Hoarding...not just on TV

alec_eiffel

Shabby chic, granny chic, French country and all that vintage stuff that's doing the rounds at the minute isn't really authentic though is it.

It's all painfully just-so and engineered to look that way, it's not actually really knocked and banged though real life happening, it's carefully wire brushed and aged and "oh my word don't touch that I don't want to further damage the paintwork". So I can see why there would be a perfectionist thing there because it's all about creating an appearance rather than furniture really being knackered (aspirational lifestyle?). Or that's how it appears to me at times.

lostinrates

alec_eiffel wrote: »

Shabby chic, granny chic, French country and all that vintage stuff that's doing the rounds at the minute isn't really authentic though is it.

It's all painfully just-so and engineered to look that way, it's not actually really knocked and banged though real life happening, it's carefully wire brushed and aged and "oh my word don't touch that I don't want to further damage the paintwork". So I can see why there would be a perfectionist thing there because it's all about creating an appearance rather than furniture really being knackered (aspirational lifestyle?). Or that's how it appears to me at times.

I agree, that stuff fake. My eclectism is old, original bits other people wouldn't have cos they are weird or too broken, or kitch or just a bit weird.

I can put some pictures up of broken imperfect things in my home, that I consider beautiful. Perhaps I have Alec, you have helped me find the limit of my perfection issue....:D

alec_eiffel

I think maybe being deliberate about things is a kinder version of perfectionism.

blossomhill_2

alec_eiffel wrote: »

"...for all of my perfectionist tendencies, I actually adore imperfection. Imperfection is a sign of hope that things will improve. Imperfection is full of promise. Imperfection makes that which is beautiful look even more so by comparison." from Door Sixteen.

I like that. I really dislike perfection when it comes down to it, it's frustrating. I don't like matching things, I'm happy when a new thing gets a mark on it for the first time so I can relax around it and it becomes a real thing to use not a museum piece. Imperfection is more relaxing.

That's really lovely alec, I think I will make up the bold quote as a poster in a nice little frame with ... but suppose I don't do it well enough to do it justice :rotfl:

No, seriously, it is lovely, thanks for posting it, and I too love imperfection, just didn't realise it, I love smelly senior cats with rheumy eyes, gnarly old oak trees, mismatched bedding, old people's hands, cracks in the pavement, people who wear eccentric mismatched clothes, Greece for all its sunbaked old doors, unfinished extensions and broken down walls (I hated Spain because I found its pavements too neat!)

I think you have made me realise why I don't bother with the quick wins in the house ... I need it to be an unfinished project to keep me motivated ... I need my house to say "you live here" (but I just need to stop it becoming "you just exist here")

alec_eiffel

That's really interesting blossomhill as the blog goes on to talk about the new apartment the blogger has moved into and that she's always improved any place she's rented before, but this one is done and doesn't "need" her in the same way so she didn't have the same buy in to it.

It's true though isn't it, I just thought about the horror of the other side of the coin, a totally finished house - not just a dejunked one, a garden that looks after itself, never having to tweak the budget or force myself to get on my exercise bike or finally manage to hand quilt a straight line. If things were perfect and done - what would be the point of me? There would be no creativity and I might as well be a robot. How depressing.

mollythewestie

Just a quick update from me (I won't read back as there are dozens of pages since I was last here! I hope everyone is well)

I have been slowly but surely continuing my de-hoarding mission.
I have sorted through DDs toys and have 1 large bag for the charity shop, a box of clothes - Still sealed in the loft from when we moved in 6 and a half years ago - sorted through and 90% to go to the charity shop.

I have sold a few more bits on ebay, and making about £30-£50 a week from that.

I have aquired a Welsh dresser for my kitchen, it's not here yet, but it belonged to my DH's nan who died recently and I couldn't let it go to the tip.
I will not let it get full up with junk though, I promise :rotfl:

blossomhill_2

I have that fear in gardens - I go cold at the intro (probably an old one by now) to Neighbours, where I see the subtropical gardens, as I think "what if I lived somewhere where gardens didn't die down in Winter" - I love the need to do seasonal tasks, love "putting the garden to bed" and seeing it wake up each year
Quote in a book I liked said "father was in the garden stripping it down to its bare geometry"

blossomhill_2

JoJo - you are quiet, are you at the Zombie world record?
whitewing - your in-box needs a declutter

lostinrates

I wonder if jojo has started her new medication?

valk_scot

An update on the Ikea trip...

It's their 25th anniversary of opening in the UK so today my local branch was giving away gift cards to the first 250 folk with Family cards through the door, ranging from £1 to £250 in value. So since I was planning to go anyway I made a slight effort to go earlier than I would normally, was 239th in the queue and won a £50 gift card! And I hardly had to wait around at all, I got there five minutes before the door opened. Some folk had been there since 7am, for a 9.15am opening.

So my first thought was "Oh, what extra things can I buy with this???!!". But then sense kicked in, I don't need anything else from Ikea except that bed frame. So that's what I did, put the £50 towards the bed together with a "£10 when you spend over £60" voucher which I'd got in the post last week. £60 in total off a £89 frame, yeah! That will stop OH moaning I should think.

And I didn't buy anything else, no. I thought I'd see what the bed looked like once up and then buy two underbed boxes instead, to put the rugby kit in. Then he shouldn't need any extra storage out in the bedroom proper.