Today's weather has been windy and rainy, a perfect day for trying to rearrange my bedroom and livingroom.
I've had a few wall-hangings I've wanted to put up since before Christmas. However, having concrete walls, it's been difficult to figure out just how to get them up. I tried to help someone else hang something in her apartment once and ended up gouging a big, ugly, gray divot in the wall.
However, I noticed little plastic "wire hangers" nailed into the wall in various parts of my apartment and have used them to hang a few things. This morning while shopping at Carrefour (France's Wal-mart; yes, I'm still in China), I finally found some of them, so I bought a box of four and a hammer. I also bought a much needed small lamp for my bedroom.
When I finally got home, I decided to switch my bedroom around a bit in order to accommodate the lamp. I have two outlets in the room, but they're both on the wall by the window. My nightstand was by the opposite wall, on the right side of my bed. My lamp's cord wouldn't reach that far, and an extension cord wouldn't work because of the design of the bed. At first, I moved my nightstand to the wall by the window and set everything up normally. Then I thought how I've gotten used to putting my glasses and watch on that side of the bed and might be confused during the night if there were an emergency.
Fortunately, I remembered a piece of furniture in my living room that I don't use for much. It's a small set of drawers, like a wooden wheeled filing cabinet, but there isn't really enough room in any of the drawers for files. I rolled that into my bedroom, put it between my bed and the outlet/window wall, and voila, I have a place for my new lamp. I centered a small wall-hanging above the middle of my headboard, and the room looks a lot nicer and more personal.
Having moved that one little piece of furniture in the livingroom and not being able to decide where to hang the next picture-scroll, I started moving my livingroom furniture all around, which was a lot more difficult than I expected it to be. I finally decided on a place for the scroll and hung that. Then I decided where I wanted the different pieces of furniture. After an hour or two of changing everything around, I decided that the original layout actually was the most intelligent, space-friendly design. I moved everything back to its orginal home (except for the newly christened nightstand). Ugh. Still, it's an improvement to have the picture up.
Finally, I hung my last large scroll in the hallway. It's all Chinese characters, and I have no clue what they say (it was a gift), but it's impressive. I think the large character is friendship, but I'm not sure. I'll have to get a student to translate for me.
Overall, the place looks much nicer. I'm especially pleased with how the one small scroll looks in my bedroom. When you enter my apartment, if you glance left, it's the first thing you see and gives a sense of serenity and balance instead of empty bareness.
And it hides the afternoon's first (and only) divot nicely.
Posted by at February 21, 2004 7:12 PM