A Room of One's Own

I don't know what it means to be a grown up. Actually, I'm not sure anyone does, really. But I'll tell you what makes me feel like an adult today:

Owning all of my own furniture. I don't know why, but I was sitting outside having a cigarette (yes, I smoke on occasion) by myself, and I looked over at the two chairs I bought about four months ago that haven't got felt on the bottoms yet so as not to scratch up the wood floors we just installed, and I realized I own a house full of furniture. I have three sofas (one couch and the love seat are a set even), two chairs that match the living room furniture, a dining room table with four matching chairs, a loft bed with a full sized mattress, and a queen bed to go under it. I own a dresser and two bookshelves. Mops, two brooms, a microwave and a few miscellaneous decorations. I have books that line one bookshelf and movies on another. A television. A computer and the rest of the usual electronic items. It's a pretty nice feeling.

I know I have a long way before I'm anywhere near fully self reliant. But having painted the walls of my house and finally gotten rid of disgustingly pet stained carpets, I have to say, I feel really good about my living situation and the way my life is going.

I have a lot of school to finish, and I can't say I have much money, but I'm headed in a career direction that will support me and probably a family if I end up with one. I have a lot of wonderful friends who look out for me and whom I look out for. A boyfriend who's wonderful and supportive and gets me. And is even willing to spend three days laying wood flooring. Starting next week I'll have a job that lines up with my future plans. And all in all, life is good and getting better. Well done, life. Thank you.

I promise to put up pics soon of the house as it is now. It looks so much better. We still have a small amount of work to do, but compared to how it was even just four months ago, it's pretty near finished.

On Decorating

So, Elisa and I have been talking a lot about decorating the house. Our landlord is very chill, happy to let us change the flooring and walls to our delight. We're putting in the cheapest fake wood floor we can find at Ikea and then covering it up with area rugs. That's pretty much decided. But what I've been going back and forth on for ages is the color scheme I want. And I think I've finally - FINALLY - decided.

To begin, I'm using this photo to sort of focus my palette. I love bright colors. Especially these shades of bright colors.
















With that photo in mind, I've chosen this as the color for my walls. I haven't decided on a trim yet, though I'm considering a darker shade or a brown, but I really love this color. I've wanted to paint something this colors probably my entire adult life. Why it wasn't the first thing I thought of is actually rather surprising.

Magically, well... ok... not magically, because this is the exact reason I started thinking about these colors together... I've found a beautiful pink couch for only $150. I love it so much! I'm shocked it hasn't been scooped up already by hipster kids in the Salt Lake area. See what I mean?

And to top it off, there are two other couches on ksl that miiiight go perfectly. I want to check them out first because it says they're rocker loveseats?? And I'm not a fan of tippy stuff generally. I'll probably never in my life own a swivel recliner (one because they're cheesy and gross, and two because, well, see above). But the fabric on these couches are perfect. And the colors fit right in with my overall scheme.

If forced to choose, I'd much prefer the orange couch, but our living room is definitely large enough for all three to fit. If I think they match well enough at least.


As for lighting, Greg Nichols gave me the best idea ever! Our ceiling lights are 1) way way way too high to change (the ceiling is about 12-13 feet high) and 2) not very good at lighting the living room. We of course have the option of floor lamps. Which have worked ok in the past. But I find them annoying to move around and not great at filling the whole room with light.

So instead, I want to string bulbs back and forth, hung from the thick trim that sits about 3 feet below the ceiling (I'm too lazy to take a photo or else I'd just show you). It would be something akin to this but strung closer together. We'd do it in the main part of the living room, possibly in the back part as well (by the entry). I'd probably add some floor lamps too, but at least we'd have some light coming from the ceiling. And fun lights at that.

And the dining room. Well. That I'm still working on. I'm not sure if I'll paint the walls the same color throughout or change the color scheme a bit. Elisa and I have talked about possibly doing Japanese or Indian style seating. I've been mulling it over. On the one hand, it means I only need to buy a table, no chairs. And I think it could look very nice. On the other, we have a dog. And I don't like the idea of Sego being so close to the area we eat. If that makes any sense. Fur and everything considered. So that's still up in the air. Mainly it will come down to what I can afford I suppose.

Oh, and art! I'd love to cover the walls as much as possible in art drawn/painted/photographed etc. by our friends. I'm really really excited about that!

And that's all I've got so far. I wanted to write all this down though before I forget about it or lose my vision :) Let me know what you think, if anyone's reading this.