When I sat and talked to my day (part 5)

Returning back after a few days is never easy. Life has been hectic these days, shifting between morning exercise, strict dieted breakfast, getting to office on time, back to home, doing laundry, cooking and not to forget, doing the dishes. Sometimes, I am surprised at my own multi-tasking skills - normally, a man is not gifted with that.

Besides these tasks, due to my own indulgences (several of them) I am always able to find something to do - creative writing, listening to music, maybe some occasional sketching and if nothing else, then just plain simple thinking.

But beyond these, I have one more new passion nowadays. It is to furnish my new apartment. It is a big task on hand, but before I start to talk about, first it is important to note a few strange things when one moves to a new place, be it an apartment or a house.

• There will be sharp edges by the doors, walls, corner section of a room, inside kitchen cupboards and bathrooms/toilets. Watch out for those, especially when in hurry, or sleep walking in the middle of the night. It takes time to familiarize with the orientation of the house.
• Find out the unprotected areas of the apartment, for instance, a small part of the lower part of the covering touching the floor is coming out of its pasting. Important to note it. I am told this piece of covering is called Dado, sometimes, we can even decorate that. Panelling is also a word for this.
• Are there pipe connections that are loose or hanging out or dangling etc.? These are things we often miss to check before moving in. I remember - in Sweden, when I moved to a new house, there was a full session conducted by some housing authority to check each and every bit of the corner and all minute details were protocoled and noted down. A small glitch on the water outlet on the side of the glass door inside the bath-cabin was a red mark put into the protocol.

But when it comes to furnishing, I think it is important to divide the elephant into its parts. In my opinion, we should approach the game in steps. One strong suggestion would be to take one room at a time. Or, let me write the steps as I see it and as I am doing right now.

Step 1 - Make a priority list of things that are essential in the household. If the refrigerator is needed in the kitchen (as you can see from the picture below) then it is needed. There should be no two thoughts to it. Likewise, what are the things that are needed for the washroom, or the balcony, or the kitchen? List them down and make a priority rating of the topics. Through this approach, we can figure out how the expenses can be stacked in. Our research work also gets easier.

Step 2 - Identify which room to start furnishing first. Make a practical choice. In my opinion, the living room should be the very first target, and a Sofa, which turns itself to a bed, is the best bet. To start living is essential in a new house to understand its mood.

Step 3 - Take some pictures of the orientation of the rooms, take help from AI, use emotional memory to remember which furnished apartment(s) you had liked in the past and drill accordingly. Make charts of things to be bought, how much on budget can you go and what would be the purpose of the furnishing. A good hint - will a room be functional or will it be inviting?

All these thoughts will keep you and me busy while we look at the crimson ray of the setting sun.

Will keep you posted how my furnishing goes...