Starting at the Beginning

Once I knew I'd be staying in Buffalo for another year, I wanted to undertake some apartment re-do's. I moved into my current apartment under two conditions that aren't exactly conducive to good decorating: (1) Following a nasty break-up with the fella with whom you shared the last pad and (2) falsely believing that I'd be graduating and leaving the area... in just another year. Yeah, so that was maybe three years ago. Three years of just going with whatever, just dealing with the furniture in a liveable arrangement, just moving clutter from one room to the next to avoid actually dealing with it.

Well, I'm dealing with it now.


Actually, I've been dealing with the clutter a little bit at a time, tossing out a shirt here, a pair of shoes there. Some has gone to ebay, most to charity, some straight to the trash. After years of reading FlyLady, I'm finally starting to see some changes. I keep the apartment much neater, although there are still problems. I'm resistant to bring anything else into the space, at least most of the time. And most importantly, I'm finally inspired to take the time to decorate.

In part, this inspiration came about from one of the biggest sources of anxiety taking me away from decorating. I've been telling myself that there's no need to waste the time with HGTV-inspired nonsense, there's a dissertation to write, a job to get, a move to make. The irony here is that the dissertation that I'm constantly bellyaching about... it's about decorating.

Yeah, I know.

So while I've been out there trying to get that job with research based in part on interior decorating practices, I've had people constantly asking about my own living space. If I write about objects, what kind of objects do I own? If I'm obsessed with how authors create mood through design, how do I create a mood through design? It's pretty bad when my only answer was that my personal aesthetic was pretty much grad student trashy chic and honestly, the only mood you'd get from walking into my messy space is "freaked... out..."

I tried to avoid the actual words "freaked... out..." but you get the point.

So, I'm trying a slightly new approach. If I make a writing goal for the day or week, I get to play with decorating projects. Of course, these re-do's come with a catch just to make it interesting... no moolah.

Being all organized and anal, I started with the entryway. Symbolically, redecorating to allow new opportunities into my life, starting fresh, etc. Or maybe just because it's the smallest space with the least to do. 'Cause I'm lazy like that.

Before:







After:

So this is partly deceptive in my cleaning practices as I just packed away the scarf collection for the summer (in a stupid move which I now regret it being quite chilly and all). I've got a functioning space for organizing mail, sunglasses and stacks of library books to be returned and get to show off some of the Fiesta dishes.

I get to brag about the curtain a bit as it came entirely from the fabric and ribbon stash. Sewing French seams with a double layer of that filmy stuff was a bit of a pain in you know but I'm pretty pleased with these. And the shawl tossed atop the mirror... coincidentally matching recent finished object which I'll post about tomorrow.

And the thing I get to brag about the most...

There's an empty drawer in that dresser. Shocking, I know!

Total Costs: $8.93 for the paint, American Accents Smooth Satin Finish in Espresso