Please Forgive My Mess
Posted By LaurenI think I’m a pretty excellent interior decorator. I do fascinating things with light and shape, eclectic collections of colors and directions. I’m good with placement and view-points. I take into account your first impression and your double take.
And then I cover it all up with clutter.
There is a constant battle between my artistic expression in organized space and my laundry, a contest of design and entropy. And sometimes it makes me feel like a failure and bad person. And I know I’m not the only one. How many people are going to make a New Year’s resolution to reorganize their home and then never follow through. Oh me, definitely. I stare in horror at interior decorating magazines and their perfect home layouts, not even an apple in the excellently situated fruit basket out of place. I know that nobody’s house looks like that. I can’t help but look at that sleek, minimalist table in the design catalogue and wonder if it would still look that good with a pile of papers from work and my half-eaten breakfast that I abandoned in a dash to catch the bus.
I read a provoking article in the Home & Garden section of the New York Times today, Saying Yes to Mess. January is Get Organized Month and the National Association of Professional Organizers is ready to get you. The organizing industry, think The Container Store and the like, makes billions every year and what do we have to show for it? Are we really more organized and even if so, do we like ourselves better for it? I personally like the article just because it gives vindication to my laziness and allows me to forgive myself, but it raises some great questions. Who says that neatness is a virtue that we must always strive for? Who says that neatness is better than mess and with what authority? Neatness can also be linked to a lack of creativity and a terribly unforgiving personality. Actually, now that I think of it, my clutter can be considered a part of my genius interior design. It’s free artistic expression.
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