Letter from Boston Redecorating At Home By MASAKO YAMADA	フレームで見る  英文をプリントする  脚注をプリントする
客間の模様替え 4人で共同生活をしている雅子さんのアパートには空き部屋が一つあり、物置や客間として使われていました。現在の滞在客が、殺風景なこの部屋をもっと快適な空間にしようと提案したことで、部屋の大改装が始まりました。また、これがきっかけで、今まで見落としていた家の隅々にも目がいくようになりました。

The apartment that I live in with my three roommates has a small living room that, in the past, we have used primarily to store our bikes or to hold guests' coats during parties. We have also used the room to house the many guests who have visited our apartment.

Some of the guests have stayed there for just a night after having a little too much to drink at one of our parties. Others — often from abroad — have stayed in the room for about a week while sightseeing and visiting friends and family in Boston.

Quite a few friends have slept on the couch for over a month. Many of these people have had to stay at our place temporarily because they were "in between" apartments. Since many landlords require tenants to sign a year-long lease, and most people switch apartments in the fall, it can be rather hard to find a new apartment during the rest of the year.

Perhaps because the room has always be used as either a guest room or a storage space, the room has never quite taken on a personality of its own. Each of our personal bedrooms has developed a character over the years, but the living room has remained the same. The only pieces of furniture in the room are a cheap desk set and coffee table picked up from the street, and a simple folding sofa bed consisting of a wooden frame and a cotton futon. The walls have remained white, and the windows, without curtains.

Our current long-term guest suggested this week that we try decorating the room so that it will be more useful as a public space. We have tended to use the kitchen as our primary hangout in the past, and although this has been adequate, I suppose we would have used the living room much more often had it been more pleasantly furnished.

Our guest studied art history in college and counts photography as one of her hobbies, so perhaps our functional room didn't appeal to her taste. Some might consider her suggestion an insult, but I couldn't help but agree with it. Whatever her reasons for making the suggestion, I have been pleased with the results, especially since she has helped things along.

She began the task by draping colorful Asian fabrics on the walls, the desks and the horrendous plastic-covered chairs. She asked all of us whether we could contribute something. I showed her my stacks and stacks of postcards — I'm afraid that they're probably more useful now as wall coverings than as carriers of news, since I hardly write real letters anymore — and she selected a few. She also put up an attractive sake set ("tokkuri" and "ochoko") on the window sill as a decoration and some ethnic knicknacks.

Her enthusiasm has caught on, and I've decided to buy some new furniture for the room. Rather, I've decided to search secondhand stores for old furniture that will match the decor better than shiny-clean goods straight from the factory. We still haven't decided on the final position of fabrics and furniture pieces, but it's great that we've started to make a difference after all these years.

Interestingly, this move has also inspired us to clean up the rest of the apartment. We haven't been scrubbing the floors on our hands and knees, but I think we've all been a little bit more aware of the things hiding in the dark corners of our refrigerator and bathroom cabinet.

Although we're not particularly tight on shelf space, it doesn't make sense that there are only four people in the apartment and about 15 toothbrushes in the cabinet. Nor is it natural for us to have eight bottles of shampoo in the shower. Some of them have been in the same place for about a year. We've decided to take inventory of the things that are ours and to throw all unclaimed goods away (or donate them to a shelter).

I tend to be happy as long as things in the house function in a reasonable manner, and I think many graduate students share my rather stark style of interior decorating and organization. However, I have to admit that the concept of having a cozy living room in our apartment is very attractive. I appreciate the fact that this new idea took root and developed because of the insight and initiative of one of our guests.

Shukan ST: Feb. 11, 2000

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