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I have been decorating my home off and on, as time and money permits, since I moved in three years ago. But I began thinking about how I wanted to decorate when I moved back to Orlando after college. I never intended to do much with my apartment, but I didn't want to live in a college bachelor's pad forever, so I started thinking about what I did want for the time when I had my own home.

I have always wanted something fantastic; something beyond the ordinary world. I remember one of my first thoughts being of some of the decor in Disney Quest. There were dark blue carpets with arcane mathematical symbols drawn out in gold. The decorations were made of bronze and had a retro space look (think of the way the 60's thought the future would look). The ceiling was dark and had fiber optic lights embedded in it so it looked like a star field. It was a whole other world.


Another major influence was the Lord of the Rings movies. I love the look of Bag End and Rivendell. That realistic fantasy look Peter Jackson got in the Lord of the Rings movies summed up how I wanted my house to look.




Later, I thought of Islands of Adventure. Specifically of the Lost Continent and Port of Entry portions. The Port of Entry had the feel of an Arabian bazaar, the kind of place Sinbad or Aladdin would be found. The Lost Continent was a mix of mythical Greece and Arthurian legend.

The last bit of inspiration for decorating came from the video game Morrowind. The architecture was fantasy without being the standard medieval fantasy style, something I appreciated in the game.

Now, my house doesn't look like any of these. It would be quite difficult to weave all these disparate styles into one cohesive whole that looked good without being over the top or garish. I don't think I have the artistic vision to manage such a thing, much less the skill to implement it. But despite the different looks of these games and movies and theme parks, there was a common thread: they were all representations of far off, exotic, fantastic lands. These are the places where the stories happen. These are the locales through which heroes and villains move. These are where adventure takes place.

My home has more Asian influence, from my own real life adventures in the far off land of Thailand, and not near as much of the fantastic element as is found in my sources of inspiration. Still, I am pleased with the direction my home is going. My goal has always been to create a home that feels like it is from the stories. The kind of home where it wouldn't look out of place for a knight to hang up his sword, or an archaeologist his whip, or for a party of dwarves to stop by on their quest for long forgotten gold. The kind of home where you start your adventures, and keep the relics and treasures you acquired on your past ones.

I have always had trouble articulating my vision. Part of that was simply that early on, I only had a vague notion of what I wanted. I saw many things and thought, "that looks neat, I want my home to look like that." But with such a mish mash of styles that didn't give anything coherent to work with. And as my ideas solidified, I realized that I wanted something a little stranger than merely adding accents from a far off culture or ancient civilization. Decorating in a Mediterranean or Oriental style, or with faux relics of ancient Egypt, is not that unusual. Indeed, this is largely the approach I have taken. But I have always wanted something beyond this world; something beyond the edge of reality and into fantasy. That's just too weird for most people. I am a geek, and am familiar with people's reactions and rejections when you show interest or excitement in something that's not normal. So I tend to keep my mouth shut about my hobbies and ideas. This has made describing what I'm trying to do difficult. It has also made implementing my idea problematic, since what I want doesn't actually exist in the real world.

Still, I like how it's turning out. The base furniture and architecture isn't fantastic, and at the moment, I am adding pictures and souvenirs from my travels. I like the exotic, traveled look it gives. But I still need to find more stuff that has that fantastic element to it. Many of the items I've decorated with can be found if you travel the world (or order off the internet), but I want a few things from places you can only travel to in your imagination.

Let's leave cyberpunk behind for a moment, and go back to home decorating. When I started the blog back up, I had said that I had done a few things to the house during my silence. One of the things I had done, last September, was add a Chinese dragon to the foyer. I found it at a flea market in Panama City Beach during a family reunion.


This gets me closer to finishing the foyer. I need a shoe rack or bench to go along the dividing wall, and I want to replace the light with something less 'middle America suburbia' and more 'far-off, exotic lands.' That will pretty much complete my foyer.

I've also replaced my dining room set with a set my dad gave me when he replaced his dining room. The table fits perfectly with the old world occident-meets-orient look I'm going for. The chairs are definitely a more retro-modern style, but the with the color and pattern, actually seem to fit in well. It doesn't quite match my living room chair, but it doesn't really clash either.


The last thing I got for my living room is an Italian Map Globe bar. It was a Christmas gift from my parents. It looks good there next to the armor. I ought to hang the sword on the wall, but propped in the corner like that, gives it more of a used look instead of display, like I just got back from adventuring and haven't put my gear away. Which is more or less how it got there, after a Renaissance faire.


The globe opens up. The crystal was another Christmas present, this time from grandma. There are wine glasses, highball, and double old fashioned glasses in there.


