Originally Posted by termite
Come on, we both know that's just a fancy name for a wardrobe.Yeah, I think armoire is French for wardrobe? To me, the word wardrobe means a collection of clothing, not an item of furniture. Unless it's in a CS Lewis book.....
Not sure where else to post this, since it seems I've spammed up the forum all night long.
Why are entertainment and leisure considered productive things? Sure, they bring money to gaming, tourism, or hospitality sectors, and it's figured into GDP.....but do entertainment and leisure really produce something? Or are they just services that could be found in other ways? Once they figure out how to give us 3-D or holographic experiences, then won't theatres, theme parks, roller coasters, parasailing or lounging on the beach become obsolete? Just like we can wii away at home?
They produce positive emotions, which are useful to the society as well. I've been thinking about writing a post about the man who mistook his peers for car mufflers, this ties into that.
In the future, the Berlin wall will be a mile high, and made of steel. You too will be made to crawl, to lick children's blood from jackboots. There will be no creativity, only productivity. Instead of love there will be fear and distrust, instead of surrender there will be submission. Contact will be replaced with isolation, and joy with shame. Hope will cease to exist as a concept. The Earth will be covered with steel and concrete. There will be an electronic policeman in every head. Your children will be born in chains, live only to serve, and die in anguish and ignorance.
The universe we observe has precisely the properties we should expect if there is, at bottom, no design, no purpose, no evil, no good, nothing but blind, pitiless indifference.
Sounds like an intriguing post.
Positive emotions might be useful to individuals and society, but aren't really a "thing", are they? Not like a widget you can reproduce and sell to someone, or re-use. I don't mean just movies on DVD....and once leisure is used, it's gone.
It's just more socialism vs capitalism, gotta give Loki something to do with his spare time.
I think they have a quantifiable effect (or at least one that can be noticed qualitatively) on GDP; they're a necessary lubricant for the huge machine whose cogs happen to have emotions.
In the future, the Berlin wall will be a mile high, and made of steel. You too will be made to crawl, to lick children's blood from jackboots. There will be no creativity, only productivity. Instead of love there will be fear and distrust, instead of surrender there will be submission. Contact will be replaced with isolation, and joy with shame. Hope will cease to exist as a concept. The Earth will be covered with steel and concrete. There will be an electronic policeman in every head. Your children will be born in chains, live only to serve, and die in anguish and ignorance.
The universe we observe has precisely the properties we should expect if there is, at bottom, no design, no purpose, no evil, no good, nothing but blind, pitiless indifference.
Of course they are a thing.
Positive emotions might be useful to individuals and society, but aren't really a "thing", are they? Not like a widget you can reproduce and sell to someone, or re-use. I don't mean just movies on DVD....and once leisure is used, it's gone.
We are not cavemen, we are not hunters/gatherers living on the brink of death. Our basic needs are so easily met that most of what people do now are about our non-basic needs. Leisure and entertainment being a large part of that
That's not quite what I meant, but I do know what you mean.
Beyond my up all night weird philosophical bend about what entertainment or leisure MEAN, it was my way of asking how any strictly service-based society can keep progressing. It's too dependent and secondary or tertiary. Especially during a depression or prolonged recession like this, where buying entertainment or leisure is among the first expenditures cut from tight budgets.
I mean really, think about it. Entertainment can be free. Leisure too, if it's counted as hours not working.
I wasn't really concentrating on that part of the story ...btw Mr. Domestic, in Happy thread you mentioned buying bedroom furniture. What the hell is a cupboard and how's it different from a wardrobe?was just summarising that I'd got a lot.
If you want a detailed breakdown:
Bed, underbed drawers, 2xBedside cabinet, tall chest of drawers, a wardrobe, a dressing table and stool (for Amanda).
Kinky!
In the future, the Berlin wall will be a mile high, and made of steel. You too will be made to crawl, to lick children's blood from jackboots. There will be no creativity, only productivity. Instead of love there will be fear and distrust, instead of surrender there will be submission. Contact will be replaced with isolation, and joy with shame. Hope will cease to exist as a concept. The Earth will be covered with steel and concrete. There will be an electronic policeman in every head. Your children will be born in chains, live only to serve, and die in anguish and ignorance.
The universe we observe has precisely the properties we should expect if there is, at bottom, no design, no purpose, no evil, no good, nothing but blind, pitiless indifference.
suite
I was making a joke on Americans, who pronounce it suit. I was also making a joke on anyone who buys a matching suite of bedroom furniture. Sorry.
While we're here and now I'm curious, what caused you to buy a whole set of matching bedroom furniture (or everything from the same store), Rand?
Last edited by GGT; 09-09-2010 at 01:29 PM.
Why not?
Seems the sensible thing to do. We need everything, why not get it so it matches?
