Here as I approach the end of my remodel, I am running out of money. I am not going to have enough money to finish the patio (which was disassembled due to termite damage), replace a shattered window, replace a cracked window, paint the sun room and install a ceiling fan in there, or do any landscaping. But worst of all, the built-in shelving unit seems to be on the chopping box.
Joao, my beloved contractor, says stuff like, “Well, it’s a living room, not a library; put your books somewhere else.” I do have bookcases throughout the house, and I can put another several rows of books in my bedroom. The bookcases in the office, though — yes, they are for books — English teacher books — but the shelves are also for binders and papers and notebooks, and the other detrius that comes with my profession. These things reside in stacks, in boxes, in bags and they make my life feel unorganized and cluttered. I put something in a bag, and instantly forget that it exists. I must SEE what it is I am working with.
Other teachers do a great job without all this STUFF. How? I feel like all of this stuff is essential, but it must not be. There is something wrong with my process — or not wrong, exactly, but off. Perhaps I need to see a shrink. I definitely don’t want to end up on that show “Hoarders.”
Meanwhile, I’ve been looking at the Levenger book cubes…I can get myself set up for right around $2000: 3 deep boxes with bases, 2 medium boxes with bases, and quarter round pieces for the four ends. I would put a space between the two medium boxes for the TV, put all the console stuff on one shelf, and call it a day. But such a set up wouldn’t come close to holding all of my books, and where would my 400+ CDs go? Yes I know: CDs are passé, like 8-track tapes, but still…I have them, I love them, and I want to display them. Books and music have been central to my decorating scheme for my entire life. Yes, I’m a grown up, but I don’t want to live in a house where the books and music are kept under wraps, and instead, there’s…what? Decorative stuff?
I NEED those built-ins. I am going to have to scrimp and save, which means maybe a different choice for granite? Keeping the 25-year old washer and dryer for another year? Keeping the white dishwasher in a black & stainless world?
Maybe I’ll just have to wait for the damn shelves. But that means the books will live in boxes, and that just doesn’t work. First of all, right now I need my copy of The Bedford Reader and I don’t know where it is packed away. The books are important to me, and nonreaders don’t understand that. For a nonreader, a book is just an object. For me, it’s part of who I am, it’s a thought process, it’s a conversation, it’s a history and it’s a future.
I need ideas.
