below, see my tres chic turquoise leather golf bag- FLOATING!!!)

As luck would have it, my dear friends Carol and Jerry were on vacation and their house was empty.  When they heard about our problem they offered their house.  Now that’s a good friend.  So my husband, two kids, two dogs and I moved into one of the most spectacular houses I have ever laid my eyes on (did I mention good friends!).  During the day we would go work non-stop on saving the basement at our house (so stressful and un-fabulous)  and by night we would enter this amazing house and the stress would just fall away- it was what saved us from losing our minds.

(Meg Braff)

It was so interesting to live at a friend’s house for a week.  You think you know someone- but when you live at their house you see details of them and how they live their lives that most are not privy to.  I will report that my friends are surprisingly normal!  What did hit me about how they live is the amount of organization in their house.  Built-ins everywhere, not just your average built-ins but the most well thought out, detailed and space saving built-ins I have ever seen.  I have always felt that instead of the bigger house, bigger rooms, bigger garage, bigger basement, etc., houses can be small, as long as things have been planned properly.  That upfront thinking means that everything has a place (and doors to close!) so you don’t look at the storage (clutter).  It can be so much more effective. 

Carol and Jerry had thought out their storage so beautifully they had quick access to everything they owned.  For example, if we want to go ice skating I have to unearth the ice skates in the basement, find warm sock in the bowels of someone’s dresser - god knows who's - and a bag to transport all this stuff from somewhere else.  Ultimately when we think to go ice skating- the process of finding the right stuff is so arduous that we nix the idea.

 

At Carol and Jerry’s house they want to go ice skating, they go to the cabinet, open the door and choose the bag from the shelf that contains each person’s ice skates, socks, ice skate guards, then below, they pick the hat, mittens and gloves need and they are off!  Wow, that is so awesome!  Think of the activities we could all effortlessly do on the fly if it were all that easy.

This weekend I am reorganizing for sure!