Ergo

Today

I can quite accept that some people want to paint their walls dull yellow ochre, have a predilection for putting frilly flounces over their blinds or seem to need to put brass picture lights everywhere, even where there were no pictures.

But why anyone would live with a shower screen that's too short and narrow to stop water going over the floor, a kitchen where the sink is placed at the opposite end from the dishwasher or tolerate wardrobe doors whose hinging mechanism obscures over half of the shelf space and whose rail heights are too close together to hang up a jacket or man's shirt is more beyond my comprehension.

"The first is a matter of taste, " I expounded knowledgeably to Paul "the other is ergonomics."

In My Day

7 Mead close was pretty bare when we moved in, back in 1986. There was the rudimentary kitchen that had been put in when the house was built and some half-hearted attempts at wardrobes in the two larger bedrooms.

I surveyed our pile of belongings. How were we going to fit in all our stuff, ourselves, two teenagers, a dog and two cats, let alone find space outside for two cars?

Storage, that was the answer! Over the following years I developed rather a knack of designing really efficient storage. In Becky's tiny room, we dispensed with the door altogether as taking up too much floor space, substituting a curtain, and cannibalised the "Captain's" bed to give her cupboards, a small wardrobe, desk, bed and underbed storage. And this in a room that was barely 2000mm X 2000mm.

Eventually the too small-for-any-car-we-possessed garage had to go, to be replaced with a kitchen that is a miracle of storage. We built a similarly equipped utility room, put fitted wardrobes in the bedrooms and kitted out the upstairs extension as a really functional study/office. By hinging the bathroom door outwards we gained much useful space.

The teapots found a home on some shelves that Paul built high up in the dining room.

Even the dog was tidied away into a kennel which he loved so much we wondered why we hadn't done it years before.

And ergonomics played a big part in the design. I had a shoe cupboard built that was precisely the length of one of Paul's shoes and with shelf heights just right for a pair of high heels. There wasn't a wasted centimetre. Wardrobes had hanging rails exactly designed for trousers, long dresses or jackets.

Unfortunately, even with all this miracle of storage design, we still had too much stuff which is why we had to move. And I now have the challenge of casting my ergonomically trained eye over Spencer House.

But I still can't think where to put the teapots.....