Both always had traditional purpose. Cellars were prized in WWII where families turned them into air raid shelters and emergency larders, chick incubators and temporary bunk-bed rooms. The basement was usually cool enough to store preserves, winter vegetables, seasonal equipment and etc. three times!
Attics had a softer reputation – seasonal clothing in a Cedar closet, ancestral memorabilia, boxes of stuff for the next generation to decide about – and great places for winning at hide-and-seek.
Of course, before one can think about repurposing an attic or cellar, one has to be lucky enough to have one or both! East coasters and mid-westerners (like me) can remember growing up in homes that were sandwiched by the cellar below and an attic above. Who would NOT want them?
Attics and cellars were routinely included in Interior housing design in the early half of the 1900's. If you were moving to a different house, you could depend on having two Interior spaces to redirect items where placement was undecided: That can go up to the attic 'til later! Just take those to the cellar – for now! Cellars and attics were our Interior, onsite alternatives to a cluttered main house or offsite rented storage.
With this Interior Design articles series, we have been considering climate change impactions from many angles, as well as the mandates arising from a pandemic that forced isolation and innovation for both home life and business operations. All of our Interior spaces were wholly challenged.
Of course, anyone with an attic or cellar was fortunate in knowing those two areas as great backup! Normally, they could provide family holiday accommodations, a place for a puppy in training, and such. Just set up cots or daybeds and a space heater and it was good to go. In emergencies, there was usually room to spare. Generally and contemporarily speaking, those options are just not as widely available.
Our inspirational and innovative potential is now served by frequent natural disasters, radical climate change impacts and the resultant unpredictable economic stability!
Make-do just doesn't cut the mustard anymore. Families are forced to double-up and move over. It could be due to home and property loss by flood or fire. It could be the ripple effect of those events on income reduction, job loss or injury. Families help each other. Friends reach out. The extended family result that was forced on many by negative circumstances has also created an existential "Aha!"
Offsite storage has taken off like a rocket as an industry, and as a solution. It has everything but convenient access to some of the elements we place there! While one industry got a boost from disasters, the other side of the coin has been a harsh wake-up call concerning the punishment of our Interior space – and its future best use. Designing cellars and attics as legitimate additional rooms in a residence can be an eye-opening adventure! The prospect of 2, 3 or 4 additional rooms can take your very breath away – when remembering the way we all had to move over a lot to help house family and friends in dire need. When it looks like temporary may need to become permanent – better use of existing space is a must!
And, yes, cellars are basically concrete boxes. And, yes, attics sometimes don't have actual flooring or walls! But, your Interior design team has lots of experience with creative conversions of roughed-in space.
Ever notice an existing house that suddenly has new construction bursting thru the roof? Better yet, one all jacked up to expand a crawlspace into a basement? Kinda makes my point!
If you have an attic or cellar, or don't, or want one or both, solutions do abound. The critical issue here is that more efficient, flexible and economical use of Interior space (residential and commercial) is virtually demanded as our population is driven indoors more frequently and for longer periods of time.
Consider an Interior space use analysis, and know, for sure, that help is on the way!
Robert Boccabella, B.F.A. is principal and founder of Business Design Services and a certified interior designer in private practice for over 30 years. Boccabella provides Designing to Fit the Vision© in collaboration with writingservice@earthlink.net. To contact him call 707-263-7073; email him at rb@BusinessDesignServices.com or visit www.BusinessDesignServices.com or on Face Book at Business Design Services.
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