There are
beautiful coffee-table books about rooms. Rooms where famous people live, rooms
where important events took place, rooms that matter.
Then there are
decorators' pride rooms. Rooms that exemplify styles, show off design know-how,
or used to teach Feng Shui = notions
of balance and flow.
In the end, beyond
all abstractions, are the rooms we live in. They are both neat and messy (depending on the moment), cozy and annoying (when things just don’t feel
right), and most of all they are ours.
When my kids were
little, their room was my favorite. It had the most design integrity and remarkable
functionality, carefully put together for their respective arrivals. Now that
the room is a guest room and a storage room for the belongings they chose to
leave with us, it holds little charm for me.
My current
favorite is my bedroom. Its corner is my office, i.e. where I write. It is the
favorite hangout for three felines who confirm the room’s supremacy.
If you love to
cook, perhaps your most-loved room is your kitchen. If you garden, maybe you
managed a sunroom. If you are fond of bathing, maybe your bathroom is the one
you favor.
As comments on Blogger don’t accommodate photos, sharing your favorite here will have to rely on descriptive abilities. This brings me to the writerly side of this post. Describing rooms in a way that makes them come alive and doesn’t cause reader’s tedium is an art all its own, and it belongs in good books.
7 comments:
Oh, I love how you've created a cozy nook to write in. The muses approve!
My favorite room is my home office--it has a door :) and on the walls many favorite prints from calendars, sayings, pictures and prayers that inspire me. I keep a couple of small blankets on the desk for the cats, piles of research papers, drafts and pens. Oh, yeah computer too! Behind me are two big bookshelves that hold writing and reference books, biographies, picture books.
My other favorite place is our back porch where I dream and write as I look out into the canopy and listen to the chatter of squirrels and birds. Truly, a patch of paradise!
Right now I have trouble picking my favorite room since we are in a new house and I love so many of the rooms. But I spend a lot of time in the living room with the double picture windows showing me Ponderosa Pines, sky, mountain, lake, snow. We have three recliners and a couch and live so privately, I rarely close the blinds over these windows. My tuxedo kitty is often sitting on one or the other of the arms of my recliner, on the back of my recliner, or on one of the couch arms. Our pendulum clock ticks and chimes every quarter hour.
It's fun to hear about the favorite rooms that have been described. I don't personally have a favorite room. I have favorite activities, but the space in which I do them is not what matters to me.
I find it hard to pinpoint one room because different rooms have special things, like a color scheme or fabulous view or spaciousness. I do LOVE my studio, a separate structure from the house.
My favorite room is the guest room. I keep the door to it closed at all times so it remains free of dust and cat fur. Pets are not allowed in this cherished, color coordinated space that is home to my nice, unclawed club chair (that I never get to sit in unless I visit this room which is perfect and clean all the time). My Christmas cactus is on the windowsill and I water it once a week. It is the room my daughter stays in when she comes to visit us, so I like it to stay nice.
My office is my favorite room because for years I didn't have a home office. I worked on the living room couch. I appreciate having my own space now. It's my happy place.
Your writing nook reminded me of the one I had in our bedroom in Sacramento. It was small, compact, with just room for my desk, a small filing cabinet, and a bookshelf. Now that we've moved to Portugal, I actually have an office! And of course I love it. But, even though I spend a lot of time in it, the part of the flat I like the most is the livingroom. It's part of a large room that is actually our livingroom/dining room) but the livingroom section has our "libary" of bookshelves, a comfortable chair and sofa, and plants leading to a small porch. It's where my husband and I both hang out when we are finished with office. work.
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