Perceptions can be deceiving in a small space...

When I first got my comfy chair for the shed I thought "wow...um...it's BIG."  But so infinitely more comfortable, I figured it was worth it.

Then, I wanted my husband to be comfortable, too...and once he'd sat in my chair a few times, he finally agreed.  One of the main uses for our little space is a place to dream, read, rest, make music, meditate, and sitting in a folding camp chair just wasn't conducive.

Soooo...we got him a comfy chair, too.  Bought it the same way we did mine--hit the secondhand stores and antiques malls, and let him sit in everything they had.  When that beatific smile spread across his face--a twin to the one that lit mine up when I sat in the crazy rose chair--we knew it had to be his.

Of course if ONE overstuffed chair seems to fill a 10-foot by 10-foot space, imagine what TWO of them do.

But you know what?  Both of these chairs SWIVEL.  You get a panoramic view, instantly.  You can look out the French doors, then swing to the back window and check out the feeder birds, then look up the hill, each time with a different view indoors, too.  I can reach my desk, the kitchen corner, and the bookshelves, instantly.

I was astounded.  It's like the space expands, exponentially.  You're not trapped in a big old chair pointed in one direction, the space just opens up.  When I walk around in the shed, there's room between them.  If I need more, I swivel one out of the way.

Sure, if we wanted to have a barn dance, it might be a bit snug. (We don't!)  If  I had planned a bed and shower in there, it would be overcrowded    But there's room for a bedroll against the wall, if we want (currently one is rolled up under the bottom shelf behind my chair), and a shower's right out anyway, since we didn't put in any kind of plumbing other than the big copper cistern at the bottom of THIS post.  (Since we now keep the shed in the 40s at night, water doesn't freeze except the cat's water on the floor, so there's always water.)  The house is right next door, so that's not an issue...

It's working beautifully...AND comfortably! 

DONE now...I think...

...and yes, a VERY long way from Zen-like simplicity!

But...I do tend to value comfort at my great age, and I need my art supplies, books, cooking area, mugs, pottery, basket, cubbies, skulls, bits of wood, weeds, rocks, oddities, candles, bird seed, heaters...and my goofy chair, which rocks and swivels and lets me see out the windows at a moment's notice, whether out the front or the back...
 
So one day last week when I was working at the computer over at the house, J. had a bit of shed time himself. He'd been saying he didn't NEED a comfy chair.

Riiiiiiiiiiiiiiight...

We found this one at Olde Towne Mall here in town, the same place we got my chair.  We choose them for comfort, not looks, obviously!

Is this a happy face, or WHAT??  He even took a nap!

But yeah.  I think that's about it, if we're planning to be able to move...

New Page and a new solution to the comfortable chair issue

First things first!  The folding camp chairs were really inexpensive (under $10 new), but not exactly comfortable after a while.  We both have bad backs, and it had gotten so J. didn't like to spend long out there because it HURT.

We shopped endlessly to try to find comfortable padded folding chairs that were also short enough, since I am, looking at hundreds of chairs online (used to have some, but they got away...)  We looked at non-folding overstuffed chairs in a variety of thrift stores, but we really need the versatility and the option of chairs we can fold away, in the small space.

Soooo...here's my solution!  I tied chair seat cushions to the back to pad that area, and put a nice big soft bed pillow in the seat...that helps a lot with the place where the diagonal legs wanted to dig into my fanny! 

Ugly as can be, of course, but a nice down throw we've had for years covers one of them, and a polar-fleece throw the other one.  Now they look almost like Real Chairs, and they are a LOT more comfortable!

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The other project today was the new page on the tabs at top, dealing with and planning for small spaces!  Click the link to see what we've done so far--I'll be adding to it as I think of things, I'm sure...

Teardrop Trailers are the ultimate tiny house!

Click here for one from the Tiny House blog...

Joseph built one himself a few years ago, and we've camped in it in the Adirondacks and Poconos...my only problem is whacking my elbows on the wall in bed!  It's 4'  x 8'...the photo is from his move to Missouri almost three years ago.

You can see why we're fine with the size of the shed...perhaps not for full-time living, but as a getaway?  You bet!  At 100 square feet, it's a LOT bigger than the teardrop's 32, and I can stand up in it!

He IS a handy one...here's his Photobucket set on building this tiny traveling home.  It's a work of art!

Does this look cool or what?  This is the Adirondacks...love the awning!

We would LOVE to find chairs like this for the shed--they fold, they're padded, they're comfortable...and they got away from us when he moved here...