interior decorating

For the life of me, I cannot understand why women love to shop. I cannot logically comprehend why women love to do it, and men loathe it. I don't know why "estrogen" translates to "takes an annoyingly long time to try on every blouse in every color and buy all of them with money they don't have," but it's all very true. And I know this because I am guilty of it. I am guilty of buying things I don't need just because I had a bad day. I am guilty of passing a window and then buckling at the knees, crying out, "I must have that!" And I am most certainly guilty of loving furniture... a little too much.

In my house, my television is fixed on HGTV -- Home and Garden Television, that is. Because I do not have the means to buy new furniture every day, I watch people on TV do it for me. (Which is hypocritical, considering I scold those who watch soccer indoors rather than play it outside themselves. Then again, playing soccer is free. A cherry sleighbed with 500 count Egyptian cotton sheets is not.)

I love everything about interior decorating. My father always sighs at my mother when she is inspired to redecorate, mostly because of the work he will ultimately have to do. But interior decorating is a form of art that many people do not understand, nor do they consider it art. However, when I walk into someone's bedroom or living room or bathroom, I instantly know an entire new world about that person.

For instance, if I use the restroom at a friend's house and it is clean, I can easily assume that they grew up with a mother who insisted on always keeping a clean bathroom -- "just in case." Just in case someone comes over. Just in case someone judges you solely based on how clean you keep your latrine. Just in case the man of your dreams is obsessive compulsive, like your mother.

Additionally, I can look at the art or the knick-knack collections or the colors in the room, and I can define that person. Cool colors imply a serene person, one who likes for their home to be a place of solace and contemplation, a spa away from the world. Warm or earthtone colors imply that a person loves nature or travel, warmth and conversation, coziness. Bright colors imply a person who is energetic, always on the go with multiple hobbies and odd jobs, oftentimes scatterbrained. Your home is not just your sanctuary. It is a place that becomes the living and breathing representation of who you are.

The greatest part of interior decorating, for me, is the fact that it can change, just as you do. The bedroom you came to know as a high schooler is not the same you will come to know as an adult. And, if you don't like the person you've become as an adult, the easiest way to change your mindset is to change your surroundings. Changing the color of a wall or the fabric of your bedding will shed light on a new direction to take in life. Changing from plastic to earthenware dinnerware will change the food you serve and those that you serve. Surround your home with things that represent you, or surround your home with things that you want to represent you. If you aim to be livelier, pick lively colors. If you want to seek shelter from a busy life, minimalize your home so that all you have to focus on is you.

Interior decorating is an art. It's a way of expressing who you are. You just have to ask yourself... "Am I the type to clean my bathroom -- just in case?"