Decorating with Iconoclasts

[akirlu]

The quilt we've been using as a cover on the (nominally) white couch in the living room is starting to fall apart. It was never made of the best materials. All the patch pieces were cut from cheap bedding sheets that appear to have been mostly polyester. It was hand made by Vietnamese women who are HIV positive, who support themselves by making these quilts, and so I put aside my normal quibbling over fiber and just bought the damn' thing. But it's starting to pull apart at the seams now, as well as having grown very doggy.

But the dogs love that whitish couch, and spend most of their days there, so it has to be covered with something. And there was this oversized American flag bought at St. Vincent de Paul that was just taking up shelf space after I had stuffed it in the linen closet. Once I realized it was much too big for any flag pole we could reasonably mount on the house, I had put it away and forgotten about it. I could re-donate it to St. Vinnie's of course, but my evil genius made me try it on the couch first. It fits nicely, actually, and looks very American Cottage there. So what the hell. Abbie Hoffman would be proud, as Hal observes. And I was already slated to burn in hell anyway.

Made any changes for the new year at your house?

Comments

[maribou]

Today we bought and set up a 5th (!) litterbox, and we cleaned off, dusted, and otherwise refurbished the exercise bike (which had become a clutter-keeper for the last few years).

I'm also working on a long-term cleaning-the-whole-house project, though I started that one in November.

So nothing as snazzy / blasphemous as you, but yup, some changes being made.

[akirlu.livejournal.com]

I believe Snazzy Blasphemous should be the name of my next band/blog/internet startup.

I'm working on getting more stuff out of the house generally, but finding new uses or places for stuff I already got is good too, hence the re-purposing of the flag. I managed to resist getting the full set of silver plate silverware at St. Vinnie's today, too, though I did take the two little glass prep bowls. Still, I have a place for those, and will use them.

[athenais.livejournal.com]

I think the flag looks very nice with a dog on it. Dogs are super American and patriotic! God knows I'm not sure what to do with the ginormous flag I got from the funeral home because of my dad being a vet; we will never have a flagpole big enough to fly it from.

[akirlu.livejournal.com]

Bedspread? Yeah, otherwise, I got nothin'. Once a flag gets beyond a certain size it becomes a white elephant unless you're a state capital or used car dealer or something.

[vgqn.livejournal.com]

Not my style, but glad it works for you!

Our changes: We always have a big NYE party which always entails a massive clean up afterwards. The floors, migod, the floors! But this time, in addition to mopping the kitchen and dining room floors (OMG), Mike moved ALL of the furniture out of the living room so we could mop everywhere. The living room floor doesn't get anywhere near as messy as the others, but it's still good to do it every 10 years or so.

The big change, however, is deciding what goes back in. Do we really need this side table? These chairs? Maybe the guitar and dumbek that are never played could live somewhere else? Still in progress.

[akirlu.livejournal.com]

It's good to edit furniture and possessions periodically. I'm overdue for this myself. I think it's time to admit that the IKEA leather recliners are just not going to fit anywhere any longer and just let them go. Ditto the pine shelves I built for our Redmond apartment. They were all great in their day, but that day has passed.

[scarlettina.livejournal.com]

For 2015, goodness! My plans are ambitious. We'll see how far I get. First order of business is a new light fixture for the kitchen. The old one broke when I took it down to clean it and change the bulb (literally just fell apart in my hands; it was Time). There's a bare bulb up there now. It's not quite like sitting in an East German interrogation room, but I want very much to remove all doubt on that score as soon as I can.

I also have this dream of renovating one of my two bathrooms, the smaller one first since I've never done this sort of thing before. Both are perfectly functional, but very out of date. The smaller one has a shower stall I've always hated -- rather than nice shower-stall glass, for some reason they used safety glass shot through with wire. it looks predictably industrial.

And then there's the ongoing urge to purge, which is always a challenge for me. I feel like I just have too much stuff.

Which reminds me, I really ought to get your dress back to you. What about doing the hand-off at Potlatch?

[sartorias.livejournal.com]

Looks awesome.

I'd love to fix all the broken stuff but no $$. But the last of the house guests departs today, so quiet. That's something.