Letter from Boston
Redecorating At Home
By MASAKO YAMADA
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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。
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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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