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[ksmith]

Taxes mailed off. I don't like slopping over into April, but I just couldn't find the drive to pull stuff together. I should commit to setting up my 2007 spreadsheet now and logging things as they come. I've been talking about doing this for 5-6 years--why can't I manage it?



My room now looks a little less like a college dorm room thanks to some major straightening up and the replacement of the clunky stereo with the Bose. I still need to put actual framed prints on the walls, which means I need to take said prints to the framers. One will likely be the ENDGAME illo that Chris McGrath sent me. The other is up in the air.

I am still afflicted by my weakness for stuffed animals. One, however, is the teddy bear given me by an aunt and uncle over 45 years ago. Not giving that up or packing it away. Then there's the wolf from one of the nature organizations that howls when you squeeze its sides. Not getting rid of that, either.

The crab and cockroach stay, too (Hey, a new name for a pub--The Crab and Cockroach).

And my piggy bank with the spaceship decorations. It's staying. And the King Arthur figurine...I should probably take Guinevere and Lancelot out of the living room display case and set up the triangle atop my armoire.

I need a bigger bookcase, but for that I would need a bigger room.

Those gorgeous bedrooms in the Crate&Barrel catalogs? Just a dream. I think the best I can hope for is "not a dorm room."

It's not that I don't like nice things. I love to leaf through house magazines and design catalogs. Then somewhere it all disconnects, and I fail to try to bring some of that into my life. And I should, because I'm a little old for the dorms.

Comments

[pbray.livejournal.com]

My efforts to evolve past dorm room stopped around "first house" stage. For example, my dresser, entertainment center, bookcases, computer desk, end table, etc, are all kit furniture (mostly Sauder).

I have many things which need to be framed and hung on wall. But with a small house, it's a tradeoff between wall space for art and wall space for bookcases. Plus, getting things framed would require me actually getting organized to bring things to the frame shop....

Most (but not all) of the stuffed animals live in a large wicker basket in the writing room. Don't ask how many koalas I have--but each of them has their own individual back story (not my fault, blame my dad). The bears make an interesting contrast to the four foot replica long sword which is the other main decoration.

While the living room is dominated by my bike and the life-size cardboard Aragorn that lurks in the alcove next to the bookcase.

I'm hoping to declutter sometime this year, but I can't see myself getting rid of my treasures.

[madbaker.livejournal.com]

My wife went to art school and I'm a bibliophile.* And we live in a small flat with limited wall space. It's a constant struggle to balance art vs. books.

*More appropriately, quoting a friend: "I'm not a bibliophile, I'm a bibliophiliac. When I enter a bookstore, my wallet bleeds."

[leahbobet.livejournal.com]

Hee. My whole apartment is sort of like that, and I lack the aesthetic sense to do anything about it. Although to be fair, it'd be a lot better if I'd had the presence of mind to paint the walls before I moved in. White walls tend to make a place look like you settled there three weeks ago instead of almost three years.

My stopgap solution has been to put plants all over the place. It helps...some.

[kristine-smith.livejournal.com]

My office desk and small rolling file drawer are kit furniture, as are my dining room hutch and living room end tables. All my bookcases but one.

I see the house evolving into a dormish office amoeba, with computer stuff, books/bookcases, and reference materials spread from living room through the kitchen/dining room into the bedrooms.

So I'm not the only person who keeps the stuffed animals in a wicker basket...?

[affreca.livejournal.com]

I have a similiar problem. My excuse is that I've been moving an average of once every year since I left my parents. I tend to get furniture that is light and cheap, except my kitchen table, which is suitable for a prairie farmhouse.

The problem I have with artwork right now is that nothing I have matches the walls. For once I'm in a rental with colored walls, and that complicates things.

[alfreda89.livejournal.com]

I live with a man who has more books than I do, and a tee shirt for every race he's run. We're talking in the hundreds, here -- his clothes shelves in the master closet are full, his drawers are full, and there are two huge tee shirt stacks on top of his ancient dresser.

We have a dining room set that matches, flanked by three large cherry bookcases/breakfronts from my first house -- and complementary furniture in the living room. But neat it ain't. Clean, yes -- neat, uh-uh.

The humor is, we have good taste. But that doesn't mean we'll spend money on decorating. We'd rather add to the 10,000 books...

Still, I'd really like help flipping the mattress and putting the bed skirt on, and hanging two big prints. But the tee shirt pile has to drop enough to be able to hang the prints.

PS -- I have four beanie babies given to me (no, five -- Cthulhu counts, too -- he keeps them in line.)

[barbarienne.livejournal.com]

If you are at all handy, you might want to try www.americanframe.com instead of framers. For about half what a framer would charge you, you can order everything you need and just assemble it yourself. The only tricky bits are (1) positioning the art so it aligns correctly with the mat boards, and (2) keeping pet hair from getting stuck on the inside of the plexiglas (static is not your friend).

I'm totally with you on the "not a dorm room" aspirations. Putting framed prints on the wall actually does a lot to alleviate that. The other useful step is to get matching furniture, but that's not a step I want to take...

[barbarienne.livejournal.com]

If he only stores the tee shirts and never wears them, look into Space Bags. They really do work!

[alfreda89.livejournal.com]

No, he wears them -- but it is true that he rotates among say 50 or so shirts, having theme weeks -- like all museum shirts, all marathon shirts, all business trip shirts...

We've discussed making a quilt out of some of them, but sorting for that chore is WAY down the list.

[kristine-smith.livejournal.com]

I've seen photos in catalogs where framed art is set on the floor to lean against bookcases. The artwork is arranged one in front of the other, so someone would need to leaf through them to see them, like albums in old record bins.

[kristine-smith.livejournal.com]

Plants do help. Wallpaper borders help, too, and they're pretty simple to put up.

Another thing--colorful electric outlet covers. Ceramic or painted wood covers can run $10-$12 or more each, but a more inexpensive option is to buy cheap plain plastic covers and either paint them or cover them with wallpaper.

[kristine-smith.livejournal.com]

My living room has darkish maple walls. It takes a formidable picture to overwhelm them--personally, I don't think it's possible. The Raphael Madonna print in the big gold frame is hanging in there, and it looks pretty meek.

Could the frame/mat act as a bridge between the wall and the picture?

I really don't know if anything needs to match these days. Everything in the catalogs seems to be a jumble of color and pattern.

[kristine-smith.livejournal.com]

I may look into this, because framing around here will run me a couple hundred dollars a picture.

My furniture is mismatched, but not extremely so. Still, it probably doesn't help...