Tuesday, June 9, 2009

Not What I Thought It Would Be

Setting up house, that is. This whole not-having-a-job thing makes for having a lot of time to unpack things and sort them and decorate and fun stuff like that. Sadly, it does not come with a lot of money to buy shelves and such. Nor does it come with the instant enlightenment of what to do with this hodge-podge of stuff we have. Blargh.

And it really is quite a hodge-podge. Mostly . . . well, no I'll be honest . . . entirely . . . because of me. Luke is really in to Japan and Japanese culture . . . really in to it. Pretty much everything he has that falls under the huge umbrella I'm labelling "decor crape" (with an accent on that last e to make it sound all fancy and French-like) is of Japanese origin, or at least looks like it could be. My stuff? If someone were to attempt to be polite while descrbing my stuff, they would probably use the word "eclectic." I have, quite literally, a little bit of everything. Cutesy little plaques and pictures from Deseret Book, dozens upon dozens of loose photographs that I kept on my wall in college, innumerable little knick-knacs and curios, some I bought myself, some I inheiriteed from heaven-knows-where, some were gifts, and most I couldn't tell you which of those was the source for it. Plenty of Disney stuff, of course, because like any self-respecting CM (cast member) I probably spent a good 30% of what I made on either food at the parks or little trinkets - a Jolly Roger flag, a talking Jack the Monkey, a couple of princess posters, etc. And that's just the stuff I can shove into some sort of broad category. What am I supposed to do with all this stuff?

I've never really had this problem before. With every other place I've lived in since I graduated high school, I either had a (more or less) definite date that I would be moving out, or I just didn't have enough space to put out everything I wanted. So it either stayed packed up in the many plastic tubs I've accumulated in the last seven years, or stored in the closet of my old room. But this time, I'm here permanently . . . well, indefinitely, anyway . . . and the whole place is mine to decorate. No roommates to share wall space and shelf space with . . . I gotta admit, that kinda nice. Kinda really nice. And I'm kinda really enjoying it. However, I'm also sorta stuck.

When I decorated my college/Florida bedrooms, I can admit now, that they always lacked a certain "je ne sais quoi" that, actually, je sais: most people would probably call it taste. I would take everything I had for decoration, and cram them all into whatever space I had. No real theme or even plan . . . I just put everything out and on display. The results might be a little hard to envision, but perhaps this will help: no where was this sort of "whatever" decorating philosophy more evident than on my walls. Posters, photos, pictures, calender . . . I probably kept about a pound of that sticky tack stuff on my walls at all times, and the two best ways I ever heard to describe it were these - "it's like I walked into a ginat scrapbook" and "it's like a scrapbook exploded in here." Yep, that's my room.

I suppose that sort of thing was to be expected. Growing up, my room alwways had next to nothing on the walls. And what was there was always . . . let's just say "mother approved." Either pictures she probably had on her walls as a child, or something she liked and allowed on the walls. All matching the paint, and all very matchy-matchy with each other. And a lot of it were not things I would have chosen to put on my walls when I was six, much less as a teenager. So I guess the exploding scrapbook was only to be expected once I had complete and sole control over what went on my walls. And I've gotta say, there's something unendingly pleasing about shutting your bedroom door and revealing a pirate flag . . . like a token of a hidden wildside that nobody ever sees, or something. Good times.

So now, here I am. I have a tub-full of knick-knacks that I want to display somehow . . . but we've already used up all our limited shelf/table space. With Luke's help I'm keeping things limited to just a few things per space, and I have to say, what we have looks pretty good. It's just only about 15% of what we have between the two of us is out on display . . . grrrrrrrrrr. Why can't furnished apartments come complete with curio cabinets . . . or something like that?

On a similar note, I specifically had my bouquet made of silk flowers so I could keep it, but now I have no idea what to do with it or how to display it. Any suggestions?


P.ost S.cript
Luke and I found this one a little while back, and I got quite a giggle or three out of it. Rated PG-13 . . . ish . . . for language if you care about that sort of thing.

9 comments:

  1. Um, I think that's pretty typical of first marrieds. You seem to be right on track! Our first apartment contained NO shelves, but a futon and a lovely toilet shaped bleach stain. So...none of our stuff was out. Your mom was a little hard core with the decorating, so I can see why you would be lost! Just remember - only things you love or need. Start with that and maybe some cinderblock / wood plank shelves?

    As for the bouquet...I don't know that anybody has ever successfully displayed their wedding bouquet after the wedding. It's one of those things that will eventually get lost in a cedar chest for your kids to play with! So, yeah. I'm no help. I didn't even have flowers...

    How is job hunting going?

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  2. Well for your flowers one way to display is hanging on the banister for stairs. It is out of the way and hangs beautifully. I've also seen where you take a shoe box and paint stripes that match your wedding colors and then place your bouquet inside draping out. this can then be put anywhere you have a flat space including the kitchen table.

    If you need cheep shelving take the boxes your gifts came in and stack them decoratively. then take a couple wire hangers from your closet and run through all of the boxes. Buy a can of spray paint. Paint the outer sides of the boxes and you now have some loose shelving. You can reinforce the boxes by cuting pieces of cardboard to fit in diagonally.

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  3. Dude. Totally take her up on that!

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  4. I agree with Tawnya. So hard to start to incorporate everything you both want, especially when there is no space/money to do it. I was also going to suggest asking Sharon to help you- she is amazing with that kind of stuff.

    The bouquet:
    http://www.keepsakefloral.com/?gclid=CITWwdiU_poCFRo-awodAkq3eQ

    http://www.essortment.com/lifestyle/howtodisplayb_sezv.htm

    http://www.preservedflorals.com/display.html

    http://www.visionsofsilk.com/How%20to%20display%20your%20silk%20wedding%20bouquet.shtml

    http://www.flowerkeepsakes.com/displays.htm

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  5. Aunt Tawny - does submitting dozens of applications count as successfully? That's about as far as I've gotten. I followed up at TJMaxx and Bath&Body Works, and both managers were all enthusiastic and skimmed my application right then and said they'd give me a call . . . and that was before the wedding. So, yeah . . . long story short . . . need a babysitter? I'll work cheap . . . you can pay me in packs of Ramen or something. :-P

    Holly - Thanks for the tips! We didn't get a lot of boxes, but I will definitely be using the ones we did get!! btw, I wrote your address wrong on your thank you note, and it came back recently. Is your address still the same, or are you already moved?

    Aunt Sharon - how's this for crazy - I've actually been planning on asking for your help/advice with painting our apartment. I just got all the little can do/can't do details today, and I'm planning on starting to paint as soon as it gets sunny again

    Aunt Sandra - thanks for the links!! They're great!!

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  6. You have an English degree...have you gone around anywhere seeing if someone needs tutors? Or Angies. It seems they may have some waitressing turnover?

    Sadly, as Morgan can tell you, we are boring and don't go out. Ever. I think she thinks we need a life (and babysitter) as well! What apt. # are you guys in?

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  7. I've actually already thought of the tutoring thing, I figured I'd wait until closer to school starting again to start asking around and such.

    We're in #6 - at the opposite end from the driveway, second floor. Why?

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  8. Curious after our discussion of where you lived!

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