Tuesday 13 November 2012

George Clarke's Amazing Spaces

November 2012

Rarely indeed do I watch TV. I don't even have one, so normally rely on other people's sets, or streaming over the internet. Catch-Up is a marvellous thing.

One program that is on at the moment, and one that interests me greatly, is George Clarke's Amazing Spaces on Channel 4 on a Tuesday evening. I love it.

It's a truly inspiration prog exploring many kinds of small spaces, from a beach hut to a static caravan, from teeny budgets of a couple of hundred pounds to massive £100k+ budgets.

Two of my favourite projects so far have been the woodland cabin and the beach hut. And, interestingly enough, these two were the cheapest. Which I guess requires far more inspiring ingenuity than simply signing a cheque.







Funnily enough, I'm not alone in my love of this wonderful programme. Look at social media and its evident that the fan base of Amazing Spaces is growing rapidly.

Which brings me around to the thoughts I'm having about it. I do wonder how many people watch the programme, see the spaces created, then look around at their own unmanageable and cluttered houses? The small spaces that George examines, be it an Airstream or a converted shipping container, show just how little we really need.

Living in a small space, it becomes terribly important to be lumbered down with as few encumbrances (aka STUFF) as possible. I once tried to live in a 6ftx12ft caravan and a small coupe car, yet in this tiny rig I carried about the massive amount of kit needed to pursue my windsurfing hobby. Despite the fact that all the stuff that I carted around could (just about) physically fit into the car and caravan, everything I ended up needing was always hiding in a box under a pile of other boxes. Tiresome, and a major source of frustration. The small space is only the start. You then have to shrink your life to fit.







My decluttering process is ongoing. I started nine months ago, and it's covered in the blog entry here.

Now winter is here, it's time for the next stage of decluttering. More on that a later date.

If, like me, you are a massive fan of George Clarke and his amazing Amazing Spaces, lend a thought to the wider implications of how simple life could be.

For many of us, finding and converting the space is the easy thing. Ditching all the stuff so that we live freely and unencumbered in that small space… that's not so easy.

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