Baby Strange's Profile

I'll be honest--I couldn't live in this sort of environment; I just don't have the discipline to do it. But I love your place anyway; it's cheerful and made me smile to look at it, especially the white dining table against the red wall. I like that even the dog bed under the coffee table is integrated into the design.

Oh, and I share your dislike of window coverings, especially with such great expanses of glass. Looking at your pictures, I can't imagine anything that would look quite right.

Good job! I voted "insta-finalist."

I'm in my second house now, and while I do love it there are things I wish were different, or that it had more of.

My house was built in 1921, so it has plenty of charm. It has big windows, and great light. I love that it's two-story, has hardwood floors, radiant heat, a big front porch, and interior French doors. I like that parking is around back, on an alley, rather than the street.

What really sold me on this house and neighborhood was that pretty much everything I need on a day-to-day basis, as well as several major bus routes, are within easy walking distance. So while I still own a car, I rarely drive it (I put a total of 4,000 miles on it last year, and that includes a road trip from Seattle to San Diego and back). I can't imagine being car-dependent ever again, now that I've lived like this for three years. This is my heaven. I can compromise on the rest.

The closet situation in this house is, however, godawful. I don't have many clothes, and I'm not big on storing a lot of junk I don't use, but the closets here are oddly-sized and wholly inadequate. So inadequate, I went ahead and turned what would have been the guest room into a combined walk-in closet, dressing room, and storage space (which still has room for a twin bed).

I wish I had more unbroken wall space for bookshelves and large pieces of art, as I'm both a bibliophile and a painter. I also wish I had one big room with ceilings higher than 8' for a studio, because sitting on the floor to work on the bottom of a 6' or 7' tall painting sucks.

I also wish the front yard was smaller, and the house closer to the street--even right up to the sidewalk, with no front yard, would be fine by me. I'd rather have more room for a private backyard than a public front.

If I were to build my ideal dwelling, it wouldn't have a huge kitchen, bathroom, or master suite. It would, however, have a perfectly-designed laundry room--one where I could leave the ironing board and drying rack up all the time, with a double sink for handwashing items, a counter for folding clothes, and plenty of storage for cleaning supplies. I want this so badly, I'd probably end up designing the entire house around the laundry room.

Laundry is enough of a pain as it is, and the fact that laundry rooms are either nonexistent or no better than a closet in just about any house or condo you walk into makes it even worse. Currently, my washer and dryer are at least in a clean, finished basement--unlike my last house, where I had to descend into a dark, cobwebby space under the basement stairs to do laundry--but as a working space, it still leaves a lot to be desired.

Wow--could Dominique Browning's column be any more depressing? Is she remotely aware of how bleak she's made her inner life sound? Or have we fallen through a time warp back to 1957 and I've been too busy rescuing stray cats to notice?

That said, I don't like cooking for myself, but then again I don't enjoy cooking in the first place. Cooking is a chore I'd rather avoid altogether. But eating out all the time gets expensive, and since I have dietary restrictions (no soy, wheat, or corn!) it's easier for me to cook my own dinners.

While I hate to cook, I love eating well-prepared food. So I stick to simple dishes that I can do well, that require very little prep and cleanup--stir fries, egg dishes, roasted or broiled meats and fish, soups and stews. I make a point of using fresh ingredients, trying new things, and experimenting with different combinations of flavors.

I own a microwave, but almost never use it--maybe once or twice a month, at most. It's ancient, and when it finally dies I doubt I'll bother replacing it. If I didn't have a convenient spot for it, I probably would have given it away long ago.