Home love

This picture perfectly sums up how I'd been living since the time I first rented an apartment, up until I got married. I had a mattress, a second hand dining set (with metal chairs that would embarrassingly topple precisely when I had a rare guest over) and a Papasan chair - to sleep, eat, lounge and repeat in. That's it! Nothing more, nothing less. And I got along just fine. In my mind, I was a less-is-more person. I liked how roomy my apartment felt with its blank white walls and beige carpet dotted sparsely with all my material belongings.

And then something strange happened. Around the time I got married, I felt this all consuming need to sink my roots into the ground more firmly. It was almost as if I had been wandering and travelling light so I could take flight at the drop of a hat and it was finally time to jump off the wagon. 

I started with some basic additions - futon, bookshelf , side table, couple of sturdy dining chairs, TV unit and a shoe rack (most items from IKEA and Target). Then added a few accents like a couple of potted plants. Three wedding photos got framed and one hangs on the wall by the dining table. I also taped about 20 bare prints in a pseudo random fashion on a bedroom wall, similar to this.

I scoured the net for DIY-for-dummies ideas and pleasantly surprised myself by actually following through with few of them. Here's one that's as use-what-you've-got as it gets - Diamond collage .
But the description on that site is deceivingly simple. I read this and went "simple enough" to myself and started cutting out diamond shapes on some scrap paper only to realize there was quite a bit of geometry involved in making the pieces fit together for that mesmerizing 3D effect. Several diamonds later, almost on the verge of giving up, I decided to just wing it with the shapes I had on hand and ta da -

I just eyeballed the placements and there are quite a few crooked lines. But they aren't too noticeable from afar, I guess. I still have to buy a frame and hang it up.

So here's to adorning bare walls, one personalized touch at a time!

Cheers!