Even Without a Gay Husband

Some of us are, shall we say, visually challenged.  Not only are my eyes something like 20/200 (which is terrible, terrible vision!  I can’t even read the words I’m typing!), but my interior decorating skills are so poor that Matt has said he feels like he is staying in an asylum when he visits me.  The white walls, the beige carpet, the lack of art—it’s just too much for him.  He likes bold, daring interior spaces.  My apartment is a little too calming for him.

But you know, I’m a high-strung person, and I find the white walls soothing.  I wouldn’t mind having more art, or even some color on the walls, but with my transient postdoc lifestyle, it’s hard to justify the investment of time and energy in this space that I’m renting.  I felt the same way when I was a graduate student, knowing that I was very likely to move to another city within a few years.  Decorating felt a little pointless—a waste of time and money, especially for impecunious graduate students who are short on both!

Last weekend, I was sitting at my kitchen table, eating lunch, messily, as usual, when I spilled my soup on the tablecloth.  It was a mess that required a change of clothing for the table.  Normally, I’d reach for another tablecloth because I always use tablecloths, just like my mom.  But that day, I wasn’t in the mood.  I wanted something different.  I’ve always liked the look of table runners on other people’s tables.  (These are the sorts of things I think about when I read food blogs: table runners.)  I have a circular table, and I didn’t think table runners worked with round tables.  The geometry doesn’t seem quite right, like the linear shape of a table runner against the curviness of a round table do not match.  Despite all this, I decided to experiment, and I came up with this: 

and this:

I overlapped three of my square cloth napkins to create a makeshift table runner, and I really like how it turned out!  The bright colors look so cheerful against the polished wood.  The effect seems very summery to me.

Not bad for a visually challenged postdoc, eh?  Maybe I don’t need a gay husband after all.