550 small feet

This drool-worthy desk first appeared on DesignSponge

For the past three years and eleven months John and I have lived in the same 550 square-foot apartment. Once, in a fit of frustration (the place felt too small for that number) I measured it. It took me two hours because it was the first time I’d ever done any square foot measuring. But the apartment company hadn’t lied, it is exactly 550 square feet. And though, the apartment has felt smaller and smaller every year we haven’t moved. Because we haven’t found another place that meet our rigorous standards. We love our squeaky hardwood floors, our blue and yellow tiled bathroom floors and kitchen counters, our black and white kitchen floor, our giant windows in every room, the huge courtyard out front, the clothes lines out back, the close vacinity to a 24 hour grocery store, etc. The list goes on and on. In fact, there are only four things we really want that we dont have: A dishwasher, a new neighborhood, a washer/dryer, and more space. The pros where we live greatly out-weigh the cons (despite how often the rent is raised), so we stay.

Currently, I’m half assedly working toward applying to grad schools this fall. The sheer amount that needs to be done before these deadlines send me into panic attacks: Study for the GRE, take the GRE, request (and pay for) 20 official copies of my transcript, write a personal essay, request letters of recommendation from three professors/old bosses, write 20-30 pages of creative nonfiction. This is on top of our plans to go to Peru sometime late this year or early next year which has a long to-do list all by itself.

A lot of work needs to be done, but we don’t have a workspace. There is not space dedicated to working or, even better, to writing. We have four small rooms, all taken up by other stuff: books, a couch, flat screen monitors, books, laptops, plants, and books. Our most recent solution has been to purge some stuff and possibly set up a little workspace in the corner of the living room. Whether or not we get around to this before the next year passes us by has yet to be seen, but in my fantasies we own an apartment that is a little bigger and very space efficient. Something with a wall-mounted desk (I made myself, of course, because in my fantasies I am very handy and graceful). The desk above was submitted to oneof my favorite blogs, DesignSponge. A beauty, no?