Those are the big changes in the last year or so. I've printed out photos from some of my trips to hang on the wall, along with some souvenirs, but I haven't gotten around to hanging them yet. Or even finding suitable picture frames. That will probably be the next thing I do, but I will have to make sure it's in keeping with the old world style.

It's been a long while since I've bothered with the blog. Since it's spring, we'll start off with some garden updates. All the plants I put on the patio last spring are still growing. Most of the ones on the front walk died.

I added a new plant stand to the patio today. I got it at the Winter Garden plant festival, from a place called Nature on the Rocks. Today I planted some azaleas, snapdragons, and some tropical plant whose name I've already forgotten. There is still a lot of room on the stand, but I don't think I'll manage to fill it this year. I want to see what the azaleas do, since they can get quite large.


Last summer, I added a couple of wind chimes to the patio. One is bamboo, from Black Market Mineral, and the other is stained glass, that I got from the Tampa Renaissance Festival. Unfortunately, there is very little breeze down here, so most of the time they hang silent.

I also replaced the plants on the front walk. Most had died when I forgot to get someone to water them while I was out of town. Weeds had since started growing in some of the pots. We'll see how well these do.

There's a few other things I've done to the downstairs, so hopefully I'll remember to update the blog a little more frequently than every nine months.

I've finally added some plants to my back patio. Only a few so far. The first set consists of a small rose bush, salvia, and lily of the Nile, in your basic terracotta pots. The little table there came with the chairs, and makes a good plant stand.

In the other corner I've placed a Confederate Jasmine. It's definitely one of my favorite plants, and looks and smells amazing when it blooms. To keep with the Mediterranean feel, I got the big terracotta pot there with the neat looking vine creeping around the whole thing.

The nursery I got them from, Blodgett Gardens, also had a really cool armillary, that I want the jasmine to grow on. A bit of Roman statuary and I'll be all set.

This is still just a start, though I might not do a whole lot more this season. Ultimately I want there to be green and flowers everywhere. I better see how well I do taking care of these before I spend hundreds of dollars on more plants. It'll also give me a chance to see what I can find at the medieval fairs next winter. I really like their copper fountains.

A couple of weeks ago, I found some patio furniture for my house. I had been wandering around the garden sections at Walmart, Lowe's, and Home Depot, when I found this table at the Home Depot.


I love the tile. I didn't have anything in particular in mind when I was looking, but when I saw the table, I knew that's what I wanted. Puts me in mind of the Mediterranean.

My next goal is to deck it out with plants and flowers. It'll be a jungle by the time I'm done with it. Though that might take some time, given that I'll have to get pots and planters and everything else. Oh well. Gives me time to plan. I think I ought to stick with the Mediterranean theme.

I made some major additions to the living room today. I have replaced the sofas, got a new lamp, and some really neat candles. The sofas are from American Signature.


They're pretty neutral as far as the fantastic style I'm going for. If anything, they are more contemporary in style than I was really looking for, but I didn't particularly like the old fashioned styled sofas. However, with the right accents, I can still achieve a sense of the exotic and fantastic. Other parts of the living room are already heading in that direction. Here's the new spot for my trunk.


The lamp there is from World Market, and matches the lamp that hangs over the couches.


The final addition to the house today is a collection of orange and blue (Go Gators!) candles, also from World Market. They're very Moroccan in style. They fit with the whole far off lands idea, almost Arabian Nights.


That actually gets me most of the furniture in the living room. The only furniture I have left is to replace the coffee table and end tables. Everything else will be decorations. I have lots of wall space left for paintings, swords, and what not. I also want to get some throw pillows and curtains. This is where the more fantastic elements will really come out.

One of my Christmas gifts this year was my very own treasure chest. It fits perfectly with the old world style I am going for in the living room. With the tiger painting, I was worried that the downstairs would become too oriental for my liking. I want something a little more fantasy for the living room. This is definitely it.


Of course, I'll have to trap it, like a proper rogue.


I still need to get the main furniture for the living room, mostly so I'll have an idea of what colors I can work with in all the other accessories. I'll have the library paid off in another couple of months, then I can start looking for sofas and chairs and tables. Slowly but surely I'll create my adventuring abode.

It's been a while since I wrote anything about the house. I haven't made any big purchases since I got the library. I have gotten some accent pieces. My grandmother sent me a couple of porcelain vases that I've set up on the foyer table. The foyer is done in an oriental style so the vases really match. She also had some vases and plates with American farmland scenery on it; Mom got those.


I've set up some lanterns on the little dividing wall that marks off the kitchen from the foyer. The little copper ones I got at a home decorating store that has since gone out of business. The wood and paper lantern I got while I was in Thailand last summer.


I finally framed my tiger lithograph. This one is hanging in the living room over the sofa. While I'm not doing the living room in an oriental style, I really liked the tiger and thought it would look good in the main room of the house.


