My Life With Furniture
These days, I find the lines are blurred between school and Real Life. Student life often means spending a cozy evening with your computer or heading to the boardroom for an on-site lesson.
Even traditional campus life has been redesigned for grown-ups. On September 5, 1999, the New York Times Magazine carried a story about life in the New Dorms that look like yuppie condominiums, complete with carpeting and what the Times calls "adult-sized refrigerators."
Meanwhile, a lot of grown-ups who are old enough to remember typing their term papers are still living like students. Books, magazines and loose stacks of paper are strewn everywhere. A Real Student secretly misses bricks and boards, although today they cost more than particle board shelves and are impossible to move.
When I lived in Alaska, I realized there was no point in buying Real Furniture. You could equip a ten-room house for the cost of shipping the contents of a studio apartment to the Lower 48.
I ended up buying a couch from a graduating student and adding an extra futon to the Bedroom Set. In my next job, I fully intended to do the same until a colleague observed, "Isn't there a time in your life when you stop buying used couches from students?"
A friend had a similar experience when she visited a Real Furniture Store seeking bookshelves. The salesperson showed her a nice unit for $450. Seeing that my friend was about to pass out, the salesperson explained, "This is a piece of furniture that you will be proud to display in your home."
My friend left the store in a daze. Somehow, she explained later, she had never thought of bookshelves as furniture.
Still, I see progress. A friend called to say he bought a house because he was tired of living like a student and was ready to grow up. He was forty-five at the time.
I myself have acquired some Real Furniture, including the Beautiful New Couch I bought twelve years ago. And I once had a grown-up lawn, thanks to my lawn service person, who was a student.
We will never succeed completely. My friend with the house just called to say that his two cats have shredded most of the trappings of his adult life.
I understand perfectly. My Beautiful New Couch has served as a place for me, my house-sitters and my guests to take naps, and the dog has carried out extensive performance tests on each cushion.
I haven't been a student but the Beautiful New Couch has gone through a reverse graduation: it looks far more exhausted than its predecessor -- the couch I bought fifteen ago, from a student.
For serious advice about moving, download Making the Big Move.
About The Author
Cathy Goodwin, Ph.D., is an author, speaker and career/business consultant, helping midlife professionals take their First step to a Second Career. http://www.cathygoodwin.com.
"Ten secrets of mastering a major life change" mailto:subscribe@cathygoodwin.com
Contact: cathy@cathygoodwin.com 505-534-4294
Related Articles:
Contemporary Bedroom Furniture ? How To Select What?s Right For You
The selection of contemporary bedroom furniture is a tricky thing. Human nature is to put all sorts of pieces of furniture in a bedroom to make it cozy, but contemporary d?cor would not approve. So, let's look at the two things that are most important when selecting yours.
Woodcraft Furniture
This written document is all about the issue that you have been looking for, take your time to read. We all love the look of well made items in our homes. These items have the power to transmute an average look home into a place where you can find timeless heirlooms. These extraordinary heirlooms are the work of wood carvers and makers of sensational wood work. As you look through the many types of furniture in the stores you will be stricken by the sheer elegance of woodcraft furniture. Unlike many of the mass produced wood items that you can find in many places there are high timber woodcraft furniture that is made according traditional standards that ensure that the customer ? that?s you ? has the right to expect a piece of furniture tha...
Your Guide about Modern Furniture
Your Guide about Modern Furniture ---------- Is your sala very much in need of a change? Right now might be just the perfect time to change to modern d?cor. Going modernistic is among the easiest ways to update your rooms look without having to blow off your cash on full-scale remodeling. Actually, just replacing one or two items with something more modernistic may lend your space that much-needed makeover.
Versatile Bedroom Furniture Chests
The chest of drawers has long been a staple piece of bedroom furniture all over the world. This functional piece adds much needed storage while also providing some display area for photos and trinkets and the like. Over the years, however, this piece has fallen into a bit of rut, design-wise. Boring, cookie-cutter dressers and chests with five or six equally sized drawers have become the norm, and are what most of us have in our bedrooms. There are alternatives to these ho-hum pieces of bedroom furniture that can add some style and flair while still serving the purpose of storage. Here are a few of them.
