Getting Settled
To those who don't know, I like organizing. I like the look of things when they are accessible and neat; I think it's genetic. Every apartment I've lived in, I've aimed at making my spaces look like advertisements for, well, IKEA, but it's never worked out. I didn't have enough space or I knew I wouldn't be there long enough to justify buying a piece of furniture that would help with the process, and the end result has been lots of throw-away pieces of furniture, easy-move linens and lots and lots of cardboard boxes stuffed in the corners for the next move. But all of those things are being surrendered for this house-- this house that will be ours.
The last time Jeremy and I were in IKEA, he talked about how strange it will feel when we stop our weekly treks through the store. (It carried more bitterness than I'm portraying here. Jeremy's list of favorites does not include shopping-- either for clothes or for home-things). I'm still deciding how I feel about IKEA. I can feel consumerism and really really smart marketing oozing from the walls of their showroom and warehouse, and I don't know if that bothers me, or if I respect them because they've done their thing so well. Right now, while I'm deciding, I'm enjoying the gross stock of really really neat organizing things: scarf hangers and drawer compartments and even a set of children's play silverware that come in their own appropriately-sized organizer! It's been fun. Anyway...
We just recently bought this bookcase and this desk, and we put them together last night. They are beautiful, substantial pieces of furniture. No, they aren't solid oak. No, they don't have stories. But we're about to give them some-- starting with tonight.
Tonight's chores involve watching High Fidelity and deciding out how we want to organize our books. (Genre? Chronologically? Autobiographically? By Color? By which authors would strike up good conversation at a dinner party?) Jeremy and I are both pretty thrilled to merge our libraries. He's got a lot of books that I'd love to adopt and I've got a lot of books he'd love to adopt and it's a pretty dorky, sentimental thing that we're so exited to see our books on the same shelves. And tonight is the night.
It's happening; we're making a home-- a place we both love to be. I'll post pictures when we're done. Hooray!
P.S. It's strange to be living somewhere that belongs to both of us, but living there alone.
Comments
Sheila on Oct 23, 2009
I love that you two both love books so much. I don't remember the person but this quote is awesome: "A room without books is like a body without a soul." I read years ago that you should not put books in your living room, so I took them out (silly me). After reading this quote....out came all the books (as you know) and every room in our home has books.....many we have not even read yet...but just knowing they are there thrills me. I have many "antique" books (especially children's)just because I love the title or the cover or the pictures in it. Books thrill me probably in a different way than you two but I so get the excitement over them.
Brianna Wells on Nov 18, 2009
My Jeremy lived in our first apartment before we were married too. It was kinda strange. It was so hard for me to leave at the end of each day.