Changes around our House.

As a gift to himself, Diego bought a rowing machine. For about 6 months he kept having to take it apart and stand it up in a "corner" of the living room. This was a hassle and less motivating to use so it was time to make some changes in the living room to accommodate this new machine.

This was no small feat! We live in a 700 sq.ft apartment and our living room is on the small side. This machine is about 2 ft shorter than the length of our living room and requires a 9 ft by 4 ft footprint to be used! Lucky for us it can be be tucked away. For 8 years we had a large fish tank in 2 corners of the living room. 

We got rid of this one about 2 years ago when I moved it to my office. It was a 75 gallon (that I have since upgraded to a 90 gallon) full of cichlids. It was actually pretty cool since we had our TV hidden in the cabinet below the tank. At the time we had 4 large tanks in our house and it was time to start decreasing the number of the more labour intensive tanks in our home.

This tank was also a 75 gallon tank and house many inhabitants over the years. This is an old photo (2006) but you get the idea. As you can see it was blocking about half of the window and since it is east facing it doesn't get a lot of light because of the giant trees on our street, it was blocking a lot of natural light. Once the last fish died, the tank sat for almost 2 years with only plants in it to keep the maintenance at a minimum during my last year of PhD. Finally the light fixture stopped working which to me was a sign.

 

 

So I moved the tank to my work since I have a large teaching lab with lots of counter space and huge windows. The plants are much happier and I just bought some freshwater shrimp and fish for it. The students love it!

All of these changes made room for us to rearrange our furniture to accommodate the rowing machine. The corner with the TV had Tank #1 and Tank #2 was where the bookcase is now. The main part of the rowing machine is under the Mexican blanket. Not only has this change given us more natural light (see the plants...!) but it also makes the room feel more spacious. Now the machine is much easier to access and gives us ample space to use which has motivated both of us to do more often. We just swing the back end (under the TV) out to the middle of the room when we want to use it. You might think it looks like an eyesore, but it actually fits in okay with our decor and it can also be taken apart and moved if we need more space use to the hide-a-bed or just a larger crowd. So although, we have gotten rid of some of the more comforting aspects of our home, when a hobby starts to become more work than pleasure it is time to make some changes. Like I said I still have the tanks at work but I actually get to enjoy them more there than I did at home because they are easier to maintain so it was a good move. Not to mention, the students get to enjoy them too!

Any changes around your house lately?