Monday, April 19, 2010

To Add Honor To

(Post title - the first entry of the definition of "to decorate" in the Merriam-Webster dictionary.  Seriously.)

I have a confession to make: I'm an interior decorating junkie.  You can probably tell since half of the "favorites/favourites" links on my blog are for design websites.  This isn't a new thing - even when I was little I loved rearranging my room; my mother and I would measure all the furniture and use graph paper and cutouts to make sure that the new arangement would fit before moving anything around.

I'm hoping that this love of decorating (and my stores of yet-untapped creativity!) will stand me in good stead when Jon and I move into our new flat.  Of course, we will both have to draw on that magical "c" word - compromise - when decorating.  He has a much more minimalist and modern sensibility than I do; I'm more classic and countryside.  (Check out all that alliteration!  My 10th grade English teacher would be proud.)  We'll both be bringing things to wherever we end up living - he has some amazing artwork that was given to him by his parents and grandmother and I have a few prints that I'm crazy about - but anywhere we rent will be partially or entirely furnished by the landlord/agency from whom we rent.  This could be a bad thing, since it will mean the place won't truly be ours, but it could be also a good thing: we won't be able to fight over sofas!


Since our flat will be small and storage in London houses is sort of nonexistant, we'll have to decorate creatively.  Even though I won't be moving to London till June and we won't be renting a place till August (Jon's current lease runs till the beginning of August, so we'll just stay where he is for the first two months and use it as a base from which to flat-hunt) I've begun researching both flats - see my post of 16 April for more on that - and decorating options.  My new favorite website is Tiny-Ass Apartment, which posts pictures and links and tips on decorating - can you guess? - tiny-ass apartments.  It's fab and has got tons o' great ideas, and I'm sure I'll draw on it heavily when I know what kind of space I'll be working with.  Check it out, even if you have the luxury of space - you can always learn something from economy!  (Bonus: the blogger, Simone, is really sweet and friendly!)

Anyway, right now I'm thinking that the worst thing about a studio is that there won't be enough wall space for Jon's art and my prints - or enough bookshelves!  How frivolous is that?

3 comments:

  1. Aw, shucks, Betsy. :-P

    I still wanna see pics of your London place! Even if it's empty! Those could be the "before" pics, y'know. :-P

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  2. Well, I'm not actually there yet! As soon as we find a place I'll let you know - and I'll put up photos galore. Pinky promise.

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  3. Ah, I see, you have to do the whole apartment hunt still! Exciting!

    Geez, I miss London. I've only been once, but it stuck with me. :-)

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