March 4, 1997

Architectural Digest

What's wrong with this picture?

I bought a copy of Architectural Digest this morning. Oh, stop groaning. I'm moving into my first house (Darin and I lived in a condo up north, but he already had that when we met) and I realized I want to live in a nice home. A preplanned home. A home that doesn't look like a collection of college student junk, which is what every place I've lived in since college, with the exception of the condo, has looked like.

Not that I'm planning on buying a $15,000 leather sofas, mind you. I just want ideas about how to arrange the room.

Anyhow, as I paged through the magazine, admiring the layout of some habitats and loathing others, I realized one question I've been wrestling with was not handled in any of the articles. None of them. I even went through the magazine again, just to be sure.

Not one of the rooms pictured, including lots of living rooms/areas, relaxation areas, and bedrooms, had a TV in it. Evidently, people in your finer homes don't watch TV. They had giant rooms filled with overstuffed couches and chaise lounges, but no TVs. One of the houses featured belonged to a Hollywood producer and another to a pair of TV writers. These people have TVs, trust me.

So it's back to the drawing board (literally) for me, making maps of the house and playing around with the furniture Darin and I already have to see where it can go and what else we need.

Today: going back to the new house, taking some measurements, writing down the colors and fabrics of each room. Talking to another mover for an estimate. Oh yes, and Business class: I've decided to skip Writing class today in order to get everything else done this week that I need to get done. A conscious decision on my part -- next week, I do a lot of writing to make up for it.