Big kids use frames

It has occurred to me recently that my blog has taken on an overwhelmingly "list-oriented" quality. It's one of the reasons I like blogs. It gives the writer permission to share updates and thoughts in a concise and measurable format. But I fear my (somewhat limited) gifts at writing may languish if they are used ONLY on lists. So I attempt a return to the essay format!

Today's subject: wall decor.

Here's my observation. I am a visually oriented person. I am a firm believer in "beautifying your space." As a single college student with an average of five roommates, and more especially as a poor one, this meant posters taped up with bits of scotch tape, magazine cut-outs stuck in mirrors, and gobs of sticky-tack on hand for whatever other bit of pleasing artistic flotsam struck my fancy.

But as Jacob and I have set up our home, gotten everything out of boxes, and finally gotten ORGANIZED, we've moved on to "beautifying." And I find I am resistant of any wall decor that is not framed.

I think in my head, I've decided that "grown-ups use frames." Single college students in dorm rooms are moving so often, and their home is not really their own, so why spend money on frames. But married people have "real" homes, and "real" homes have more permanent decor. Even though we're leaving this apartment in 6 months, I've refused to put up any of our six or seven AWESOME posters until we have poster frames. And do you know how much poster frames cost? At least the 24 x 36 inch ones we need? Like, ten bucks. Which is not a HUGE amount, but it is when you need six of them.

Sixty bucks to feel like a grown-up.

It seems like dropping $100 on car title, registration, plates, and insurance would make me feel grown-up enough.

Maybe I'll change my mind. But I'm also a big proponent of "cohesive-ness of form." Which means that if SOME things are in frames, EVERYTHING should be framed. (Or if the Pearl Jam poster is framed, then the Janis Joplin, Strokes, James Dean, Muppets, and guitar chords posters should be framed.) And a lot of things are framed.

For instance, I have a huge collection of black and white photographs, which includes film and music stars, some great photography in general, and other beloved figures. I still wanted it in our home, but because "grown-ups use frames," I gradually gathered gold/red hued frames of all shapes and sizes from the local thrift store and put them all up in a big frame gathering on the living room wall, with all the above-mentioned pictures in them. It's not quite done, but I think it looks awesome! I'm excited to add to it. I also like the feeling of "family" that it conveys. A friend who came by to visit recently said she liked it because you look at it and think "Oh, geneology. Cool. But...oh, it's Liza Minelli." Exactly what I was going for. =) (I'll post pictures of our little abode soon, then you can see for yourself what I'm talking about.)

Maybe I'll change my mind in the long run, about frames. Maybe I'll be pro-scotch tape and sticky-tack once more. But in the meantime, our posters are all rolled up in the closet, waiting for us to have enough money to buy frames for all of them. (For a while, they WERE scotch-taped up, just so I could decorate around them, and know what room they went in, etc. But after a day or two of constantly being frightened by the sound of a poster falling off the wall, we've moved them back to their temporary storage place.)