Anyone else get excited over cozy spaces?

[tlc]

Well I was the typical kid who liked to take a box or put a blanket over a table, pack everything I had into it, and pretend I lived in it. But it seems I never grew out of it.

I get excited at imagining or being in small isolated rooms or spaces that are just big enough. Like a cramped corner with all my things surrounding me. Looking through a dimly lit attic. Being in a DJ station or sound control room surrounded by controls. Or a cockpit. A phone booth. A food serving trailer. A kiosk such as food service, film developing, gas station payment, camping registration....

When I go into a bathroom stall or just a small bathroom, I often imagine how I could live in that space and how I would arrange my things to do that. I once thought of how to live in the back of a station wagon. I could live in a "van down by the river". Or a semi truck sleeper. I drew up plans once for a full self contained camper made from a 5x8 utility trailer. I also get excited at the thought of living in a remote shack like the unabomber (but I wouldn't want to blow people up). My house has a small layout and the rooms are very small which I like.

I get excited about being in a small room with lots of shelves. Shelves stacked with everything I would possibly need for a long time, then be able to stay in the solitude. Places like a janitor's closet. The back of a store. A warehouse, stacked to the ceiling with narrow aisles of everything I could ever need. The bowels of a library, or other information storage archive room, with things to read for a lifetime. Even a computer mainframe room. A boiler room.

I couldn't live like the TV hoarders, because I wouldn't want the mold, bugs, unknown live or dead animals, and especially the smells, and of course dealing with the outsiders over it. But the thought of some of the hoarders of stuff (not garbage) excites me. In particular the ones who crawl over a huge pile to navigate into their bedroom, then have stuff piled to the ceiling around the bed, but on a clear spot on their bed have a bunch of books and things they like to do to relax and escape from the world. The room itself would be such a wonderful cozy escape, I would just love it except for those other reasons. My bedroom floor is clear but my bed is covered with clean clothes on top of the blankets, so I burrow under the blankets and ultimately the clothes when sleeping, and on the passenger side is a huge pile of books I fall asleep to when reading.

 

[alexa roper]

Yes yes yes!! I have a theory that comfort=happiness. So why would anyone want it any other way?? I often find myself feeling jealous of my cats because they can get into the tiniest and coziest of places. There is a small space between the top of my fridge and the cupboards above it that my cats just barely fit it, and I just wanna hang out up there so badly!

I'm moving to a new and larger apartment soon, and I have a plan to make an awesome fortress of solitude. I'm basically just going to take a corner, put a canopy over it, fill it with pillows and blankets, and enjoy Reminiscent of when I was younger and I made a makeshift one of those out of my curtains.

Whatever the opposite of claustrophobia is, we have the opposite haha.

 

[IContainMultitudes]

I'm not sure how cozy it would actually be, but I've always kind of wanted to sleep in something like the "capsule" hotels in Japan.

 

[alexa roper]

I'm not sure how cozy it would actually be, but I've always kind of wanted to sleep in something like the "capsule" hotels in Japan.

Oh definitely. I first saw/heard of them on an Americas Next Top Model episode. All of the models were complaining but I was just sitting there like "That seems so amazing."

 

[tlc]

Yes those are the exact words I often use to explain it to people, being "the opposite of claustrophobic". Since I don't know what it would be either. Maybe it's just more of a natural instinct, since kids and animals do it. Animals create their cozy burrows in the ground or whatever. Often I look at people who seem to be sitting just so nestled in and it looks cozier than it probably is to them. Like between school bus seats, or a corner booth. Or in a car that just fits around them.

I don't like driving large cars either, I often describe it is "swimming". Floundering around with no support. Same way with the large chairs most others at work use. I just can't use them, I had them get me a narrow chair with high arms and straight back.

Capsule hotels, so that's what they are called? I saw a show on them before. Some documentary showing how real estate was such a premium in Japan. And aside from the hotels, how they paid a premium to live in what most Americans would call a large walk-in closet.

 

[Turk]

I'm not sure how cozy it would actually be, but I've always kind of wanted to sleep in something like the "capsule" hotels in Japan.

I reckon it would feel like you were a human torpedo, ready to fired into the side of a passing ship. That or your having nightmares that your in the matrix

 

[Judge]

Absolutely. I always thought it would be great to have a studio apartment provided you could successfully integrate all the furnishings from both a perspective of style and functionality. With a goal of having everything in your immediate environment at your finger tips.

Yes- I'd like that.

