AmmoniteInk's Profile

This is a fun article :) I've long enjoyed seeing someones home, and then seeing their family members homes, just for comparison.

My own design sense really only makes sense if you see my moms home (colorful cottagey with some pottery barn and a lot of antiques) and then my dads home (ultra modern and sleek). I got moms love of stuff and old things, but dads intolerancece for fussy, heavily detailed objects and pattern. As a result, I've ended up with a lot of second hand and antique industrial things. I'm addicted to the clean lines utillitarian objects, but with the patina and storied look of things which have been around for ages.

Oh shoot. Wasn't the largest size category a little bigger last year? I don't think I qualify now. I'll have to check with my landlord...

When I was a kid I loved playing princess. I had the tiara, the wand, the pretty dresses, the whole shebang. I loved Jasmine and Belle the best. BUT I remember once my dad happened on my game, and joined in. He started asking me questions about how I would rule my blocks and stuffed animal kingdom. What are the laws of my fairyland? How will I make sure everybody is ok? What will I do when they fight? All of these were, of course, acted out with my dolls and toys, for my princessy self to cope with. This was amazing to me. Suddenly a princess wasn't just a girl in a pretty dress. She was a LEADER. She had civic duties and responsibilities to her fellow creatures. Since my favorite Disney princess tended to be the brainy ones anyways, this fit in perfectly with my schema. I guess what I'm saying is that toys send messages, but so do parents. A clever, engaged parent may just be able to draw the best out of any toy. Now, I still do favor buying ethically made, sturdy, lasting toys, but I guess I think more about how to help my child react to gendered nonsense in a smart, strong way than I am about avoiding it. And who cares if she has different taste than me, style-wise? My mom likes country and my dad likes ultra modern. Them letting me experiment (with sometimes heinous results, I admit) let me develop my own style. I couldn't break the bank, but yellow paint doesn't cost more than white or blue or black.

Wow, am I like the only one who goes out of their way to make sure both parties tastes are involved? My wife and I both have pretty strong tastes, and I don't think either of us would feel really at home if one of us did all the decorating.

We started with coming up with a list of adjectives we wanted each room to embody. Then we each picked the one most important adjective on our list for each room, then together selected one other word to describe how we wanted the room to be (we lucked out, and had some overlap on our lists). So for example, she wanted a bedroom that was dark and moody, and I wanted one that was sexy, and we both wanted to make sure it was really organized, so we would keep it clean. For the livingroom she wanted something quirky or whimsical, and I wanted something colorful. We both wanted our livingroom to be good for entertaining large groups. After that, it became easier to make decisions. Now I know that I only pursue items that fit in with those three adjectives for each room. Now we are both clear on the mood we both want, balancing my love of Victorian and her love of modern stops being the issue.

My, what a romantic, sentimental group we have here.

I get the appeal of paper books, and we have a whole room full of them, but it seems a bit arrogant to assume that just because YOU don't feel any sentimental attachment to e-readers (since they are new both in general and to each of us, as opposed to books, which many of us have had around all out lives) that anyone who uses e-readers is less sentimental about their reading material. One there's a generation or two who grew up with them, those people will have the same attachment to their e-readers that you do to your hardcovers.

Not that I think we're going to just stop making paper books. My 12"x12" coffee table books just wont convert well, for one thing, and the collection of old books is a time honored and much loved practice.

My wife is a big book collector. But once she filled the den, wall to wall, with full book cases I had to say no more. At some point it becomes impractical. So, many of those books left the house, to make room for new acquisitions. BUT they are filling up much much slower now that she is buying mainly e-books. Only the best and brightest make it onto our shelves now, but her e-reader allows her to have at her fingertips all those books we don't have the space for. And we buy better quality printings, to. Perhaps paper books will become a luxury item. I am certainly willing to spend more on the deluxe edition of a favorite, now that dime store pulp costs us less and doesn't clutter up my home.

You talk about decorative sentimental collections, but the only collections I see are CDs or DVDs...

I have a slightly...well, maybe very, different version of this. Last Christmas my dad went and scanned all the old family albums and gave us all DVDs of the results. So, right now I'm in the proccess of making a 30 year, 400 page, 12"x12" behemoth of a photo book chronicling 30 years of family history. It'll weigh a ton and cost me $200 to print, but what a family heirloom! And each of us in the family will be ordering a copy. And hey, what's $200 every 30 years? It will span from my parents dating to my baby sister getting married, tomorrow.

Funny little bonus, I've discovered that with The Album in the making, I don't feel the need to keep as many keepsakes around. Practically every event I'd keep a keepsake from has been photographed. Really frees up some closet space.

I really have no idea why people hate IKEA. I have several IKEA peices in my home, and theyve fared better and held up just as well as the 1k Gabberts furniture handed down from my folks- in many cases, it's actually held up BETTER than the expensive peices. Even that $5 standing shelf I bought in college is still 100% studry and still in use.

In St Paul, IKEA is practically a date spot. You can hang out as long as you want, nest with your sweety, and get shockingly good food for very little money. you see couples and young families wandering through holding hands and looking dreamy all the time.

IKEA is my go-to place for lots of little things, and it's nearby, so we go quite a bit. I expecially love them for frames. We have a million tiny peices of art, and for something like that I want affordable matching options that I can go get more of a year later if I want to.

Plus, where else am I going to be able to get eight solid wood folding chairs for $120? (total, not each) Nowhere, thats where. None of the local thrift stores have even come close to that in all the time I've been looking (2 years). And I can buy them one at a time as our budget (and my volkswagon bug) permits.

ferns! why didn't I think of that. some moss and ferns will like the warm wet life in my covered terrariums.

This is my favorite AT post in some time! It's just so HAPPY!