Midlife And Treachery

Frufru

August 7, 2011 at 9:15 PM (Uncategorized) (Bathrooms, Decorating, Disability, Frufru, Impairment, Kitchens, Snark, Universal design)

For a household of one, or even only two people. The following make me crazy:

Duvet covers. Box spring ruffles. Little decorative pillows made to sit on a made bed during the day and look cute. Pot hangers. Pot hangers always terrify me.  First people with pot hangers generally have Expensive Cookware First Seen On The Food Network.  What if they fall down and get misshapen or bent?  Worse yet, what if they fall down and hurt a person, or mortally wound a pesky miniature schnauzer?  Dishtowels with chrochete’d handles in a number in excess of what was needed. Multiple trivets with colors and decorations co-ordinated to the seasons of the year.   A kitchen with nearly all of the ‘makers’ in it.  (Pasta. Bread. Espresso.) One is ok. More than one makes me twitch.

Refrigerator magnets. Seven different sorts of food processors/choppers (Get one processor.. Use it.) Multiple sets of pots and pans.  Colored soaps and moveable soap dishes. moveable painted toothbrush holders (?) Massive multiples of hand towels. Fake plants in the restroom. Thematic shower curtains…and the last that I’ve actually been subjected to: A shark pillow placed on some random restroom shelf.

That stuff just chokes me.

For me, the random eccentric ephemera  have to and should be on the walls.  Placed so they can’t be missed,  have to be commented on, but are up out of the way.  Pictures, hangings, drama masks (never had them on my walls, but want them. )

As happens often, I find my preferences, even my comfort level affected by any attempt that *I* make to do such a thing, or any attempt of others to set my new home up as heavy on bed, bath, or some kitchen Frufru ™. profoundly disquieting.

Now. I actually like the stuff in the home of a decorator, or someone who has had a lovely home for years, perhaps not much money but wonderful room plans carefully preserved. Or someone wealthier who loves foccusing their time and energy on having a lovely home. Nifty extra single pans are cool for egg poaching, or crepes…things you really can’t do in the usual pans.  Being house-proud is a fine thing.

I wasn’t meant to deal with those sorts of things.

The less nonessential stuff one has in the house, the less likely it is to drop and impede power chair rollaround or trip someone on crutches or a walker…no coffee tables, no thin delicate tables, cabinets or stands…or anything with glass doors (shudder). It has to be strong enough to inadvertently knock against. because the house has to have a clear route in all rooms for a wheelchair to go.

Financially, and in a sort of disability friendly feng-shui way, it’s important not to have useless steps in the middle of chores.

Example.

I’m fine with fitted, then flat sheet, then blanket..and a bed spread if company’s coming. Necessary. But the Frufru? What if I drop it.  Same idea in the bath or kitchen. (Carpal tunnel, with a surgery that was always a gamble, basically means my right hand grip is not worth spit. So, I drop things, and reachers are my friends)

I’m not for blank utilitarian spartan-ness either.  But there has to be a middle ground somewhere between so empty it echoes, and a frufru filled muddle.

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