Because I think it bears repeating in full

[inulro]

From the letters to the editor section of this week's Radio Times, on the current trend for minimalist home decor:

What sort of people live in neutro-coloured, no-items-of-interest, no-pictures-on-the-wall perfection? Don't they have any hobbies or interests? Do they never collect anything or have any cooking utensils? Do they never read? Where are their books and papers?
I am going to stick with my friend's comment: "Only boring people have tidy houses"

Amen!

I refuse to apologise for my stuf. My house may be untidy, but it is not dirty. My stuff has been collected in my various travels and adventures through the years, so as I get older, I accumulate more stuff. I refuse to deny my former existence by throwing it all away. My walls have always been covered in postcards from the places I've been (I learned to live with the fact I take cruddy photos a very long time ago). If I get a greeting card I like the look of, it ends up on the wall. Hell, I still have a JD poster above my bed (because a few moves ago I lost my Oscar Wilde poster, about which I'm still heartbroken).

I don't care if my stuff matches, has a theme or even if it's "tasteful" (whatever the hell that is). It reminds me of places I've been and people who once meant a great deal to me (and often still do, even if we lost touch years ago).

Even though I have more stuff than is trendy, it still makes me a Bad Consumer. I only buy things I really want, and rarely change my mind . Thus, I have a lot less turnover of stuff than the vast majority of people. And most of it was second hand anyway. A co-worker got rid of the "junk" in her living room last year to go down the minimalist road, and it cost her a small fortune!

So on those rare occasions I get round to dusting, it takes a long time. I consider that a price worth paying.

Comments

[50-ft-queenie.livejournal.com]

Hear hear!!

Our place is a rambling disorganized mess too, and after a few abortive attempts to do the "neat and tidy" thing, I gave up and realized that my living space is always going to be somewhat chaotic, and I like it that way.

[girfan.livejournal.com]

We did a big clean so that juliann would have a minimum of reactions. I was worried about how it would be with the ferrets, but all was fine. Our house isn't spotless, but I don't have to move stuff so people can walk/sit.

People gave me a hard time for moving so much of my stuff overseas, but I wanted things my father made, my books since childhood, my artwork & photos, etc here with me to remind me of family & friends I left behind.

There is so much more I want to do to this house, and it will be far from beige/boring when finished.

[sheepthief.livejournal.com]

Such environments.... nah, they're just too antiseptic. That's fine for operating theatres, or perhaps shower rooms at your local swimming baths, but I'd hate to live in such a thing.

And as I've said before, you can't be fully human if you don't have both pets and plants. Seems to me that the owners of such places are far too concerned for their rooms to be a work of art to have them screwed up by things as natural as living things.

I can actually like the look, but it's never going to happen around me!