#homeish

The day has come. You are on your way to the paradise of all things interior. Some would say it’s no paradise at all, but in this case please channel your inner first year student. Alternatively, the 27-year-old me but I’d suggest the former. Anyway, you’re on your way to IKEA. You’ve a list of things to buy which will triple in size the moment you step into the store. You also have a clear lunch plan in the form of 50 cent hot dogs and that sparkling cranberry juice nobody really likes. Yourself included. Right, there you are, yellow bag in hand you begin the journey of finding everything you need for your freshly rented flat.

You start with an obligatory tour around the showcase part. You like this, you hate that, you find a nice little thing and instead of writing it down on your phone you run for the tiny pencil and the shopping form. Uff, managed to remember the code and price. Well done. You carry on and finally get to the marketplace. Here’s where the happiness fades away and gives way to bitter but quiet disappointment… Well, in my case it does. Let me explain why.

I have just rented a flat. A new place, most likely in a new town. The apartment is nice but small and doesn’t quite feel mine yet. So I look around IKEA hoping to get some picture frames, plants, candles, maybe a lamp. For the past couple of years I’ve wanted to buy a sofa, so I spend a good amount of time in the living room section. In the meantime I remember that I only have a massive saucepan and a super tiny saucepan. I need something in between. So I check the kitchen department too. And so hours pass and I wonder about the store with my head full of visions on how the flat should look like. I get to the check out. A set of white basic plates, two glasses picked up in the outlet bit, 500 napkins, A plant with A pot, a small frying pan, toilet brush, shower curtain and 30 vanilla scented tea lights. I leave the yellow bag (keeping the pencil, of course) as my ten items slowly slide on the conveyor belt. I pay, I get my hot dog and cranberry drink, I go back home. Disappointed.

You might have noticed I didn’t get the picture frames. I didn’t get a nice lamp. And I most definitely didn’t purchase any sofas. I didn’t buy anything that wasn’t absolutely necessary (candles are). As I was walking around from one section to another, grabbing things ready to land them in the yellow bag, I kept realising: it’s a rented flat, I can’t hang anything on the walls anyway, why would I buy a sofa - the one that’s already there will do, oh I don’t really need that medium-sized saucepan (MISTAKE, IT’S HONESTLY THE ONLY PAN YOU ACTUALLY NEED). And generally, I just kept telling myself that it’s not even my flat, why invest in it. Why gather things, which will be such a pain during the next move.

Yes, that’s exactly what I think on the first day in my new apartment. I think about the next time I’ll be moving. And the story repeats itself every single time. I get the same stuff and occasionally a little thing if I feel like spoiling myself. But I never buy or decorate the space as planned. That’s where the disappointment sits. I restrict myself because of the logistics and because I am convinced I will be moving some place else relatively soon. I have it so clear. As if it was recorded in my genes. Some call it the itchy feet syndrome. I’ll write about it in another post. ; )

I always like to have a conclusion following all those paragraphs above. Today, except for YOU ONLY REALLY NEED A MEDIUM SAUCEPAN (seriously, write it down), the conclusion is rather just a thought. After many years of moving about, changing flats and not buying sofas, I think I’m finally comfortable saying I’ll stick around where I am for a while. See how it goes…

Thank you for getting this far and if there’s anything this little story made you think or feel, I’d be happy to hear or read about it.

In the meantime, have a lovely day.

I just realized I never posted this! It’s saved in my computer as “Homeish personality sketches” and I like to think that’s an accurate title?

A lil Homeish doodle from last week, because these kids are cute.

Last but not least, this is the cast of Homeish, a webcomic-to-be!