My attic is basically an unfinished third floor with a vaulted ceiling. After my roommates of the past decade moved out, I reorganized it and threw away some stuff. I got it in my head I wanted to be able to do my martial arts broadsword form up there (it takes a lot of clearance to whip a sword around and I hate having to go out to the alley to do it for a number of reasons), so I plunked down to double my 9×9′ tatami mats to 9×18′. Then in true Lincoln fashion I had to make the space… fancy.

I dug out old curtains, scrounged a bunch of spare lighting, and converted it into my own mini dojo. I taped down thin, cheap Home Depot rugs, then added a double layer of moving blankets & anti-slip rug mats under the tatami mats to keep them from moving and to muffle the sound of me moving around up there.

Still plenty of space up there for friends to spend the night post-pandemic, too. Behind the photo is a wall of shelves creating a “room” for a pair of bunk beds.

My use of the space is pretty limited while temps hover in the teens (F), but once I don’t need thermal socks to practice I hope I’ll be up there frequently. It probably took about 30-40 hours to clean the attic and set this up. Once I’ve logged that many hours of practice up there I’ll feel pretty good about it.