Altar-ed Spaces

Your home is an outer expression of your inner world.  I've found that if I am surrounded by chaos it's difficult to maintain any sort of emotional or spiritual equilibrium.  Sometimes all it takes to live a more grounded, more orderly life is bringing some order to your surrounding environment.

I'm lucky--I live alone except for my two fuzzbutts.  I love living by myself; I have total say-so in what goes on the walls and shelves as well as the images, smells, and sounds that surround me.  On the downside that means that there's no one but me to take out the trash, do the dishes, and clean the cat box--but I'd much rather clean the cat box myself than have to put up with someone touching my stuff or worse...leaving the kitchen sponge wet in the bottom of the sink.  *shudder*

After living in my current apartment for five years I finally decided to hell with the deposit; it was time to paint.  I've made my way through the place room by room, starting with the kitchen, then the bathroom, and this past week the bedroom.  (It does of course make life much easier having a best friend who loves to paint walls.)

You can see the results of my efforts on my Flickr photostream, of course (including before-and-after pics of the bedroom and pics of the kitchen and bath, as well as closeups of my altar), but at the moment I'm proudest of the bedroom, still something of a work-in-progress but already making me very happy.  It's amazing how something as simple as moving the bed from the middle to the corner, painting the walls a dark olive, and hanging lanterns and beads can completely transform the energy of a space.  I've always kept my house altar in the bedroom, and now it has lots of space around it for me to sit and meditate.  Moreover, before, I barely wanted to sleep in the room, and now I love to just lay around on the bed and just...be. 

My decorating style is a sort of IndoPagan Whorehouse Eclectic, with a lot of Indian influences.  I'm  deeply drawn to the style and architecture of India, where every square inch of buildings, furniture, and fabric is adorned, carved, or painted in some way to reflect a loving and spiritual attention to detail that we in the West simply don't pay to our homes.  India is a country both poor and rich--most of its people live in poverty, but their culture is a deeply layered tapestry of religious and historical influences.  When all you have are four walls and a chair and an appreciation for beauty, you make those four walls and chair as lovely as you can.  I try to keep that in mind, and place items around my house with care and attention instead of just smacking a candle here and a poster there. 

A lot of my furniture and artwork comes from my own history; I have paintings by my grandmother, altar bowls from a friend in Europe and my mother's trip to Hawaii, and crafts I created myself.  

In the process of redecorating I've been cutting back on the sheer amount of crap I've collected over the years--if it's not beautiful or doesn't have personal meaning to me, out it goes! I'm learning not to hold onto objects for the sake of having objects, but to let them pass on to people who might give them better homes.  And as I clean out closets and the Goodwill donation pile gets bigger and bigger, I feel more and more free, chipping off bits of the past and carrying them out to the curb where they belong while keeping those treasured memories that matter.

Of course, now that I have all this extra space, clearly I need more books.  There's always room for more knowledge, right?

If like me you love the beauty of Indian design, check out these two blogs, where I got dozens of ideas and heaps of inspiration for my home:

An Indian Summer

Rang-Decor

Comments

[analae.wordpress.com]

It's lovely.

Also, the part about chipping away the bits of the past (stuff) speaks to me in a big way... and may just be the inspiration I need to do the same. Thank you.

[Liv]

Wow! Your space looks great. I love it all. You have a good eye. I've been getting my space more together lately too... I know how good it feels. Enjoy!

[Jaka Merriman]

It's funny that your bedroom is getting done right now. I just finished re-reading The Circle Within as part trying to satisfy the upwelling of desire I'm having to re-establish my practice, however meager it may have been. What you wrote then (and are writing now) about having space that you jive with has gotten right under my skin.

We have a spare bedroom that's been converted into my office and I'm going to re-clean and re-purpose it so it's more...me. I need somewhere that I can just be and be happy and peaceful. Those are all things I feel like I'm missing right now.

Thanks for all the (inadvertant) inspiration. :3

[Racu]

OMG..you kept the bell! *cries* You make-a-me happy.

[Thalia]

*IndoPagan Whorehouse Eclectic*, you said.

I always loved the decor in Inara's shuttle.

[Thalia]

Oh no oh no!!!

I clicked on your Indian decor links and now I really, really, really want to redo my bedroom in shades of red and gold, lush and sensual with embroidery and texture and gorgeousness.

Except I'm halfway through painting it mauve and shades of purple! And I'm halfway through a quilt, a goddamned hand-stitched streak-of-lightning purple and black log cabin quilt! I even have a gorgeous rug in lavender and mauve and black!

The thing is I love mauve and black. But it ought to be the living room, really. But I'm in a shared space and the living room isn't *mine.* And I've already got robin's egg blue for the studio room. But a bedroom should be red. Where will the mauve go? I must have mauve in my life!

Oh no! I don't know what to do now!!!

[Danielle]

I love it!

Thanks for sharing the 'Indian Summer' blog, I am drooling right now.

Youre room looks amazing. At 28 years old I have gone back to college and live in a dorm again. I need all the decoration inspiration I can get. Ive been finding some great hand beaded scarves for very cheap at the farmers market (I live in upstate New York) from an Indian woman who travels back and forth bringing these gorgeous scarves to sell at her booth.

Keep posting your pics too, love seeing what you are doing with your space.