Who's Got a Hidey Hole?

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Do you have a special place you feel safe and comfortable? What's it like (if that's not an impertinent question)? How could it be improved?

I've created the same safe space may times over in different locations: bed, comfortable chair (if there's room), sturdy desk that's not just a glorified computer stand, tons of books and not enough bookshelves, mood lighting, the aforementioned computer, music system, television and their periphera, an area for rudimentary food preparation (if only half a shelf and a sandwich maker), enough floor space for exercising, and enough carpeting, window coverings and white noise to drown out the sights and sounds of the outside world. Even if I officially occupy a dwelling with a number of rooms and furnish them to create the illusion an adult lives here, I find myself, over time, moving everything essential into one small room and using the rest for storage.

Strange to say, since I don't drink, I've always wanted a little home bar in my space. I guess I associate home bars with glamor and human conviviality but without the problems created by actual humans walking in unannounced . I figure I could use one for food prep and eating and it would be an excuse to play with mirrors and lights.

What's your preference?

When I was younger there was a corner of my room that was kind of boxed in by a dresser and my bed. I used to sit there next to the vent, especially since it was probably the warmest place in the house during winter. I never really thought about it as a place to hide, but always sat there to read comics or whatever books I had an interest in at the time.

As a child, I built cubby houses where I could go and spend time alone. Now as an adult, my home is like that. Everything is collapsed into the lounge room and centred around my favourite place in the world: my desk/s. It's like "mission control" and a lot of time and energy goes into setting it/them up correctly, integrating the computer and sound gear. The curtains are always closed to cut down on natural light (which, while not particularly bright, always seems horribly garish to me), lamps for mood lighting (even in the daytime), quiet as possible, kept perpetually neat and tidy with everything in it's place to minimise stressful clutter and help me find things when I need them. Few people ever get to see it...and the few that do visit rarely and quickly - especially if they start making gratuitous remarks about the neatness and the darkness. This is my refuge from the world and it's essential to my well being. Those who don't understand that aren't worthy to visit.

If I ever had the money, I would build my own house specifically around that central space which would be expanded to include more desk space, sound-proofed, get the lighting perfect (also to have some house plants), upgrade my sound/music equipment and incorporate a proper library.

To Gojirax:

To WrongPlanet!! !

I usually have a small place I feel safe. Under extreme circumstances it can literally be a closet or other tiny location, but for day-to-day usage I make myself a comfort area anywhere at home with my computer. Somewhere silent except for a fan or air purifier for white noise, relatively dark and completely free of other people. Our house is small, so it's just a corner of my shared bedroom. Previously I've had an office that worked very well, where I put blackout blinds, my bookcases and set up an impressive corner desk full of my electronics.

My apartment is my personal hidey hole. It is always empty unless I invite someone around and I don't have to answer the door if I don't want to. I'm free to curl up or prance about as I see fit.

Ever since I was kid, for me my hidey hole is the bathtub.. not the most masculine thing to admit, but I would lock the door turn down the lights and soak to total prunehood.

My house was this to me until my grandmother and my uncle started living with us. It's only until they find a new house to rent, but it's really getting on my nerves...

I almost forgot that I had these. I'd build a cave with my blanket and hide in it. Usually, I retreat to an earlier form of childhood (regression) when under pressure.

Maybe I should do that now.

....Freakin' essay already due...

I just go to my bedroom. It's a quite sensory calm room and the thick curtains mean it stays dark. There is also no electrical items in there as that busy drives me crazy!

Thanks for your responses about your "hidey holes." I especially identify with the idea of one's desk being "mission control," as I do writing, financial work, web surfing, artwork, craftwork and eating there. Hmmm, sounds a bit unsanitary.

I also enjoyed being reminded about making a blanket cave. I'm so old that I can remember making one so I could listen to my transistor radio late on a school night, hoping to catch a station from an exotic faraway city like New Orleans.

When I was very young, it used to be cardboard boxes - I'd take one out into the garden (we had long grass in the bit my mam hadn't got round to gardening) and stay there until it was too dark to read!

I then got my own room and, although it was my parent's decorating choice, it was my space - again, usually on my bed - where I could hide away (now with a cat!)

When I was at school, I played piano, so managed (with much begging and pleading) to be able to use one of the music practice rooms during breaktimes so I didn't have to go outside with everyone else - I didn't always play, I'd sit and read sometimes, but it was my space...

I then bought a house as soon as I could (21!) and then the whole house was my haven! I had 2 lovely kitties and loved long bubble baths and the ability to have my music on wherever I was in the house...

I then moved in with my partner (I miss my old house!) and it was "his house" - I never really found a hidey-hole and ended up quite stressed - I couldn't even have bubble baths as there was a problem with the boiler and it would only run hot for a short while... I liked being in the garden, but I am very sensitive to cold, so it wasn't very often I could go out...

We have now bought "our house" and it's an amazing house. I love it... I wouldn't say I have a hidey-hole yet, but I do have the opportunities of hot baths and as he's often on his computer, or in bed (which is his hidey-hole and always has been), then I have the living room with our big comfy sofas and I can snuggle up in my old woolen blanky and the cats can sit around me (we now have 4) while I watch telly or read or sit and stare into space... OK - when I think about it, maybe that is my hidey-hole, but I just hadn't realised it...

I would have liked it to be the bedroom, but as that's his hidey-hole, if we're having a "discussion", we can't both hide in the same place... I've now got a seat outside, but again, it's still cold, so it's not always an option to hide out there... Maybe if I can find a cardboard box big enough for a 30-year-old!

I like this topic. It makes me smile to read about other people's hides. You all have some good stuff.

I have had many hidey holes over the years. I had a cupboard in the duplex when I was three, a utility room in a closet as an older child, cardboard boxes.. I had this fold down couch in a corner that doubled as my bed as a teenager and I got yards of black velvet material that I hung from the ceiling all around that couch so I was closed off from the world... best hidey hole ever! But I used to run and hide behind my garage or climb the tree and sit on top of the garage and stare through the trees at the sky. Now I have a spot on my couch. It is not so much a hide, but it is my place, my spot. No one sits here, no one puts things on it, no one touches it. My books are near, my window is near, it is in a corner and I have five pillows I can barricade myself in with. My computer is here, my water is here, my blanket is here, my bracelets are nearby, my crochet stuff is near... I have my little bag with all of that stuff in it... my few little things gravitate towards this corner and it is my space.

A very special Welkome to WrongPlanet, with a K.

The WP Kink