Horror Vacui's Profile

Thanks for everyone's kind words. I totally understand that there's "too much stuff" for some people's taste (especially given that AT tends to skew more modern/minimalist and its community reflects this), but, hey, it's my style and it works for me. I find that I don't really like blank spaces (hence my screen name!) My main hobby/creative outlet is collecting things that speak to me and organizing and displaying them to complement other elements in a room. I read somewhere recently that decorative elements in a space should have conversations with each other, and my house is so full that it is perhaps cacophonous, but that's what stimulates and inspires me.

@ebrown - The headboard is a panel from an old French choir stall, and the big lambs are garden decorations picked up at flea markets. In fact the room is filled with lamb figures (so I can count them in case I can't sleep -- kidding!)

@Anne-Hélène - can't move the wall by the bed, as it actually contains desperately-needed storage shelves on the other side. I would like to come up with an alternative, as it's almost impossible to make the bed neatly, but it would mean tearing the whole room apart!

@discerning - Oh, but I do get to fall asleep to a view of the night sky, as the room has a large skylight to the right (if you are looking at the last picture in the post) above the bed.

I love it for now, but I wonder if her daughter will consider it hokey in 20 years' time...

A working fireplace in my sitting room/library! I spend so much time there but haven't been able to have a fire for some years because my chimney had deteriorated and it would have been astronomically expensive to repair. This winter I have made a point of looking into alternatives and actually have a plumber coming out tomorrow about possibly installing a gas line in the fireplace. I am thinking of gas coals (artificial coals that the gas flame comes up through.) This won't be a much of a heat source, but it's the flame I really miss. I guess some would consider this a luxury, but to me it's an essential (and I have missed it so much!) And some form of garden (also an essential luxury.) I only have a deck off my kitchen, but I have filled (some would say over-filled) it with plants in pots, and I get so much pleasure from it.

I have a Paimio chair and it is startlingly comfortable. I have it in my office as a guest chair, and I sit in it myself occasionally when I am doing a non-computer-related task. I am always surprised at how good it feels -- way better than any upholstered armchair I have ever owned. I am often tempted to move it home, but its aesthetic fits my office better.

I love this company's bizarre interpretations:

http://www.timorousbeasties.com/

It's funny, now that I am ancient I sometimes find myself doing these little exercises in nostalgia where I look back at a sequence of given elements in my life (My Life in Cars, My Life in Cats, My Life in Jobs, or whatever), but I have never tried My Life in Couches (or My Life in "Furniture-for-Sitting/Reclining-Large-Enough-For-More-Than-a-Single-Occupant" to those who find "couch" too low-brow to countenance), so here goes:

1. A pale gray cotton folding thing based on the futon concept but possessing its own padded and upholstered back and arms. It was great when we lived in a warehouse space (my ex is an artist) because it could accommodate our various friends crashing for the night but not so great once we moved and had a kid. It eventually got so stained and hideous (and there was somehow a fish-hook embedded in the back that we never could remove) that we sneaked it out to the curb around the corner from us under cover of darkness so as not to be seen and associated with such a monstrosity.
2. The "Moo-Couch," which was this 30's-era very deco chrome-framed settee that we had upholstered in black-and-white calfskin. It was chic but terribly uncomfortable, though we used it enough to pretty much beat it to death. Never could bring myself to get rid of it, though, until I had the basement finished and lost a lot of storage space so hauled it out to the curb only to encounter my next-door neighbor who claimed it for his roof-top look-out structure. I was very happy that it got a second life close to home.
3. A modern Itallian deep-red leather beauty -- down-filled cushions that sat on a black frame with chrome legs. I helped a friend choose it for his first house and he spent a mint on it plus had to wait for months and months for it to be shipped from Italy. I never would have been able to afford it, but it turned out to be his penultimate resting place, and he left it to me in his will. It creeped my son out when he was little, and he wouldn't sit on it for months, but I didn't mind from the outset; I found it strangely comforting, as it made me feel close to my friend (actually still does, even though it is no longer my primary area of repose.)
4. French walnut daybed I got at a flea market for $250 last year. It took the place of no.3., which now sits across the room facing it. I covered a twin mattress, which fits it perfectly, with a wild paisley crewel rug from Anthropologie and heaped it with pillows and bolsters in all kinds of fabrics and patterns. It's still a work in progress, though. I really need an excellent reading lamp to complete my gypsy caravan reading corner.
5. ?? Is there another one in my future? Remains to be seen, but I know that if there is, it will need to come to me serendipitously, as I could never choose a serious grown-up piece from a catalog or a department store -- the cost/commitment factor is just too overwhelming for me personally.

TL;DR
This makes me feel bad for you, Tess. I am a bit shy myself and don't usually take the initiative, but if I were your neighbor, I would certainly respond in kind to your friendly overtures. That's only decent, whether or not I am introverted or busy or whatever. But -- I think some housing set-ups/buildings/people are just not conducive to friendly relations. I have lived in my house for many years now, and I am at this point friendly with many of my neighbors who are also long-term residents, but I find that this can be an exception in San Francisco, having heard horror stories from other SF friends and family -- parking wars, barking wars, eyesores, etc. Maybe you just need to be in the right place at the right time. In my first apartment in SF, a neighbor insisted I attend a performance he was giving. I didn't want to go, but he had invited me (so I thought), and when I got there, there was a big cover charge and a minimum drink policy. And I was poor at the time and hadn't even wanted to go in the first place! So, I lived and learned and became a little more standoffish.

Then, years later my husband and I moved into a huge loft in an industrial building over on Third Street. It was all light industry except for us and the couple who lived next door to us (also artists, like my husband.) We were all sort of marooned together in this industrial wasteland and became friends almost by default (even though, I learned later, the eccentric male half of the couple had advised his girlfriend "don't get involved with THEM.") My husband and I are long divorced at this point, but we all four are still close friends, with tons of great memories of our crazy days out on Third Street. I guess we just got lucky -- or, as I mentioned earlier, were in the right place at the right time.

Even though I personally don't go with "Too little is better than too much," I admire the way she has achieved a combination of airy minimalism and maximal visual stimulation. And that cat is a doll; her nickname should be "Pudgeon."

They frustrate me because I WANT TO HAVE THOSE BEAUTIFUL THINGS FOR MINE OWN SELF. Very childish, I know. When I visited the Cluny, I almost passed out from the craving.

I have always craved one of these (but the bargain versions, though pretty, just don't have the same richness the ABC ones have.) I love the way the pattern shows through in a less busy way than in the originals. Anthropologie has versions now, too, and they seem to be bit less expensive than ABC's. I get a friends-and-family discount at Anthro (kind of a blessing and kind of a curse) through a relative who works for Urban Outfitters, and I may try to snag one when they have their next employee appreciation program (at 40% off!)