Personal Space by Debbie Bennett

You may know I moved house last summer, after 23 years of having my own study – a large room with a view over fields and the river valley, with bookcases and a sofa and a big desk. Peace and quiet. Room to think and write.

So we moved. Downsized. Still the same village – less than a mile from the old house. But this house is much smaller and newer. It’s cosy and we are slowing getting it straight; having paid off the mortgage helps too. But I lost my study. There’s a tiny 3^rd bedroom upstairs – just big enough for a sofa-bed and a small desk, and that’s Andy’s study as he works from home more often than I do and frequently has conference calls. 

And now, I have the end of the dining room as my ’space’. I was hoping to have the conservatory – but it’s really little more than a lean-to with no central heating and I’d be wary of leaving computer kit in there. It’d be fine with a laptop and comfy chair in the summer; I’ll let you know this year, as at the moment the room is mostly a dumping ground for furniture we haven’t found a home for, tools and DIY bits and pieces and things in transit to and from a flat we also bought last year as a renovation project. Yes – there is always the flat too for office-space, but we’ve only just finished rewiring it and it’s barely habitable.

My desk was small. A basic flat surface on four legs left behind from the previous occupiers. All my stuff – my stationery, knick-knacks, ornaments, the inspirational objets-d’art one accumulates over many years of having one’s own space – was packed away in bright cardboard boxes and stacked on top of each other. Finding an envelope or a stapler was a major exercise and I was printer-less for the first time in 30 years.

But last week we got a new lounge carpet, which was the last real phase of decorating the lounge/dining room. And I treated myself to a new desk with matching filing cabinet, on the grounds that I could take it with me when we next move. I unpacked all my bits and bobs and bought a new lamp and a refurbished small laser printer. And finally it feels like home.

I even managed to write a short story recently too. And I have ideas bubbling for the first time in a long while. Yes - I have to put up with the tv at the other end of the room, but at least I have a proper space of my own again now, with things in the right places and a place for everything I need.

www.debbiebennett.co.uk