This is the first place I've properly lived since moving out of home, and while I do miss my old house - especially all the natural light, my photo wall and the fact that I had three rooms to myself - I have very much enjoyed living here so far, and figuring out how to make somewhere new feel like home.
Lately I've been feeling restless, and I have a very strong hunch that I'm going to impulsively change my room around some time soon, so I thought that before that happens I would show you a few little snippets of what things are like right now, for posterity.
I've had these for a week and they're still going strong so holler for that one, nature. Thanks a bunch.
I always feel a lot happier in my environment when there are flowers around, and now that tulips are out of season I'm all about the lilies. For some reason seeing flowers in the morning makes me hate waking up only a 9 out of 10 instead of a 12, maybe 13, so I think of them as an investment in my mental wellbeing and future.
Been working on ways to make myself a morning person btw so expect an update on that soon.
Zen as hell. You will note that there is still a christmas tree on the chalk board because I don't know what to put on there now. Suggestions welcome.
Bought a new lightbulb for that lamp but I don't know where I put it so for now it does not turn on.
Gotta keep a vodka skull next to your bed, lads. Only way to live.
Candle is from L'Occitane and it smells hella good. Will gave it to me for my birthday this year and I've almost finished it which is sad.
I'm pretty sure the classic magazine stack has been a feature of every room I've had since I was about five, we've just gradually transitioned from American Girl to Harper's. I used to be all about the 'strayan Cosmo but in the last year or so it's gone completely downhill (don't even get me started on Cleo, which is now essentially Dolly but misguidedly aimed at a slightly older audience) so now I pretty much only buy Elle, sometimes Harper's and when I've already got those two or the cover looks pretty I'll go for Vogue.
My fav is UK Glamour, but I read that on my ipad. #21stcentury
This is where I keep my university diploma, apparently. I feel like having it on a desk is appropriately studious. Those two books aren't there because they're particularly special, they just didn't really fit in anywhere else, and that Lizzie McGuire Movie poster is an ad I ripped out of a Nickelodeon magazine from 2003.
The little clear perfume bottle with the oranges on it is my favourite scent of possibly all time, Tuscan Blood Orange by Pacifica. It reminds me a lot of August 2013 and is what kicked off my obsession with anything and everything that smells like citrus.
Gateway scents. They're real and they're dangerous.
This is one of the areas that is definitely going to change, but I'm sure elements of it will live on.
I hate myself for how much I like that framed quote. Like I really hate myself for it. But at the same time every time I look at it I do immediately clean my desk so I suppose sometimes we must sacrifice our vanity for functionality's sake.
Fun fact the scent of that candle is "Carrot" and surprisingly it is one of the best things I have ever smelled.
Off to the side you can see a tiny frog-like puppy Calvin in a print that I took for photography in year 11. God bless him. I'm literally so sorry to all of you who can't have him in your lives.
Little Pib the deformed koala just havin' a sit, watching the world go by. He has forks for hands.
The big 8 is a beautiful tribute to my friendship group from high school. Essentially we just really liked that bit in the Simpsons when Barney does a rip off of Revolution 9 by The Beatles and it's just him burping and some lady saying "numbor eight" over and over again and I don't know how it escalated the way it did but now we celebrate Numbor Eight Day on the 8th of August every year.
Numbor 8 Day 2008 was a big one. We had a cake.
This is what's on top of my chest of drawers. Postcard I bought in Venice, polaroid of me, Calvin and Goldy, framed picture from tumblr and painting of the Trevi Fountain by my ex boyfriend. Thx PStrattz. Luv ya work.
Full disclosure it did live in a closet for a solid nine months after we broke up but then one day my soul felt it was safe again and also the decor required it.
THAT CANDLE IS MY LIFE. I KNOW THAT IS DRAMATIC BUT IT LOOKS SO GOOD AND IT SMELLS SO GOOD AND I BOUGHT IT AT AN ART GALLERY SO IT MAKES ME FEEL CULTURED. I'll stop yell typing now but it smells like clean laundry and I only ever burn it when my room is spotless so it is almost holy to me. Glass horse next to amazing candle is one that I watched being made in Murano when I was nine. Books are there for purely aesthetic reasons.
I freakin love that Venice postcard so much. You might have seen another one from the same shop a few pictures up in the frame with some photos from last July, and I've got another two on the shelves by my bed.
In addition to my main desk I also have another little work/writing station next to the window. This one stays very neat and organised at all times and is also directly in front of my vision board, so whenever I really want to get something done this is where it happens.
But mainly it's just where my old MacBook lives.
That candle smells like lemongrass, it's great. Got a lot of candles, apparently.
There are many more that you're not even going to see.
I keep my makeup on my bedside table in this hella zazzy little sack thing that actually came in the Easter hamper my dad sent me. I like it a lot. Side note: Doing your makeup while sitting on your bed when your sheets are very, very white is a dangerous game.
I do try to keep the rest of my bedside table quite organised though because if I wake up and it's a mess that just stresses me out and god knows I'm already stressed enough about just being conscious. That candle (legitimately might as well have just titled this post "things that are near various candles in my room") smells so good.
I've got a little list of things that I'm going to 100% take with my in me luggage when I move to London so that I feel comforted and at home as soon as I get there and this candle is one of them. It smells like man but it also reminds me of my mum and is just very warm and calming.
I don't really know why that moisturiser is where it is because I don't even use it on my face (I used to but then I went off it) but it's there now. I think maybe I brought it over when I was really paranoid the other week about how ageing apparently shows most in your neck and hands so I was like AIIGHT LET'S GET A NECK MOISTURISER THEN. That's probably it because if you look in the background a bit there is also hand cream. It smells like apples.
This painting is one of my favourite things that I own. I got it when I was in Rome at the start of 2013 and not only is it ridiculously pretty and detailed but it's also of the forum, which is one of my favourite places. I've been meaning to get it framed for the last two years (without the mounting obviously) but it's a weird shape and at this point I think I'll just wait til I'm in London.
Nicely complimented by a naked baby photo of me and my godsiblings. Hey Sussy.
We wore no clothes in the 90s.
So those are some snippets of my room. Even while typing this I was thinking of ways to change it, so that transition is definitely afoot.
Beyond that, I'm so excited to have a completely new room with entirely different things by this time next year. The idea of having to get rid of so much stuff when I move to London is a bit daunting, but it is also really refreshing to get such a clean start.
Although that being said, I am already planning to mail myself marble bookends and vacuum-bag my european pillowcases.
Change is great and all, but a good thing is a good thing regardless of hemisphere.
x0