Such a controversial decision, it seems. I mentioned the idea to Jules a while ago, and although he generally doesn’t have particularly strong opinions about the design of our flat, he really took offence to the idea of getting rid of the double bed that sits there all year round, perfectly made up, looking a bit sorry for itself. When I mentioned it to family they also thought I was mad: “Why would you get rid of such a lovely luxury?”, “But what about all your visitors?”, “Why on earth would you do that?”.
We live in a two bedroom 75 square metre flat in Bermondsey and we’re very lucky: the flat is a stone’s throw from the river, we can walk into town, we have a huge communal roof terrace, balcony and a big, beautiful park on our door step. Very lucky indeed.
However, as time moves on more stuff is accrued, dogs get bigger, future babies become a consideration, and careers change, which impacts on the way we live in our home. As of September, Jules and I will both be working from home (eeeek!) after I made the decision to leave teaching to develop my blog, start making and selling and help others design their own homes. Living on a budget in London means you have to make compromises (relative, I know) and the guest room, a former luxury, has become a space we really need to use as a work room. Currently, it does house my desk and craft supplies along one wall but the bed takes up the majority of the room.
If we kept our beautifully made guest room bed my daily working life would be that much more difficult. I would have to scrabble around every day trying to find a surface large enough to cut fabric, a blank white wall to shoot a project or have to pack up everything each day instead of being able to leave out resources I need for an ongoing project, just so those six visitors per year can have a bedroom to themselves, instead of using our sofa bed in the sitting room. This may sound selfish to you, but it just sounds like common sense to me. I saw a property show the other day and the advice given to the woman in her twenties buying her first flat was: don’t push yourself financially to buy a two bedroom flat just so you can provide a bed for occasional visitors – with all the money you save you could put them up in the best hotel in town.
Anyhoo, my point is that I think it’s important when you live in a home for a while to step back, evaluate how life may or may not have changed and not be scared to make changes, if needed. I’ll share my ideas for the room in my next post.
Do you have a redundant guest room that could be put to much better use?
Katy x
