5/20/10

Starting from scratch

Do you ever fantasize about starting over? About walking out the door, with almost nothing, moving to a new place and starting over from scratch?

It's been a recent fantasy of mine. I vacillate between being a packrat to a wannabe radical minimalist. It's the radical minimalist in me who has this start over fantasy, because the packrat in me drives the minimalist nuts.

It got me to thinking.  If I were to walk into an utterly empty, fresh house/loft/flat/condo/whatever, what would I fill it with?  This isn't so much about wanting new things, but imagining living in an edited world of the things I love and doing things I sometimes dream of but haven't yet dared. What would that look like?

Wanna come be my neighbor in fantasyland?


Essential books and CDs:

The Bible
Some works of Rumi, Shakespeare, and Emily Dickinson
Middlemarch by George Eliot
The entire works of Jane Austen
I capture the castle
Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell
Midwest Modern by Amy Butler
Adorned Crochet
Magnolia at Home
Getz/Gilberto
Immortal Beloved soundtrack (Beethoven!)
Enya CDs (my whole collection - blushing)
Teen Dream by Beach House (don't have this yet but it's on the wish list)
Black Mirror by Arcade Fire
Breakfast at Tiffany's soundtrack
Hang on Little Tomato by Pink Martini


Essential foods:
Fresh fruits and vegetables, because in this new life I would be utterly healthy
Plus some Liberte Mediterranean yogurt
Macadamia nuts
Coffee
Moroccan Mint green tea, Strawberry Fragrance Green tea, Jasmine green tea, Chamomile Rose tea
Dark chocolate with crystallized ginger

Essential decor:
A Madeleine Weinrib rug, a sheepskin rug


A few moroccan poufs - what color? silver? white? pink? blue?

An arc lamp (I so want one of these!)



Butterfly art by Damien Hirst - like this photo from Domino featuring the home of Cindy Greene (of Libertine)

One room with groovy statement wallpaper

Staghead ferns, asparagus ferns, candelilla plants, succulents
An amazing light fixture (or two or three)
A comfy but modern streamlined sectional
Bedding by Dwell Studio
Driftwood


A Tivoli radio - so sleek, so beautiful!




Essential beauty products:
Fresh -  You would open up my medicine cabinet and there would be nothing but Fresh products everywhere, especially Fresh Sugar!

StrangeBeautiful nail polish collection 
Lollia hand creams
Tokyo Milk Le Petit perfume



Miscellaneous:
A cute vintage style bicycle - maybe one of those Liberty of London printed beach cruisers that sold out so quickly from Target!
A tiny cute dog named Rosie or Josie or Flora or Henry or Charlie
My Sony laptop, of course.
A new Orla Kiely bag

4 comments:

  1. I've done it ! I've boarded a plane with a backpack and a carry-on and left all my earthly goods behind. Incredibly free-ing ! I, too, was inspired by a woman's story of the painful and necessary choice to leave it all behind and start over. It took several years before I had my experience but it was comforting to know I had an option.
    Gypsy @ gypsytraderimports.blogspot.com

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  4. Such a fun post, and a wonderful daydream! Thank you for the inspiration!

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