A Little (A Very Little) Decorating

click on the comic to see it bigger

When I moved in to my condo, November of 2006, there were some things I knew I wanted to do or get for it. In fact, even when I saw the place before I bought it, I knew that (for instance) I wanted to get a new medicine cabinet for the bathroom. When I measured the living room and my furniture, I knew that I would want a tall, narrow bookcase for the spot between one of the big bookcases and the wall. I knew I'd want to get a pull-out couch or sofa bed or something for the guest room (office/craft room/spare space). I still want to do all of those things, and I will at some point. But I haven't yet. And of course, there are plenty of other things I kind of wanted to do, without being bothered to get around to it. What's the rush?

Earlier this year, my mother said she would spend this Christmas at her mother's, in upstate New York. Of course, I said, I will join you there. And recently, she said, she might fly up to Boston a few days earlier, and visit some people here before driving to NY with me. Yay! I said (and I'm not just saying that because she reads this). Sounds great to me.

And then I started to think about what I might want to get done around here before then. Not, I hasten to add, that she expects me to do anything. But I am the sort of housekeeper (and I use the word loosely) who tends to Not See the piles, and things in corners, and you know, it's a little untidy. Sometimes having a prospective visitor is just what I need to motivate myself.

And so, I was in the bathroom the other day, and looking at the largely empty walls, and thinking yeah, I meant to get something to put on the walls. Someday. I have one thing up, a cheap-plastic-framed page ad from the back of a magazine, and I'll have to get a picture of it because it isn't quite as crappy as I'm making it sound, but anyway there are two good walls with nothing on them. Put that on the list, I told myself. Tonight, I stopped at Building 19 after work, and bing-bang-boom found two things I really like, for not very much money.

I took photos of them before hanging, as the light in the bathroom is not great, or at least not daylight. Here's the first one:


Hey, I like that, I said to myself. How much is it? $5.99? Sold!

Here it is in its new habitat:



I really think I'm going to like it there.

The other isn't a picture, but a, well, what would you call it?


It's a gently distressed framed thing with space to put stuff. Come on, help me out, what is it?

Wall-mounted curio holder, is the best I can do right now. Surely you can do better!

It does have one extra-distressed corner:


But I was okay with that, especially given this feature:


So I got out my pencil, level (yes I do), and hammer, and ta-da:



I'll put more things in it, but this is a start. I'm so pleased with them both.

I wonder how long it will take me to get used to them there? I know I just put them up, but when I went back into the bathroom, I kind of jumped.