 

[Perkinsj88]

Absolutely, I even share in the desire to live remotely in a hollowed out tree stump, complete with a fireplace. Infact, as a child I attempted to run away from home so I could do so. This plays on my self sufficient-ness and my ability to create something useful from nothing. I have my PC setup in a small closet as a matter of fact and that it where you will normally find me these days, I discovered league of legends and am now determined to make it to the pros (LOL) alongside this are my attempts at streaming gameplay with what I call commentary to twitch.tv in attempt to generate something resembling an income. Back on subject then - I have a theory that the "excitement" felt in cozy places is actually a feeling of security, no one can ever sneak in on you and you're able to see everything that's already in with you. It may even stem way back from the feeling of being in that cramped but cozy mothers womb...who knows? Anyways..you are not alone in your passionate love of small cozy living spaces and I suspect there to be many more who would say the same. I also like being low to ground or in general, out of plain sight. I suspect this is also instinct related desires (prowling for prey in the wild or evading my counter predator). I would love to see a study done regarding this, its sort of along the same lines as the hunting traits theory but a tad broader. If only we could ask our long dead cave dwelling ancestors if all of this was normal. lol

 

[alexa roper]

You guys should check out Tumbleweed Tiny House Company. These houses are real and you can buy them and live in them wherever you want. Pretty extreme, but they have always appealed to me

 

[Warwick C]

it sounds similat to me as living on a medium size boat. about 30-40 foot. the berths would not be much bigger than a hammock 6 x 3 foot

 

[Judge]

it sounds similat to me as living on a medium size boat. about 30-40 foot. the berths would not be much bigger than a hammock 6 x 3 foot

Reminds me of the movie "You've Got Mail"....when Tom Hanks dumps his girlfriend and moves to his sailboat. Lucky dog!

 

[Axeman52]

I used to like sitting in cardboard boxes, washing baskets etc. I still would if I could fit in them. when I was a kid my dad's friend used to call me "the box dweller". because every time he visited I'd be sitting in a box. Dog baskets look cosy - I'd have probably liked sitting in that if I ever had a dog.

There's a cupboard in the corner of my room that I used to shut myself in quite a lot. I probably still could/would occasionally if it wasn't full of stuff. I remember I used to have my corner in the social area at college which I used to retreat into if things got a bit too loud or confusing. It was actually a kind of a big conservatory, which looked like they'd built it over a garden, and put pebbles where flower beds used to be - since this area wasn't part of the path and was covered in pebbles the college didn't like people walking/sitting there so one day I came to college and found they'd put rails around these areas to keep people off them, but that just made it seem more inviting to me, and it was easy enough to climb over the rail...

 

[Thea]

I would sit in the gap between my desk and my bed as a kid because I liked the confined space. Later on I'd lay between my bed and the wall. At the moment I have a huge desk and my preferred cozy spot is in the foot well because it's very deep and I can fit in there really well. I intend to get a soft fuzzy blanket and make it my nest. It's a very good place to do that because it's dim and I'm quite light sensitive.

 

[alexa roper]

I would sit in the gap between my desk and my bed as a kid because I liked the confined space. Later on I'd lay between my bed and the wall. At the moment I have a huge desk and my preferred cozy spot is in the foot well because it's very deep and I can fit in there really well. I intend to get a soft fuzzy blanket and make it my nest. It's a very good place to do that because it's dim and I'm quite light sensitive.

I, too, enjoyed laying in the space between my bed and the wall, I actually slept there for my entire junior year of high school! I also used to crawl into my dogs' kennels when I was growing up and just hang out. It was very relaxing and almost comforting, I would still do it if I still had a dog! haha.

 

[LgndKllr24]

Yeah I've always been like this too. When I hear people complain that they have a small apartment, secretly I think it wouldn't be so bad because I kind of like places like that. I also have this strange obsessions with hotels/motels. I think the reason is because many hotels have smaller, cozy type rooms. I always think about how awesome it is to be in a big, noisy place, but have a nice little hotel room to go back to where everything is quiet and you have privacy. I think that is a dream of mine to cross the country and spend several nights just in various hotels, seeing how the different rooms are, etc. Probably doesn't sound like fun to most, but it seems like many on this board would be able to relate to me.

 

[Grumpy Cat]

I'm claustrophobic - I need space. I'm so glad my condo has cathedral ceilings (my air conditioner, however, is not.)

 

[Judge]

I think the one time I truly started to become claustrophobic many years ago living for two years in an apartment that was only 600 square feet. The bedroom wasn't wide enough for even two nightstands for a full-size bed.

It was a nice unit in a very nice complex, but I was paying way too much for far too little space. It became exasperating and I finally moved out to a much larger and brand new unit that was around 760 square feet.

 

[wooden_horse]

I've always been attracted to little one room shacks in the middle of nowhere. Never managed to live in one yet though. I live for six months in a 6'x4' wooden shed . That worked but I was working 7 days a week and not needing it much except to sleep and cook. I went to the gym every day just to be able to shower. Next time I would go for 8' x 8' .

 

[buckyboy14]

Indeed, I am a claustrophile. Small, tight spaces are awesome. I don't like crowds when there is a bunch of activity going on, but I loved tornado drills and Code Red drills (in the case of an intruder, all the students would huddle behind the teacher's desk). It was all crowded and quiet, and it was awesome. Of course, the other students found it really creepy that I liked that, and it alienated me even further...