Bill made a joke the other night that my apartment, in the eyes of the blog world, is “mythical”. hahahahaha We were laughing, he said – “No, but seriously … you just know people are wondering: just how small is it???” So ridiculous and funny. Anyway, here are a couple of peeks. At corners of it anyway.
The corner. With my often ice-cold radiator. And my beautiful dark curtains. And my random 8-ball – given to me as a gift by a cast member in the last show I did. Oh, and my plant. His name is Andrew. He was given to me over 10 years ago when he was a teeny Dr. Seuss-esque stalk. He is now a glorious (and rather twisted) tree.
Tooooo many books. This is my history (world history as well as American history) bookshelf – as well as my Founding Fathers Biography bookshelf (I keep them separate from other biographies.) I LOVE my hat box (on the top of the bookcase). Jean gave it to me. It’s filled with letters and photographs.
Over the door into the kitchen … a photo by the wonderful Sam Shaw of 2 of my idols and inspirations – John Cassavetes and Gena Rowlands. (And in the background – you can see how I, like all urban dwellers, must store things in plain sight – and high up. I’ve got my summer fan on top of my kitchen cupboards, and my picnic basket that Ann Marie gave me – oh and my George Foreman grill as well. Thank God for random high-up storage space.) Now this is ridiculous – but that photo was in an Interview magazine many years ago – and it was spread across 2 sides of the magazine. I loved the photo so much that I ripped it out – trying to keep the two sides intact, but they ripped. I got it Xeroxed, as is – and somehow I really like the rip down the center. It gives it an oddly authentic feeling. I’ve had this photo on my wall for almost 20 years now. When I freakin’ die, that photo will be on my wall. I can say, with all honesty, that not a day goes by that I don’t look up at it, and just contemplate it, for a few happy reflective moments.
Another bookshelf – literally jammed into the only corner I had left for it. Which means I cannot stand in front of it, perusing my books – the dresser is in the way – but c’est la vie. That’s what happens when you live in a 2 room apartment with 1800 books. I just love this view, though. I love my little ivy plant coming over the top … I love the things on the side of the bookshelf – each item has its own personal meaning … my favorite photograph of the World Trade Center is at the bottom – two people are kayaking in the Hudson, a slate-grey Hudson, with a slate-grey sky – and the towers look huge and glowering … there’s also a quote about being an artist from John Cassavetes – printed in the middle of a huge spotlight – a painting of a white dove – that one makes me feel better and peaceful every time I look at it. Oh yeah, and then all my books. That’s my adult fiction shelf, by the way. Or, one of them.
I just *love* that your place is exploding with books and all of these random, tacked-up pictures. It kind of looks like…home, except without the old heater.
Emily – ha!! Slowly but surely I have been actually FRAMING these images I so love … I mean that Cassavetes/Rowlands one has been with me from Rhode Island to Philly to Los Angeles to Chicago to New York … I have been unable to find it online – so I guard the thing with my life. I need to get it framed. I will eventually.
Also it is hilarious – it’s like I turn my walls and all available surfaces into a collage of inspiration.
Sheila,
Me too. It drives my stepmother insane (which, believe it or not, is NOT the only reason I do it, as much fun as that is). She’s Miss German Hospital Corners, so everything is supposed to be neatly framed and formal. Screw that. No friggin’ way. I’ll take down my tacked-up special edition Master and Commander and Ummagumma posters when you pry them from my cold, dead etc., etc. I can’t even imagine how she’ll react when she finally sees my hippo knobs. It might kill her, in fact.
hippo knobs!!! ha! Talk about inspiration. FABULOUS.
Okay, you have set off my OCD.
I would have those books arranged by size, maybe with some on their sides stacked. It would take me hours, but I wouldn’t be able to rest until it was done. :)
(Note to self: Stay in hotel while in NYC so Sheila does not kill you in your sleep for rearranging her entire apartment.)
That’s what really matters, Red. I mean, every time I pass them, touch them, see them, they just make me smile. Especially when I think of a 60-year-old man knocking off the old, boring conventional knob on one of the doors in his house to put a hippo in its place (after painting his refrigerator purple or what not), I feel blessed to be a part of the absurdity that is the human race. It makes me feel ALIVE. If other people don’t get that, if they don’t understand or think it’s childish, whatever. There’s the friggin’ front door. Use it for the last time.
Lisa – ha! No no no no – they must be alphabetical!!! I can’t find anything otherwise! Books must be separated into genre – and then organized alphabetically by author – and within author must be organized by publication date.
Oh – and in some of the other bookshelves I do stack them up on their sides – to save space. If that is any consolation to you. :)
My OCD is also extreme!!
(I love the image of you having a sleepover at my house and as I lay slumbering you race around rearranging my books.)
For the next Friday Fuck Off thread, Emily, you can tell people to fuck off “with hippo knobs on”.
And I love that the hippo knobs make you feel alive. I so so get that.
Lisa and Red…oh my god. My sister’s the same way. She MUST have her books and CDs organized a certain way. I’m just too damn absent minded for that sort of thing. My books are in piles and stacks all over my apartment. In ever room. Even the bathroom. The only ones that come close to being organized are the ones on the kitchen table (i.e. my working desk) in my “currently reading” row. But Kris literally loses SLEEP over the matter when I tell her my CDs are just in a random stack and that my books aren’t organized by subject or author or size or anything.
Everytime I watch one of those Clean Sweep/Clean House/Mission Organization shows and see CDs and books just lying around in random stacks? On the FLOOR? Ohmigod, I break out into hives.
They make racks for those things! And shelves! And boxes! Aaaaaaack! See? I’m hyperventilating over here.
