Since enrolling in construction school last year, I’ve been mulling over an idea for a business. The idea is to design and build freestanding rooms for people who long for “sacred spaces” that won’t fit inside their houses.
For example, I want a workshop. You might want a meditation chamber, a yoga room, or a craft studio.
Such small rooms–about the size of a garden shed–wouldn’t need plumbing or other things that make home additions complicated. They just need to be private and lovely rooms of one’s own.
When I graduate from construction school, I could build these tiny spaces. I’ve been calling my imaginary company “Get a Room.”
When I first told a mutual friend about Get a Room, she said, “You’ve got to meet Nita and Al.”
Nita and Al had this idea long before I did. They got TWO rooms.
I got to explore Nita and Al’s rooms recently, when they bought the Adirondack chairs that my construction class made. We delivered four chairs to Nita and Al’s backyard, then toured the gorgeous high-ceilinged tiny offices they had just commissioned.
Al is a counselor, so his tiny office has comfortable seating for heavy thought and deep conversation. Nita is a guide in expressive arts AND an artist, so she divides her hundred square feet with a sliding canvas panel that she painted herself.
The his and hers rooms sit in a leafy backyard, and while they are just steps from the main house (and bathrooms), the sacred spaces feel like they are a world away from everyday busy life.
What kind of room would you get?
Build Me Up, Buttercup 
They remind me of doll houses for grown ups! Best escape to things imaginative.
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I know, these houses make me dream of dedicated spaces for everything from thinking & writing to washing the dog and potting plants.
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I’ll be your first customer, Carrington!! I think you know what kind of little room I’d like… a desk, a chair, bookshelves, plenty of light. Xo
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What fun! I’m already fantasizing about the wallpaper options! Marbled library paper? Book spines? Portraits of authors? Or just bacon, bacon and more bacon? So many dreamy possibilities for a room of one’s own.
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Mine would be a space to foster mother cats and kittens. The floor would be covered in easy-to-clean sheet vinyl and there would be variously sized shelves on the walls at varying heights. There would be cat trees and scratching posts and cozy cat beds and a comfy chair for me. I would need a little closet for storing extra litter and food and cat toys. Windows with deep sills. A heated floor. TV with Netflix for chilling with a sleeping cat.
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Tiny studio, mostly made of frosted glass.. for intimate portraits and conversations over coffee. And a green house next to that. And a reading room .. and sixteen more (with plumbing) for my current list of homeless dudes (actually, my life would be complete with just that last one – we should talk 🙂
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This is the best wish list, Susan
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Living in a cold climate complicates things a bit, but genius business idea. Been talking with local cities about something like this auxiliary dwelling units, not much interest, unfortunately.
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I would build a sewing room. Maybe even start up an alteration business.
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