Up there with the best – attic spaces

What is it about attic spaces and creativity? By attic, I mean a room with tiny windows and sloping ceiling walls, not spacious loft living: that’s about money, not creativity. Attics were historically the cheapest room in the house; where the servants slept; where naughty children were sent and where unwanted relatives were hoarded away.

When unoccupied, the attic room would become a store space for three essential items: a dressmaker’s dummy; a rocking horse and an old-fashioned traveller’s trunk. All other items had to be of an odd shape and covered with white, preferably greying sheets. It was recommended that the one tiny window be opaque with aged dirt except for one clear single hand-wipe through which it was possible to see a child that had died decades ago playing miserably in the street below.

Word of warning: that child will look up and see you,

reminding you that the door to the enigmatic room at the top should always be locked, in order to keep the strange sounds at night from coming down the stairs.

So, suitably unloved and unwanted, the attic room used to be the original must-have for every struggling artist – mainly because the sloping walls provided an odd surface to bounce strange ideas off.

Or was it because they were cheap?

These days, attics are not cheap: as the population increases exponentially and we all fight for space, the world no longer has room for dummies, rocking horses and traveller’s trunks and as for art: have you ever tried hanging pictures on a sloping wall?