And Sheila, I do it AUTOMATICALLY. When I’m over at my friend Sue’s house, I can’t be still. I’m always straightening stacks and putting away stuff. I think sometimes she asks me to come over when she doesn’t feel like cleaning. :D
Lisa,
My racks and bookshelves are full and I’m out of space, furniture-wise. I don’t have anywhere else to put this stuff….but they are NEAT stacks, if that makes you feel any better. I’m sorry to upset you. I’ll stop now.
I have a stack of books on the floor. BESIDE MY BED. You know … I need them close by should I want them immediately.
And for some reason it NEEDS to be on the floor.
I also stack them neatly – largest book on the bottom – smallest book on the top.
And I am tapped out, in terms of space. I have 3 bookshelves IN MY KITCHEN. There is nothing more I can do.
Oh, and also, I kinda like what my books look like. I have no problem with a bit of clutter – as long as things are organized within the clutter, and I can find what I need.
Hahahaahaha! That’s okay. I remember those small-apartment days.
That’s funny that you say it’s because you’re absent-minded. I’ve always told people I’m anal-retentive because *I’m* absent-minded.
It’s true. Most people can lay their keys down in the middle of the kitchen table or on a desk and find them again. I can’t. They HAVE to be in my purse or on the hook in the kitchen or I’ll lose them. Our “home office” looks like the Nazis put it together, not because I’m especially good at organizing, but because I HAVE to be or stuff will just disappear, like life insurance policies or D’s orders (you’d be amazed how often I have to get that piece of paper out) or the kids’ birth certificates.
Of course, it’s a sickness NOW, but it started because I was so messy I was losing my whole life.
Oh, and I like your apartment, too, Sheila. I would never really neat it up. (Well, I would try really hard. :))
I COVET those ceilings. And your map of Ireland. Do you also have a copy of the Proclamation?
Everytime I watch one of those Clean Sweep/Clean House/Mission Organization shows and see CDs and books just lying around in random stacks? On the FLOOR? Ohmigod, I break out into hives.
You would freak out at my apartment. I should have bought a new bookcase (or two) years ago. Here’s a picture of most of the books I read in 2004, stacked up about six feet high:
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Lisa – hahahahaha “it’s a sickness now” – you are cracking me up!! We all have our sicknesses.
No, seriously – feel free to straighten up if you come over if it would make you feel better. It was so hilarious – the first time my cousin kerry walked into my apartment, she looked around and immediately began making suggestions about how to utilize my closet space better – and I took her suggestions – and seriously, I feel like a whole new woman!!
I loved it, though – she took one look at my closet and knew: Oh no no no, this will NOT DO!!
It was great!
How do you get the ones in the middle out?
Lisa – the proclamation is in the last photo in this post. The one on the left. I love that you knew I would have it somewhere.
Mark – hahahaha!!
Yeah – I desperately need another shelf, but I seriously have nowhere to put it at the moment, unless I scaled down to a single bed, and I am just not willing to do that.
I thought you did. I used to have it as my wallpaper on my computer. How sick is THAT?
hahahahaha
I am not at all surprised.
One – I LOVE the phrase Hippo Nobs. (actually, it sounds like a character in a third rate film noir).
Two – you could consider a platform-type bed with bookcases built into the bottom…that would give you more places to put your books. I’m going to end up in that situation one of these days… and I live in a largish house. With a room devoted to being a library.
Melissa – I love my headboard too much. It’s wide and has little shelves I’m guessing were meant for decorative knick knacks and stuff. I’ve shoved books in them. My bed has already been converted into a makeshift bookself. Though I am totally picturing Lisa with a hammer in her hand at my house in a DIY frenzy to build me one of those.
Yessssssss.
Hahahaha, Lisa. Do your worst.
It looks like a very cozy nest. Two rooms. 1800 books. That’s impressive! I keep repeating it. Two rooms. 1800 books. It would make a good tagline for the Sheila O’Malley bio film.
“Two Rooms. 1800 Books. One Young Woman.
Sheila Astray: starts Friday, at theaters everywhere.”
Every time we move, most of the boxes are filled with books.
Chrisanne’s.
Emily – I so want to get a headboard like that. Or maybe something ornate and twirly and old-fashioned … I’m not really happy with my bed, in general.
Dan – hahahahaha What a tagline!!
Sheila – it’s awesome. It’s got a little electric socket and a light switch inside these two center doors, so I can plug my lamps into it and not have to use my main ceiling light so that I have to get out of bed to turn off the lights when I’m done reading. And I can stuff a TON of books into it.
The rounded border thing near the ceiling (I don’t know what to call it) reminds me of my grandmother’s apartment in Inwood. I miss visiting that place.
My wife is getting tired of my books laying all over the place. It’s not like I have anyplace to put them either.
Sheila,
I am available for further consultation. ;-) Ha ha ha! When are you coming up to see my place in all its organized glory?
Love Kerry
What? did you say your radiator was cold?? this will not do. I’ll have to make a special trip to fix that.
Ummm…I would like someone to come to my home to do a “Mission Organization”. I have no system, yet a yearning desire. Lisa? Hello??
Hey, thanks for the glimpse!
Beth – ha!!! Yeah – maybe we can all post pictures of our respective homes and Lisa can tell us what to do.
I love it!
It sort of reminds me of my apartment. It’s tiny with TOOOO Many Books which are crammed into anything that resembles a shelf and additionally stacked in corners.
I’ve given up framing everything as well. I have french art deco posters thumb tacked to my bedroom wall. Crooked. On purpose.
ALICIA KEYS – Superwoman (PIANO by Celeste)
Alicia has a beautiful and great voice…
And this song is wonderful!
:)