room for sleeping

On the other side of the stairs is our bedroom. We both slept on floor level beds before we met, have done so together for years now and we still love it, especially being under the window. I have the sun lighting up the room in the morning to wake me up and at night I might watch the stars for a while.

Actually a lot of things are floor level at our place. We used to sit on the floor to eat our meals or on a cushion in front of the window for a long time before we got a dining table this spring. We've both done yoga for years (though I haven't for quite a while now) so we both have our yoga mats, blankets and props lying around.

I've only recently 'grown up' and felt a desire to have proper tables and chairs and D wanted some arm chairs. Since I was young I've wanted things simple, spartan and tidy. I didn't need reminding to clean my room - I remember age 8 straightening the tassels on my rug, it being the only untidy part left in the place. That's a bit embarrassing... Took me years to relax my standards and for signs to begin to appear in my living spaces that someone was actually living there, using the facilities. :o) As a teenager I removed all furniture except the mattress and a stereo on the window sill to have a room with perfect emptiness. I loved it. White walls, large window and wooden floors. I went through most of high school homework lying flat on my tummy with my books strewn around me.

Nowadays, well it's a different story as you can see from the pictures. I still like having a tidy-up regularly and I like my living area light and spacious, but the cleaning is on the backburner unless someone is coming over and I take silly pride in being a bit cluttered and disorganised, not having been able to do that for so long. Having belongings doesn't freak me out as much though I still have times when I ruthlessly go through inventories in my mind as to what is actually essential and what needs to go to lighten the load. I'll think of Thoreau's quote of men "creeping down the road of life, pushing before it a barn seventy-five feet by forty" and shudder. I'm still very much inspired by gypsies, nomads and the Japanese - having few, simple and functional belongings and very few pieces of furniture, spending much time on rugs or mats on the floor.

I'm so glad D has the same sense of simplicity and quirky sense of interior decorating as I do. I began this stone collection blue-tacked to the wall above the light switch and he has added to it.

And, he doesn't mind my friends hanging around.

Comments

[Angie]

Your bedroom looks peaceful- thanks for giving us a peek inside your home!

[Aidan Laura]

Wow, what you are saying about simplicity really speaks to me. I remember growing up as an only child in a house with several extra bedrooms (old farm house in the country actually). I used to like to switch back and forth between bedrooms. I used to pride myself that it only took me 30 minutes to disassemble and assemble everything in the room. I've often called myself a turtle, I like to have everything be portable and able to come with me. I've driven across America a couple of times with everything I own in my car. I'm older now, but I'm going through all of this again. The joy of getting rid of things- because we are moving to New Zealand in a couple of month. I'm delighting in the process of stripping things away from us. Very much lighter feeling. I can look at anything in the house and just know if it needs to come with us. It's a pleasurable mental inventory.

-A

[caroline]

Hi Aidan Laura! Wow, I so enjoyed reading that, just like me. I like that - being a turtle, never thought about that. I've only ever likened it to hikers with their homes on their back but a turtle is even better! Driving across America with all your stuff in a car sounds great. I often enjoy making elaborate lists of the most light-weight bare essentials I would need to go on trips. I enjoy those mental inventories too, make me feel lighter. That's so exciting, moving to New Zealand, I wish you all the best! Thank you so much for your comment :)

[Anne Marie]

Oh, how I envy you. I think I am the complete opposite. I was born with the "collect-things" gene. I find it so hard to throw away things, anything. Ticket from a movie I liked, a box of rubbers from when I was 7, an old magazine, letters...and the list goes on. To me a lot of my things seem to work as a time machine, where I just for a short instance are back in time. I can experience the same emotion, feeling, or even smell as I had back at the time from where the object originates from. The things seem to be my history, a reminder of the life I have lived and if I through them away I am afraid that I will forget that moment and not be able to relive the moment again. It sounds crazy I know...

[maddie]

I love you bedroom possibly best of all ~
it's so bright and peaceful and pretty ~
and I love bunnies ~ mine died just before
we went to India and it broke my heart.
she would watch tv with me and lay by the fire
~ and then go out into her hutch at night:)