sleepyMy first own room was in Belgium, in the house we rented for 3 years in the little village of Overpelt. Isn't that a great name for a village? Almost as good as Flyinge. What I loved about that first OWN room: light blue walls, a tiny sink nook with mirror, under-eaves attic closet.
What I loved about my second own room in Landstuhl, Germany was that our apartment was on the 12th floor of a high-rise building. It was like living in the clouds. There was no closet in my room (or in any of our rooms); there were amoires out in the hallway instead. Which meant lots more room for my own furniture and stuff and more opportunities for rearranging!
Then I went to college at Michigan State and shared a room, with 3 other girls. Then another one with 3 other girls. Then I had a room in a house with 5 other girls: the smallest room, with a loft bed. It was like living in a closet, but it was cozy. My rooms and apartments for awhile after college were nothing special (except for the one with the fireplace: I still miss that), until I got my OWN apartment. It was like having my own room TIMES FOUR! Living room, kitchen, bathroom, bedroom: all mine to do with what I pleased.
I loved my first OWN apartment. I loved the dark dove grey carpeting and the built-in glass-front cabinets in the kitchen and the huge walk-in closets and the high ceilings and the wall of paned windows. I loved the view over the rooftops to the trees by the lakeshore. I've written about it before, I loved that place so much.
It's harder to make your space your own when you share it with a family, though. I have still managed to do it to a great extent, and to feel like I am surrounded by things, as well as people, that mean something to me. I liked our old house in Flyinge, but I LOVE this one.
What do I love about it? I love:
- the way the tiles in the foyer are cut diagonally because I asked Anders to do them that way and he did, even though it's harder to cut & fit tiles diagonally, for a birthday present for me
- the way the windows in the big room go all the way to the ground
- the way the kids's department is separate from the rest of the house: containment!
- the fact that my husband did all the work in the house from the spackling to the wallpapering, from the tiling to the flooring
- the choices that we made in tiles and wallpapers
- the big bay window in the kitchen
- the moose bathroom
- the porch and the deck
- the rounded paving stones at the end of the corridor between the house and the garage
- the stylish hipped roof, unusual in Sweden, that we really fought for
- the wallpaper border in the computer room; one we had in our old house which I liked it so much I had to have it again
- all the closets
Do you love your space, your place in the world? What about it causes you delight?
