Tale of a table..

It's been three weeks since we moved into our little tiny unfinished strawbale. And while there is still so much to do, we're feeling pretty good about where things are at and how we're settling into this new place of ours. It's been quite the flurry of painting, planting, erecting, barrowing and digging with plenty of laughter, tears, singing, dancing, eating and stories amidst. 

Before we moved in, we were fixated on how little the space would be. We meticulously planned our furnishings and "storage solutions", certain that, try as we might, we couldn't accurately envisage living in such a tiny space. But then the strangest thing happened. As we started to move stuff in,  the space seemed to grow…. to the point where it all felt a bit cavernous. We had a cosy sitting area on the eastern side and a makeshift kitcheny area on the western side with a big wide empty area in between. The big empty earthen floor area was a boon for the passive solar qualities of our little house but it felt a bit strange, and the "kitchen" just didn't work as a kitchen. The bench spaces were too small and constantly seemed cluttered and pretty much useless. One day last week I mumbled something along the lines of how it would be good to have a bit more bench space and within the week Annie had created quite the most magnificent bench/tall table I could ever hope to see and use. Those of you who actually know Annie will have born witness to her astounding productive capabilities. Others may have caught a glimpse through this blog. Within two days Annie had transformed our old dining table into a long and tall bench with shelf  that now runs part way down the middle of our tiny house. 

What a thing of beauty! Oh and note the glorious Winter sun streaming in..

You may recall Annie discussing the making of this dining table some five years ago. It was our dining table for our last five years in Sydney and it saw a lot of good times. Yes it was a little wobbly on account of the maker's burgeoning carpentry skills. Yet we so loved our dining table made from floorboards we carted the tabletop down when we moved. And so certain were we that we would not be needing it in our tiny strawbale we parked it at the very back of our storage container. Ah, but we were wrong and it is not the first time, nor will it be the last time we are wrong on this house and land creating project/shenanigan we've embarked on. 

Annie took extra special care with this bench building, planing and bevelling the legs and really utilising all the carpentry skills she has acquired since her first foray into table building. Like much of our house the legs are made of old bits of fence. Yes it is a bench comprised entirely of old floor and fence, and gosh how beautiful it is. 

And so now we have a glorious bench that is ostensibly for food preparations (of which there are very many in this tiny house of ours) but it's also a storage space, a "cubby" for Oscar, a place for leaning, a place to hold cups of tea, a place for books and a place for collecting all the joys and detritus of life with two little kids. And miracle of miracles it is tall, like me. Yes I am a tall lady and find many parts of life require some stooping but not so this table/bench. Joy of joys, thank you Annie you clever, industrious, generous lady friend of mine...

And Oscar says "thank you for creating more rampaging opportunities..."