![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Our spouse is out tonight seeing his girlfriend, which he does not get to do very often as our family is so busy and she is also very busy, and I had thought I would be talking online with my long-distance SO, but they were very tired and I was somewhat tired myself, so we rescheduled to Sunday when hopefully we will all be rested. Thus I have an unexpected free evening and I am rather enjoying it; it has been a long week and (quel surprise) I am tired, but I am drinking slightly fruit flavoured white wine and catching up on Dreamwidth and considering the fact that I could be reading one of the paper books which must go back to the library soon, but setting up the reading lamp might be more work than I am game for right now. And really, it is a very particular pleasure to sit here writing whatever comes into my head, knowing I do not have to race to bedtime, since I will get to sleep at least an hour later than usual tomorrow, perhaps even two.
Most of the paper books I have been reading lately are interior design books from the 60s and very early 70s because they connect up with the writing project I would be working on if nobody were ill, Girl Scouts ran itself, etc etc (although in actuality I am well aware that if I have nothing but vast swathes of free time I do not get anyhting done -- the trick is to have just enough to do each day that I am energeised to spend the non-scheduled time on writing, which I am still discovering how to manage) -- anyway, I have been looking at these things and contemplating the differences of the past. There is a lot of concern in making homes warm and inviting, the assumption being that homes are naturally cold (wall radiators rather than the central heating I am used to) and not sufficiently lit (tiny little lamps but no central light fixtures). Thus rooms in very matchy colours, drop ceilings to make things smaller (backwards to me) so it's less spacious and empty and cold, and ideas such as carpeted bathrooms because it is so luxurious to have a warm bathroom with no cold floor, whereas to my contemporary eyes the thought of wall-to-wall bathroom carpet is appalling. I am enjoying the images it fills my brain with (which may emerge in very changed form if I write) and I am also enjoying the understanding of what 60s and 70s decorators were after. I find it easy, looking at the past, to just be amused without remembering that the people who made the avocado kitchens or jello molds full of hot dogs or whatever often did have reasons which made sense to them at the time.
Most of the paper books I have been reading lately are interior design books from the 60s and very early 70s because they connect up with the writing project I would be working on if nobody were ill, Girl Scouts ran itself, etc etc (although in actuality I am well aware that if I have nothing but vast swathes of free time I do not get anyhting done -- the trick is to have just enough to do each day that I am energeised to spend the non-scheduled time on writing, which I am still discovering how to manage) -- anyway, I have been looking at these things and contemplating the differences of the past. There is a lot of concern in making homes warm and inviting, the assumption being that homes are naturally cold (wall radiators rather than the central heating I am used to) and not sufficiently lit (tiny little lamps but no central light fixtures). Thus rooms in very matchy colours, drop ceilings to make things smaller (backwards to me) so it's less spacious and empty and cold, and ideas such as carpeted bathrooms because it is so luxurious to have a warm bathroom with no cold floor, whereas to my contemporary eyes the thought of wall-to-wall bathroom carpet is appalling. I am enjoying the images it fills my brain with (which may emerge in very changed form if I write) and I am also enjoying the understanding of what 60s and 70s decorators were after. I find it easy, looking at the past, to just be amused without remembering that the people who made the avocado kitchens or jello molds full of hot dogs or whatever often did have reasons which made sense to them at the time.
