Will It Work?

When we first moved in, it was a three season porch with old crank windows, no heat, and a cement floor. Still, it was beautiful. The ceiling was stained in cherry wood and the windows framed the state park next door. It took us a year or more, butour trusty carpenter insulated everything, replaced the windows with sliders, built wide sills for plants and candles, and added a slated door that opened to the hot tub. We finished it off with all purpose wall-to-wall carpeting because we thought tiles would be slippery and decided on electric heat because the cost of running a line for propane was prohibitive (a short sighted decision, it turns out).

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Then necessity took over. Our seven room ranch has a small kitchen and sitting room, an even smaller dining room, a very friendly living room, and three bedrooms, one of which is my office. That left no room for a real dining room except as part of the brand new porch. So that's what we made it, except we also added a futon and in an instant we had a back up bedroom.

Before the re-build, JB and I wanted to create "The Cuban Room". We wanted blues and oranges and bright paintings and wall hangings that led you to festivity as soon as you entered. But we never got that far, and up until a few weeks ago the room was misfit mish-mash with great light and awesome windows.

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Then one day JB & I were window shopping and bought a vinyl rug. Turns out we were both right that the vinyl would feel great on bare feet, which is the state of our bodies to and from the hot tub, which is a regular occurrence from the living room to the porch and through the porch door to the back yard.

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Long story short, I had the idea to position the futon to separate the room and JB took it from there. Instant success. We've created a little nest" area with the dining table efficiently tucked away at the far end, and a little sitting area that leads you right to the outside hot tub. More design and decoration is needed, but it seems like the flow and use is going to work just out just fine. Tomorrow I'll be bringing in a Bakers' shelf now painted Cuban blue, and the accessorizing will begin!

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All this will motivate me to landscape this section of the back yard one of these years, and JB and I can't wait to open a Cuban cigar box when the ambiance is right.

Meanwhile,

Have a seat.

Rock.

Read a book.

Watch the birds.

Turn the doornob and float in the hot tub.

Look at the stars.

Count your blessings.