Making my place my own

One of the things that is on my list of things to do, is to decorate my apartment. When I moved out of the house that my ex and I owed together, I moved into a basement apartment. (It is actually in my friend's house, her tenants moved out suddenly about two weeks before my ex and I broke up. It was pretty perfect timing. In a shitty, your life is falling down around you, kind of way). He bought me out of our house, because I wasn't sure where I was going to end up living. And I'm still not sure, I might flee the country at any moment.

 

When we broke up, we split up our things. Anything that was mine before the relationship, remained mine. Anything that had been his, was his. Anything that my family gave us as a gift was mine, anything his family gave us, was his. And the things we had purchased together, we split, item for item. We also did a few trades (I traded my old futon for our new one, I traded the TV stand that my grandmother had purchased us, for the one we purchased together). We actually made a list of everything we owed, and wrote one name or the other next to it.

 

Let me tell you, that was not an awesome process.

 

So when I moved into my own place, I brought with me furniture and artwork that had been hanging on our walls. Some of it was stuff that I had before we got together. And some of it was stuff that we had purchased together. 

 

Some things I took with me that I didn't even particularly like, but was too filled with spite at the time to leave behind. 

 

Since I moved in, I have been busy. First I was crying every day. Then, I was studying for the LSAT. (Sometimes I was studying for the LSAT between bouts of tears). Then I was getting ready for Christmas and dreading my unwedding day. And now I am studying for the LSAT, again. I haven't had a lot of time to think about what I want to go where. What I like and what I don't like about the apartment. Most of the furniture is still exactly where the movers put it when they moved me in.

 

When my dad was visiting in September, he put all of my pictures on the walls, but that is about it. There is still a random bulletin board on the wall in the hall left over from the last tenant. There is still a full length mirror leaned against the wall (also left over from the last tenant). My guest bedroom/craft room is filled with boxes and random items that I haven't unpacked, and haven't found a home for.

 

So, when this pesky LSAT business is cleared up, and when I have sent off all my law school applications, I am going to decorate my apartment. I am going to buy some things for the walls. I am going to put away all of the bank statements that are currently living on my book shelf. I am going to think about how I want the rooms to be set up. I am going to make the place mine.

 

Because, now that I live on my own, I can do whatever I want to with the place. I can buy nothing but purple things and fill the rooms with them. (Have I mentioned that I love purple everything?) I can buy things with cutes-y owls on them and put them all over my bathroom. I no longer have to consider if my decor choices are "too girly" or have "too much purple" (I don't think there is a such thing as too much purple, but some people disagree...).

 

What do you do to make your place yours? Any items that you have purchased that you love? I would love to get some suggestions!