Friday, July 27, 2007

More Petticoat than Freudian


This blog is getting really frilly. All I'm blogging about these days are cats and home decor. I won't even mention the perfect loaf of bread I baked today (thanks, Minimalist!). But here's the latest on my settling in: my dining room with the vintage table and chairs (no they are not a set, they just go well together- thanks, Craigslist!) and the infernal pain-in-the-arse chandelier from London, which cost $60 to be rewired and took nearly three hours to install and a great deal of improvising on the part of the electrician. But now it works and it looks beautiful. And I will never, NEVER buy a chandelier in London again unless I already live there.

Here's a picture of my new beautiful living room rug, a kilim that my parents bought for me in Istanbul, helped by our wonderful, tasteful and wise Turkish friend. Look closely and you'll glimpse a guilty pleasure:

7 comments:

Hilaire said...

Aha - I spy you reading Harry Potter!

Your place makes me weak in the knees! That chandelier!

Pamphilia said...

Aw, thanks h! I'm really happy with the way it all turned out. But it's awfully quiet here in the South. Crickets and tree frogs chirping. Literally. I know in a month and a half when the semester starts I'll be stressed out and over worked again, but right now, aside from writing, I mostly sit around and stare at the chandelier!

Anonymous said...

The chandelier is an acquired taste, but the interiors are delightful. Dark red and deep blue are lovely colours.

Is that the NYT I spy you reading? I thought that was haram in the south? Or has their enthusiatic coverage of John Edwards' campaign turned their fortunes?

Pamphilia said...

The chandelier looks much better in person- it's very neo-baroque and full of rich, bright colors. But yes, it's pretty girly, even for a man of discerning taste like you, s.

The NYT? On the laptop in the kitchen? Why yes! How else can I keep up with the pulse of the North whilst living in the South? ;-) And they are very much in favor of Obama these days (he raised more money, see . . .). Hey, at least it's not the Washington Post!

Pamphilia said...

Oh I should mention that the red is actually a bright cherry, and the blue is not as deep as it appears- it's a medium slate blue- grey. More grey than blue actually (the name of the color is "evening dove"; whereas the name of the kitchen is "cherry tomato". whatever that means).

Anonymous said...

Cherry tomato is appropriate for the kitchen, but evening dove doesn't sound very enticing, even for the bedroom.

I was under the impression that the Post was populated by almost as many pseudo-liberals these days as the NYT and the Guardian. What I will say in favour of the NYT is that at least it has retained Christopher Hitchens as a reviewer, tho' I'm extremely dismayed to discover he has now become an official export.

I'm going to keep you pinned on politics, and ask whether you really think Obama is any more likely than HC to capture a Southern state? I've always thought that Lord North would raise a smile if he realised that Americans now choose their candidates on the basis of how much cash they can raise.

Pamphilia said...

No, you're right about the Post- I was alluding to the fact that it's going to change now due to its new ownership. I read the NYT because my family is from New York. Everybody from New York, or even a couple hundred miles from New York reads it. Especially the Sunday Times. It's a nice thing to have on a Sunday morning, along with great coffee and toasted bagels.

As to who will take the Southern States, who's to say? The highest percentage of African Americans in the US in found the South, and supposedly there's this historical black voter apathy when it comes to presidential elections, presumably because we've never had a black candidate receive the nomination. Hilary take a Southern state? No idea. I find her too conservative for most democrats, and Republicans would do anything to smear her. I think Edwards with Obama as his running mate would have a very good chance.