A New Space

 Over the weekend Nathanael built a bed for us. He did a wonderful job of confronting a problem needing to be solved (this one being our short supply of storage space), and not only making plans and starting the project, but also seeing it through.

Without holidays or deadlines to motivate me I have seldom had such drive with my handcrafts. There are bits of almost finished shirts, dresses, and pants in the sewing closets of My Mother, my sister Melissa and now also here with me. But Nathanael has measured, designed, sawed, sanded and worked ceaselessly so that less than five days after we purchased our mattress, we are able to slide our cooler, tent, and winter clothes neatly underneath it. Actually, most of our things probably could fit under there, because he gave it two feet of clearance.

   
 The apartment we are now renting has little in common with the one we were renting a few weeks ago. Instead of plaster walls and wood floors we now have painted cinder block walls and vinyl tile floors like a grocery store. But I am so glad for these features, which are well suited to the moist climate and the prevention of termites and mold. Unfortunately, we no longer have a spacious kitchen and an enormous pantry to store our canned food and dry goods, so I didn't really know what to do with all of those things in our new and smaller kitchen. [We even have one of those baby stoves!] Seeing that I was a little baffled by all of it, Nathanael told me he was up to the kitchen arranging task. He organized my spices, the tea, and then built a small retaining wall for the cookie sheets and cutting boards. And then, since our largest cabinet is the enormous, shelf-less one under the sink, he built a completely amazing canned good case.

The shelves of which I will not be lining with the mushroom contact paper we purchased from the intriguing man running an eclectic garden/hardware/machete shop, who assured us it will work perfectly despite having been in his store since 1970. He actually recommended using it to cover a piece of plywood, and prop the piece up on some cinder blocks, thereby creating an executive desk.
There is your frugal furniture ingenuity tip for the day.

(I can give you directions to plant world if you need any sythes, cast iron cookware, or fascinating stories)