That phrase about "thinking outside of the box" has always seemed a little overused to us, but for our last four months in Point Roberts, we were literally living outside and alongside of the boxes. What you can see in this photo is the culmination of a couple of weeks of serious thinking about how to construct a couch like creation from decidedly non couch-like materials. What did we have on hand? No frame, no cushions, no back support of even the vaguest nature. We had ten banker's boxes, filled with books. Hmmm, we could work with that. The original couch we constructed (well, I constructed it...Shawn didn't have faith in the project, from the start) consisted of the five boxes shown, but laid out flat, not stacked. On top of these boxes I placed a motley assortment of spare blankets and camping equipment (specifically, bed rolls!). This unique combination yielded a singularly uncomfortable creation that I called our couch. It had absolutely no lumbar support, making it treacherous for one trying to encourage spinal health. It also sported a really impressively uncomfortable leg length. Shawn's legs were too long for it and mine too short. After abandoning the couch to lay on the bed with pillows arranged to add a LITTLE comfort, we did try restacking the boxes and creating the "reformulated" couch to be seen above. This couch was a little more comfortable, as the leg length problem was solved and the back support was a bit better too. You could sit straight and get some support from the wall itself. Unfortunately, the rental house had lousy insulation, so if the fire wasn't blazing, it just wasn't worth the money to heat the front room (which essentially was equivalent to heating the front yard) and so we gave up the dream (well, I gave up the dream, since Shawn always thought that couch was a nightmare!!) and just opted to sit out our four months on the bed/couch thing!
Did we mention that our rental in Cushing includes among furnishings...a COUCH!! Yahoo!