I wished all my stuff matchedbut there is no way in hell I'm throwing out good furniture. I'm lucky if I'm able to get everything in the same shade. Which of course continues the cycle.
This is our set we're going for: http://www.next.co.uk/shopping/homew...mfurniture/26/
Getting a Double bed with the underbed drawers, a pair of bedside cabinets, the 'gents' wardrobe from the top-left corner, the tall chest of drawers from the middle-left and the dressing table and stool from the bottom-left.
Seems to me that it would be silly when we already need all that and have none of it not to get it as a matching set.
This was a relatively cheap but nice set for us, when we have a bit more cash to spend we'll get a nicer set and move this set to the second bedroom for guests.
Very modern - not my taste, but nice.
I think it depends on personal taste - I happen to like hitting antique/junk shops for furniture - have gotten some really awesome things that way over the years, but I'm now considering going back and buying the new loveseat and chair that match the new sofa. Buying pieces like that make it very rare that you get a matched set .
I'm not sure why buying a matched set is something to mock.
We're stuck in a bloody snowglobe.
No offense, but that's not really decorating a home, but falling for what the sales people sell. Lots of people think things have to match, but they really don't. It's more interesting to have a home that finds its things over time, things you really love, mixing styles and periods, colors and woods. A pine chest from grandma, with an oak chair you found at a flea market, with a mahogany bed frame, that's a lovely style. It shows restraint and patience for just the "right" things, things that carry memories over time, instead of just walking into a store and using a credit card to buy whatever's on sale or "matches".
I don't think I have actually bought any furniture since I was a student 27 years ago besides our bed, and that was 20 years ago also. Not counting the IKEA collection in Istanbul of course. But recently we have decided that after the renovation of our appartment in Amsterdam (new staircase, new kitchen, new floor, new french doors, newly plastered and painted ceiling and walls) we will actually buy something new to sit on. (watch the news about Hell freezing over)
Congratulations America
No offence, but that's bullshit.
Right, so what I'm supposed to sleep on the floor until grandma decides to pass me some remarkable bed am I? My clothes will just hang themselves on the floor because who needs a chest of drawers?Lots of people think things have to match, but they really don't. It's more interesting to have a home that finds its things over time, things you really love, mixing styles and periods, colors and woods. A pine chest from grandma, with an oak chair you found at a flea market, with a mahogany bed frame, that's a lovely style.
So how long have you gone without a bed before buying one? Or without anywhere to store anything. Forgive my cynicism but its easier to do it your way if you already have stuff and sounds like a lot of self-justification that your way must be better. I have no furniture, currently renting a fully-furnished house so its not like I have a choice about buying someIt shows restraint and patience for just the "right" things, things that carry memories over time, instead of just walking into a store and using a credit card to buy whatever's on sale or "matches".
What on Earth is wrong with me acknowledging I'm moving into a new home, its not furnished, so going to a shop and buying furniture? Because I tell you what, I've gained a lot of memories over the last year trying to find the right house and we've spent months looking for furniture and finding the right one - yes in a shop, that we're happy with. And in a few weeks we'll finally be able to move in and within a couple of weeks it'll be furnished and it'll match, but most importantly it will all be ours
Is it really bullshit? It's not necessarily (just) about your purchases. We all know how that works; you have an empty place, you have a budget and you have a preference for a style. But is all of that still valid if you're talking about people who have a house with furniture that is basically ok, but not up to date enough any longer where people swap everything at once for a new look?
The one disadvantage I see for buying a set is (how contradictory) that it may look dated faster than a collection of items that isn't a set.
Congratulations America
That is offensive. Some people prefer neatly matched sets, other people are more eclectic.
Nice to know that my bedroom being done all in cherry, or Buddy Boy's being done all in maple is also unacceptable to you, though.
My daughter's bizarre (and still unfinished) room is clearly much more to your taste.
edit: I think the main point here is that just because your taste leans one way, it hardly means that everyone's should. Or are we aiming for everyone in the world being exactly the same?
We're stuck in a bloody snowglobe.
Its bullshit that her way is the only way and that anyone who does it my way is "not really decorating a home, but falling for what the sales people sell." Yeah, that's nonsense.
I agree entirely that different ways of furnishing a house can be valid in different circumstances, and I wouldn't be so derogatory as to call someone else's purchasing "falling" for anything. Different people have different tastes and none are more "right" than another.It's not necessarily (just) about your purchases. We all know how that works; you have an empty place, you have a budget and you have a preference for a style. But is all of that still valid if you're talking about people who have a house with furniture that is basically ok, but not up to date enough any longer where people swap everything at once for a new look?
As lolli said, not my taste.
Its so flat and blah, no character at all in that room
Then don't act so defensive when someone has a different opinion of style, or how to furnish a home. Be happy and comfortable with your choices. I said you sounded happy and having fun shopping with Amanda, if you remember that. I'm glad you're content, but I can still express my own opinions on style. Right?No offence, but that's bullshit.
