FEATHER YOUR NEST

I am a big fan of Sarah Susanka, author of The Not So Big House. When I first came across her book, I was living in a way too big cookie cutter house in the suburbs. I remember reading something in it about the silliness of building these huge houses with soaring ceilings, that make us feel so vulnerable. She believes we compensate by creating nests, where we can feel sheltered and protected. I looked around me, and had to laugh, for I was sitting in my own little nest as I was reading her book!

Our house here in Wimberley may look huge from a distance, but looks are deceiving. The upstairs is the main floor, and has only 3 rooms across, with a small bathroom and 2 very small closets tucked behind the pint-sized kitchen. The downstairs is a glorified walk-out basement, which can only be reached via the outdoor staircase. It houses the guest room, another bathroom, a couple of storage closets, and my husbands man-cave. Although it is small, it is a house that lives large, thanks to wonderful porches and outdoor living areas.

Originally, I was just going to write about the nest where I sit and watch the sun come up each morning, but when I pulled the camera out to take a shot of it, I realized that this is a house full of nests! My husband couldn't be happier with his bat cave down below, which was actually dug out from the side of the hill, and I have multiple cozy nests in my upstairs treehouse, all with lots of sunshine and great views. There is my rocking chair on the outside porch, and the corner on the dining porch, where I sit when it is too hot or too cold for outside. There is my desk in the corner of our bedroom, with windows on two sides so that I can watch the hawks soaring past. Then there is my book-nook nest, also in the bedroom. That's where I go to peruse my cookbooks, gardening books, tear pictures from magazines and put them in the file cabinet at my elbow, and maybe nibble a piece of dark chocolate from the secret stash in the gold box. Last but not least, there is my leather chair by the fireplace, with its never-ending stack of books I'm itching to read.

So many wonderfully welcoming spots, carved from so little space, constantly calling me to come sit a spell. It's a wonder I ever get anything done! Do you have a nest? Well why the heck not?