Make my house *MY* house

I can’t live with my sitting room any more! It was lovely 15 years ago when I decorated it last, and I must admit fashions have gone full circle so that the wallpaper etc is right back on trend now :-) But it’s just not me. And it has swirls in the ceiling plaster, which drive me crazy. And it’s funny how I have been living with it all this time and not noticing just how much I don’t like it, but subconsciously it’s been niggling away. It has to change.

and it worked. Yipee, it’s fabulous

as recorded on another goal.

I have bought a really expensive cooker.

It cost me several hours and lots of grey hairs getting hold of it – of course the manufacturers just produced a limited run of cream ones (“everybody nowadays wants black and chrome”)and I ended up phone chasing a phantom mystery model that was not on the stock inventory but ended up actually existing in a warehouse in Blanchardstown.

It doesn’t fit into the space where my present cooker lurks, so I will have to knock out a fitted press, install a new counter top, find new (and somehow matching) floor tiles, and numerous other things.

It’s crazy to think of such a thing, and especially on the spur of the moment. Just because I really, really like the cooker.

BUT I DID.

Enough of the timid “make do”, put up with what you have, its too much trouble to change philosophy that has left me living in drabness and mediocrity. I will forge an aesthetically pleasing and supportive environment with passion and determination!!! No more “it’ll do”!!!

I may even be inspired to keep it clean….......

Right, my first attempt to assert my vision did not go too well. I thought Kamakazzi Ole Gunner Shelley Ging’s bed would be much better positioned in the corner on top of the tumble dryer, rather than directly inside the door of my kitchen. Not aesthetically pleasing. Probably not hygenic either. Quite possibly odourous because, well, he is a cat! Cat’s are smelly. At least to us. To other cats, no doubt nothing but a tantalizing hint of scent is discernable. But that’s neither here nor there.

I moved his bed. I cleaned and hoovered. I fluffed his cushion. I sprinkled catnip. I introduced him to the new location. I brushed and fussed over him.

He accepted all the attention, then firmly walked (via a shelf on the dresser) over to his accustomed location and sat there looking lost and bewindered. He fixed his eyes on me. Bewildered but trusting.

I know it is all an act. I hold firm. Kiz walks to the front door and plants himself firmly in front. How can a cats back ‘speak’ so clearly? Staring at his glossy fur, I understand that I may alter the sleeping arrangements as it pleases me, but my cat chooses to go out into the cold night, unsheltered and unprotected, rather than be dictated to in this fashion.

It’s a battle of wills.
He wins.
Bed goes back. Cat snuggles in. Purrrrrrrs all around.
Putty in his paws.

‘redecorating my house’ sounds too much like ‘brown is the new black’. My issue is that my house doesn’t reflect me, my personality, my lifestyle, the things I find beautiful…. anything. If you were to walk in my front door, and try to guess who lived there from what you saw around you, you would not find any clues!

For years, I seem to have marked my independence by refusing to conform to whatever the current trend is in house ‘must-haves’ -decking, slate tiles in the kitchen, leather sofa in the sitting room…in a really negative way, by neglect and disorder and general chaos. “I am an individual, because I haven’t fixed the garden wall (that got hit by a truck) in the last six months, and there are mountains of clutter in all my rooms”.

Well, it helps me see just how ridiculous I am, writing it down!

I love every square inch of it. 11 years on, I am still giddly appreciative of the privilege it is to have my own space. But you would never know that to look at it… and let’s not mention what happens when you step inside the door. Apart from being messy and untidy and neglected, there is no sense of myself there (well….not in any way I WANT).

I made a tiny step a couple of days ago – I bought two matchpots, varying shades of sage green for the kitchen, and actually went as far as painting them on the wall. They are both georgous. (there are two other squares of green painted on the wall – they have been there over two years…..). My kitchen has been peach for 11 years. Changing the colour here will be my first priority!