Right, so what I'm supposed to sleep on the floor until grandma decides to pass me some remarkable bed am I? My clothes will just hang themselves on the floor because who needs a chest of drawers?
So how long have you gone without a bed before buying one? Or without anywhere to store anything. Forgive my cynicism but its easier to do it your way if you already have stuff and sounds like a lot of self-justification that your way must be better. I have no furniture, currently renting a fully-furnished house so its not like I have a choice about buying some
What on Earth is wrong with me acknowledging I'm moving into a new home, its not furnished, so going to a shop and buying furniture? Because I tell you what, I've gained a lot of memories over the last year trying to find the right house and we've spent months looking for furniture and finding the right one - yes in a shop, that we're happy with. And in a few weeks we'll finally be able to move in and within a couple of weeks it'll be furnished and it'll match, but most importantly it will all be ours
How long was I without a bed before buying one? Quite a while, actually. Didn't seem a big deal to have a mattress on the floor while I looked for the right frame. I lived out of suitcases and plastic Tupperware bins for a long time, too. My first purchase as a young working (single) woman was an antique brass bed, because I'd always wanted one. I saved a long time for that, and that's just the way I've continued to operate, trying to have things I liked that didn't have to be on a credit card, getting things piece by piece.
You have your way and I have mine, we all think our way works because it works for us. No argument there.
Indeed, 2 other people have clicked that link and said "not my style/taste" without saying "nobody could like that" which is essentially what you did. I have no problem with your style, I have a problem with you saying I'm "not really decorating a home, but falling for what the sales people sell."
OG actually went a bit further than what you claim he did. If I were in your shoes I would have felt just as offended by his post as GG's.
Anyway, I think it's silly to have an opinion at all about what you have bought from a picture in a catalogue; it looks like basic, standard fare and what it really looks like depends on where you put it in your home and what else you do with that room. With this set you can make it look like a sanitized version of a hotel room, but I know people who could take this set and make you feel like you're in a doll house.
Congratulations America
Why so defensive?I'd say the same about a garden that was put in place in one day by a landscaper....homes and gardens are environments that evolve over time, they are not a once-and-done deal. If you're happy then that's great. But IMO it's not decorating, or maybe pros would say it IS decorating but not "designing".
Half of my bedroom is my home office. The other half is a regular bedroom. Both areas have their own consistent styling. When I was much younger and my family moved into our current house they outfitted the bedroom like Rand is planning to, by buying matching furniture that was part of a set from a home furnishing store. The furniture for my home office side was picked out by myself and consists of items that match a color scheme of light cherry wood, black, silver, and blue. The only things that don't match that color scheme are things I needed that didn't have an item available in that color. I'm happy with the layout and choices. Why? It all matches, does not act as a distraction, and most of all, I do not associate cherished memories with furniture.
Edit: I could probably tear the logic of your arguments apart better at a later time, right now I have so much caffeine, MSG, lack of proper sleep, and thoughts about other things that I can't fully address the faultiness of your ideas about design and decorating at this time. Especially about the parts regarding memories attached to items.
. . .
According to your logic, virtually none of the services should be considered "productive things". After all, only agriculture and manufacturing produces things, right?Not sure where else to post this, since it seems I've spammed up the forum all night long.
Why are entertainment and leisure considered productive things? Sure, they bring money to gaming, tourism, or hospitality sectors, and it's figured into GDP.....but do entertainment and leisure really produce something? Or are they just services that could be found in other ways? Once they figure out how to give us 3-D or holographic experiences, then won't theatres, theme parks, roller coasters, parasailing or lounging on the beach become obsolete? Just like we can wii away at home?
Hope is the denial of reality
It would be a problem for me, yes. It's not a problem for others. Pretty sure I said that already.
oh FFS this isn't Debate Club. But if you like colors that match, you can do that with different woods stained in the same tone. Fabrics can be in the same color family and not "match". If you like shapes to match, that can be done by crossing decades. And guess what? The same effect can be achieved over time, with various purchases, from different stores. But if having a complete room in one day is what you want.....then go for it. If it makes you happy......then go for it.Edit: I could probably tear the logic of your arguments apart better at a later time, right now I have so much caffeine, MSG, lack of proper sleep, and thoughts about other things that I can't fully address the faultiness of your ideas about design and decorating at this time. Especially about the parts regarding memories attached to items.
I can still express my own opinions, even when they clash with yours.
ps I also dislike those Bed-in-a Bag things, have you seen those? Comforter + bed skirt + pillow covers. Sometimes with sheets, too. Most people love those things, because it makes it easy for them, they don't have to wonder about matching colors or patterns. But IMO they're tacky. Am I allowed to say that, even if some readers like those damn things?
Last edited by GGT; 09-09-2010 at 04:07 PM.
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