Antique Furniture Appraisals
If you have antique furniture, then antique furniture appraisals may be something you want to look into. You never know when you might have a treasure on your hands, so it is important to seek out the services of a professional appraiser. Even if you believe you have found a gold mine at a yard sale or an auction, you still need to have an appraiser look at it. Only the appraiser is successfully going to be able to do antique furniture appraisers. Dont trust someone who claims to be an expert because you want to deal with the real deal.
Beauty School for Your Bedroom Furniture
I was at a friend?s apartment when I noticed just how, well, pretty her bed was. What happened? That thing used to be an ugly piece of mangled wood that resembled a cat scratching post. And it was always uncomfortable to sit on, much less lie down on. Actually, the whole room looked kind of bad. I mean, one of the dresser drawers was completely missing, and another was stuck most of the time. In short, the bedroom was a complete mess. How did you do it, I asked. She told me her refurbishing secrets, which I am now passing on to you.
Teak Patio Furniture: Your Buying Options
Are you interested in redecorating your patio? If you are, have you given teak patio furniture a close look? If you have yet to do so, it is something that you may want to think about doing. Lawn and garden experts, as well as homeowners, have nothing but good things to say about teak patio furniture.
Finding the Perfect Open Office Furniture
With the advent of ever increasing cost for commercial real estate, companies seeking to reduce or minimize overhead have had to try to efficiently accommodate their employees in smaller work places. The architectural solution is the open office. When open office furniture was introduced in the 1960s, buildings were generally designed and constructed differently. Much of the average office facility was laid out with a series of walled, widowed offices, interior conferencing areas and strings of long connecting, corridors. Smaller, open administrative bullpen areas were filled with desks back to back, giving workers little working space and no privacy. The design became too expensive and was resistant to change. Open office furniture bec...
Leather Bar Stools: Furniture You Can Put On Your Will
There's something about leather. On a woman's body, it is a powerful magnet. It draws eyes, and keeps them riveted. Leather on furniture is no less hypnotic. It gives furniture a rich texture and a luxurious feel. Not surprisingly, many see leather as more than just a fabric. To some, leather is an addiction; to others, a religion. No matter how you see leather, however, know that it can even be an heirloom! Yes,with proper care, your leather furniture can easily outlive you.
Outdoor Kid Furniture
It?s a mother?s biggest source of frustration. It?s a beautiful day outside, the sun is shining, the breeze is refreshing, and there?s plenty of space to run and play. But instead of rushing outside, they slump into the sofa and watch hour after hour of cartoons. Why would they go outside, they complain, when it?s so much more comfortable to stay inside?
Garden Furniture
Coming home to a beautiful garden is one of the best ways to enjoy the fruits of your labor. When it is time to spruce up your porch, patio or garden for entertaining, French garden furniture is the perfect complement to fun. With a variety of choices in design from portable to stationery your garden can become the setting for hours of relaxation and enjoyment.
Contemporary Bedroom and Living Room Furniture Makes Living Luxurious
If you?re a regular jet-setter like myself, I?m sure you?ll agree that one of the greatest perks is that you get to stay at luxurious, upscale hotels where you get preferential treatment and cocktails galore! But I have to admit, hob-knobbing with rich socialites, showing up to Red Carpet events and texting every celeb I know on my T-Mobile Sidekick 3 can get pretty monotonous. That?s why after a hard week of partying I say there?s really no place like home, and my home has to be just as glamorous as the hotels I?ve been slumming around in.
Why Modern Furniture Is Popular In Miami, Florida
The concept of modern furniture definitely hit the world by storm, especially in the case of Miami, Florida. The diversity of culture found in the area is a mix of creative ideas that is quite fitting with the lifestyle of this bustling city.
Using Wood Furniture For An Outdoor Life Style
Choosing outdoor furniture that fits your needs is important try to take note on how the particular item is assembled, how the joints are made, what fixings are used, the strength of the individual components and the quality of the finish. When purchasing commercial outdoor furniture it will need to be very durable to protect against the elements of the weather and from people mistreating the furniture. So when look for durable commercial furniture try to find furniture that has been manufactured with the mortise and tenon joining method. To keep the wood looking new you will need to paint or finish it every so often, the rule of thumb is two to three years, this all depends on how long your furniture is exposed to the elements