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Utility rooms are a necessary evil……..or are they necessarily evil? We are back-door people, therefore, all of our friends come to the back door. The front door is reserved strictly for people canvassing for sales, kids asking for funding so that they can go to Europe for the summer, ministers trying to save my soul and Girl Scouts of America. It’s also a place to leave donations for pick-up and for large parcels of mail, UPS, Fed Ex and etc. Come to think of it, anyone who’s ever been to our house to visit before knows to go to the back door. The first thing they come into is a very small room only big enough for the washer, dryer and freezer. The half bath is stuck at the end like an afterthought. If you’re very large you have to suck it in to get in there. You literally cannot turn around in there without knocking something off the wall or the counter.
First of all, the location for a utility room is all wrong. The utility room should be discretely attached to the master bedroom and facing the back yard. My idea of a utility room has been in my mind for years. So far, the only person I’ve seen come close to my specs has been my sister, Anne. She’s the one that convinced me that the logical place for a utility room is off of the master bedroom. She is absolutely correct as far as I’m concerned. She even has secret passages to her project room, and I remain pea-green with envy.
Most men have their own space. A place where they can go to not be disturbed. It’s a place where they display all of their trophies and neon beer-signs. They can smoke their stinky cigars, watch whatever they want on TV, and play computer games endlessly. If it’s not a MAN-CAVE DEN or a MAN-CAVE OFFICE, then it’s a MAN-CAVE GARAGE. There used to be Monster House and Monster Garage. Now there is THE MAN-CAVE, but, I’ve never seen a design for a SHE-CAVE. I had a really hard time even finding a picture of what might be a She-Cave.
If I haven’t made myself perfectly clear, I’ll just say that I WANT ONE!!!!! I’ll even make myself more clear than that. I do not want your MAN-CAVE. The Royster has been more than gracious in sharing his office and garage with me, but I just want my own, and I intend to take things just a bit further. I not only want a utility room / sewing / beading / writing room, but a place of solitude. This idea sprang from watching DIY and all of the reality shows on room and home do-overs.
For starters, my She-Cave will be as a large a master bedroom, and it will be located discretely off the back of the master bedroom. My list of specs for this room is as such:
• I guess a washer and dryer would be in order.
• Closet, cabinets, shelves for storage
• Desk with computer and phone
• A sewing machine area
• A 5’ X 6’ project table (to my waist) with a lighted surface for tracings and plug outlets.
• Proper lighting through out
• Good ventilation because I intend to use my beading torch
• A sink with hot and cold running water (definitely NOT for cleaning fish).
• A Coffee Pot
• Small refrigerator
• A small television
• Window facing the back yard
• A door opening to the back yard
• An ironing board that folds up in to its own cabinet - I guess this just goes with my generation.
• A small couch and a chair for visitors.
Well, that’s just about it. I don’t think it’s too much. Every woman should have one. I’d even share it with the Royster for special projects, like a nice stained glass project. Now I’ve got to justify this and make it happen. What do you think?
Wish me luck.
4 comments:
You also need an elliptical, a pilates, a treadmill, or something along those lines, so you can sweat in private; a floor-length mirror to watch yourself dance; a stereo system for the music, and a HUGE ceiling fan for those times when the patch refuses to kick in.
XO, Karin.
You are absolutely correct! Amen on that!.....all of it.
Personally the laundry goes in a seperate room, prabably the man den. My room...no laundry. I'll have a day bed, a computer, all my books, well some of them, the door, the garden and probably some sort of child repelling gas at the door.
I'm loving the idea of a "she-cave" though I don't consider myself to be a handy projecteur. I create, but typically no tools are part of the process (unless a small glue gun and screwdriver count). Music would be a must, as well as a few sacred elements thrown in [earth, fire, water, air] to inspire. The backyard view is a must and a door to easily move my brain and body outside would be awesome... A floor to ceiling shelf filled with books and a nice little reading nook is key. Photos, frames, & mats in various sizes and shapes w/ a work table for assembly (or comfy rug on the floor) I'm thinking the laundry would deplete my creative juices - can we store that in an adjacent cave somewhere else? ;) Thanks for the inspiration - off to create!
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