Thursday, February 24, 2005

No Place Like Home

I have this thing about my home. I have to have things uncluttered and put away, so that tables are cleaned off, furniture is minimal, accessories are kept to a minimum, everything is neutral, and spacious. I married a guy who likes clutter, or at least isn't bothered by it, who hates to throw away anything, and who thinks you should never get rid of any furniture because you just might need it later. Now....combine this scenario...I had a three bedroom townhome, decorated the way I wanted, with adequate furniture....He had a house filled to the brim with who knows what, and we decide to combine households.
Now its two years later, and I sit here and realize a lot of my depression is because of this house. I've gone between feeling like he should get rid of his stuff because there's no room, to feeling like I'm being a bitch and should get rid of mine. I've done both, we've moved, removed, and compromised and now settled down to what is in here now, and he's estatic with it. And I HATE IT.
I realized yesterday I feel totally claustropobic in my home. There is no room I can retreat into that I don't feel like there's so much furniture it's hard to turn around.
Every surface is covered and there's no place to put anything. I clean things off, pitch, and empty out closets, and within two weeks he brings in more stuff or I do, or we both do, and it just piles up again. I've gone from we need more storage, to we need to purge this stuff, to we need to move, to I need to run away from home.
I don't feel happy here. Moving is not an option. So do I put my foot down and say get rid of this stuff? Do I sit here and suffocate? Do I try to just deal with it?
I've come to realize that I have to control my surroundings. I think that comes from feeling like I'm not in control of other things in life but THIS I can. You know?
And if I was happy here, and had my neutral minimal look I want, he'd not be comfortable.
Now, this is the hard part of marriage. Or at least for me. And I've heard a lot of women say they'll never remarry because they couldn't stand someone moving their stuff into their bathroom (same principle).
However, there has to be some way to deal with this.

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