On Sunflower's mind

A chance link to a friend's blog (which I didn't know she had) made me want to write again. Writing from the heart, that holds the voice of a person, always inspires me to write. It reminds me what it's like to connect with others through the written word.

The main thing on my mind these days is furniture and decorating. I just bought an apartment. Haven't moved in yet, and already I'm wishing I had more space. Although my colleague who recently moved back from Hong Kong tells me that 850 square feet is loads of space!

I've never had my own place before, and it's funny how my mentality changed once I knew that this was going to be mine. Before, I didn't care about cutlery and dinnerware, as long as I had plates and cups and forks and spoons to use. Now I'm dreaming about having matched sets, pretty things that will make me feel happy when I use them in my new home. It's really weird.

From "I won't do any major renovations", I'm now contemplating putting in built-in bookshelves for all my books. But well! I do have a lot of books, I argue with myself, and it would be nice if I could have them all back here, in my own home, instead of sitting in boxes in my brother's storeroom. The only thing I worry about is having uncles and aunts come over and then ask me how much those bookshelves cost. You don't know my family. It's going to be all, "Why did you spend so much money on something unnecessary?" (In my family, unless you'll die without it, it's considered unnecessary. And therefore expendable.)

But you can never have perfection, and so instead of the lovely natural wooden colour I'd love to have for my bookshelves, like so:

Image from kitchencabinetmart.com

-- instead of this colour, I've decided to opt for white, simply because white will make the room look larger; this kind of colour is too dark for a small room. It's a compromise I'm making out of necessity. In general, white is my least favourite colour, because it gets dirty so easily, is difficult to maintain (especially on clothing) and is so stark. It has no personality.

I'm also having to think about my style, what kind of style I want my home to have, especially in the living room. I've always known I'm not a minimalistic type. The very thought would make any of my friends laugh their heads off! Super modern steel and glass stuff is not me either; that's too sterile and soulless for me. Antiques are too stiff and usually rather uncomfortable. I want furniture that will be so comfortable to sit on, I could plonk myself down on the couch and fall asleep. Welcoming furniture, you know. Homey furniture. Like bean bags.

Although I also want a chaise lounge. I saw something like this and have been dreaming of it ever since:

Image from siamoldteak.com

It was very comfortable! I'm told it wouldn't "go" with bean bags but I don't care :p