Sunday, April 21, 2013

Doug's New Hobby

Trivia Question:  What's wrong with this picture?


There has been a lot going on around our house the past few weeks.  But first things first.  There is something seriously wrong with our laundry room- can you figure out what it is?

The laundry room has always been a bit of a mystery to us.  We live in 1,000 square feet, so it seems strange to have 100 of them devoted only to doing laundry.  Why couldn't they just give us a laundry closet and add the rest of the space to actual living area?!  

Well, after almost 5 years of living in our home, we've finally put this weird bit of space to work.  Since it's an unfinished room filled with 2 water heaters, 2 furnaces (oh the joys of owning a duplex) and a washer/dryer, there was really no hope in ever making it cute.  So we stuck with pure function.  I have to admit, it makes life a lot easier to have a spot that's just supposed to be ugly.  :)

A stacked washer/dryer gave space for Doug to create himself a little office down there.  First came a desk for his computer.  Then a POTS friendly exercise bike so I could start doing my physical therapy from home.  Then we filled the shelves with all our office supplies (a growing collection, with Doug doing Clearcore book keeping and Sweetbriar Sisters order fulfillment down there- all after his full time job of course).  

Then it started getting fun.

Doug has this new found talent.   Building computers into strange, but useful, places. So with all this useful stuff in one room, his brain started churning.  One day I went down there and he'd roped an old laptop onto the bike.  Strange, but ok.  I did like getting stuff done while I did my workout, so no complaining here.  (staying current on emails feels like such a time killer every day!) But it was an old laptop, and not nearly as fast as, say, a faster computer could be.  So as time went on, parts were reorganized and eventually the old laptop was replaced by our entire desktop.  I like to tease Doug about how much he dreams about new computers- it seems he's never quite satisfied.  

So what's the problem now?  Well, there's no monitor hanging from the ceiling yet!  I mean, the bike's got to have two monitors (who can get anything done on just one?!)  and the ceiling is really our only access point.  So, in all seriousness, our next plan for the laundry room is to hang one of our computer monitors from the ceiling right above the bike.  

And to be honest, I'm really excited.


6 comments:

Lauren said...

That is awesome! But I'm not going to tell Andrew to read this post. We have a toilet without walls in the basement...I can only imagine what ideas this will give him!

You guys are so creative!

Laura said...

I love it! (And also, that laundry room is stupid. It's enormous!) (I don't mean stupid the way you have it, stupid the way it was built.)

Karen said...

That is great! I only wish I had a room of that caliber!! :)

Janelle said...

Very cool. :)

StephenEmily Stacey said...

Wow! You guys are amazing. Someday I want you to come organize and decorate my house...when we actually own one that is.

Gramma Delt said...

I saw a really cool idea for that other monitor. The monitor was on a robotic arm that went up and down about 3 feet and could turn at least 180 degrees so they could work on something then turn it so I could see it.....I couldn't even think about what they were doing because I was trying to figure if Doug could make this and wishing I had a camera with me.