It was specifically the tiny, damp box-room that I claimed as my 'office'. After peeling off the original paint, spreading £80 of water resistant paint on the walls, having a carpet laid, ripping the carpet back up because the fitter had popped a nail through our central heating pipe, getting the plumbing fixed and relaying the carpet, it was all mine.
I bought a giant white desk and plugged in my Macbook. Then blue tacked magazine pages and articles all over the walls. Then piled my collection of 90s political biographies against the other walls. It was like being back in my teenage bedroom. Heaven! My sanctuary!
In between using the office to actually work, I have been fussing around with nick-hacks and nailing things to the walls. One corner is starting to look respectable and if not 'internet worthy' at least 'internet tolerable'. This is it. The rest is a tip.
The Lost Highway poster used to be tacked up in my boyfriend's teenage bedroom. You can see the marks where the blue tack oil seeped through. Lovely! I think it originally came from Empire. If you have not seen this film, watch how good the credits are and asses whether you shouldn't run right out and rent it now.
Ah. So many memories. This penguin is actually a piggybank modelled on a celebrity penguin that lived in Copenhagen Zoo in the 70s. The Scandinavian Kitchen blog has a good post on him here. Rather than wearing his traditional red scarf, my Pondus wears Krewe of Bacchus mardi gras beads. The wall is also festooned with bar mats from favoured holiday watering holes, the Mikeller bar in Copenhagen and Betty Ford's in Bercelona.
More trinkets! On top of Wild at Heart, you can find a souvenir Eiffel Tour from a trip to Paris for the Pitchfork festival, where I got to visit David Lynch's club, Silencio. Also a tin shaped like a domino from a boot sale, a beer cap from a meal my Danish grandma made me (steak tartar, swoon) and a tiny pug my boyfriend got me to throw me off my game when I was pressuring him to let me get a pug a few years ago. (What was I thinking?)
This is currently the most presentable corner of my happy place (how many people can say that about their office) but if the rest is ever tidy I will upload that too.
How do you decorate to make yourself happy?