The style I am going for in the living room is more of a medieval fantasy feel. Not in the geeky, fantasy art way, but more like Lord of the Rings. It's an old world style, with just enough exotic touches to give a sense of far off and magical lands. This lamp I found at World Market is a perfect example of what I mean.


And the latest addition to my collection is some actual armor. The leather breastplate is from a group called Pyramid Leather, that goes to the Renaissance Festivals. I got this from the fair in Tampa. The chain mail comes from A²Armory.


So it's a bit more direct in the medieval fantasy decor than I was originally going for. If everything is subtle people might miss the effect. And what man wouldn't want some actual steel and leather armor?

Well, rather than getting couches for my living room, I got a desk and book shelves for my library upstairs. All pretty cherry wood with carved detailing. Right now I'm going for that Victorian England library. The kind that would belong to some explorer that's filled with random souvenirs from his travels (souvenirs yet to come). Here is the start of it.



I still need to add some pictures and paintings on the walls, and add the various accent pieces to it. I've got some old maps from fantasy video games. I want to frame those and put them up, since they have that old world feel to them.

I also want a bunch of steampunk accent pieces. I'm trying to walk a pretty fine line between traditional and fantasy.

The only other major thing I want to do up here is add a comfy chair and a little table so I can actually read in my library.

Oh, and redo the lights. My list of things I want to do to my house seems to only get longer as I actually get things done.

This past weekend I found a mirror for my foyer. It's an interesting looking piece. Still going with the oriental flavor, this actually reminds me of some of the decoration I saw when I was in Thailand. Particularly the gold leaves on the red background.


And now that I have the mirror up, I can hang up one of the pictures I got at the art show. I needed the table and mirror as a reference to see where the painting should go.


I have three things left to do to my foyer. I need something to go on the table. I'm thinking either a Thai dragon or a Chinese lion. I also need a shoe rack to go along that low wall you can see in the bottom of the picture. I have a bunch of shoes lining the base of the wall, but I'd like an actual place to put them. I haven't really been looking yet, but the only ones I've seen so far are those metal or plastic wire frames. Suitable for the closet, but not for the front entrance. The last thing I want to do is replace the light with something more oriental looking. The shoe rack should be the only thing that poses any difficulty.

The other week I decided to liven up my front walk a bit by adding some flowers. It was pretty bare before, especially the strip of mulch between the garage and the sidewalk. So I went to Lowe's and picked out some flowers at random. Just whatever looked pretty. I got a couple long windowsill pots to put them in. I potted them instead of planting them since I wasn't sure what the home owner's association would say about it. So far, nothing.


This is the front walk with the new flowers. The poinsettia there by the door was a gift from the neighbors this Christmas. And the little American flag is from the Tea Party.


The first set of flowers. Three of them are the same kind, just different colors. The bright red ones there on the center right have since stopped blooming. The others look like they'll keep going for a while.


All but the red ones here have stopped blooming. The plants are still green, but no more flowers. The tags on the flowers for these first two pots say they need a lot of sun, and here between the buildings they probably only get 3 hours of sunlight a day. We'll see if the start blooming again once the dead buds fall off.


This last pot has flowers that like the shade. The two in the middle need a lot of water. They start wilting if I don't water them for a couple days. The pink one has stopped blooming, but the plant is still a bright green.

And no, I don't know what any of these flowers are. I didn't save the tags, and I forgot to look. Also, my neighbors decided to copy me after I put my flowers out. But she outdid me, putting more pots out and taller flowers. If any of mine die, I'll have to get something bigger to match.

I went to the Winter Park Sidewalk Art Festival this morning. It wasn't quite as big as the Mt Dora Arts Festival, but they still had some neat things. What I got this time was a print of a photograph by John & Debora Scanlon.


Obviously this doesn't match my Chinese paintings I got last month, but I think it is a very beautiful piece, and it does go with the old world, somewhat exotic theme I am going for in my home. Plus I have a lot of wall downstairs, so I don't have to hang it near the Chinese stuff.

And now that I am starting to decorate, I dug this painting out of the closet. I got it in Jamaica while on a cruise about this time last year.


I'm not sure where I'll put this one. Perhaps I'll hang it in the downstairs bathroom. I could make it a Caribbean theme. I do like the ocean and the tropics, but I don't want to mix a bunch of disparate styles in one room. And it's a small painting, so I think the bathroom idea will work.

I found a neat table for my foyer. I was at Ashley Furniture looking at sofas when I saw this. They were getting rid of them to make room for a new model, so I got one of the floor pieces on sale.


This kind of bound chest look is not at all what I was originally looking for. I was thinking of making the foyer have an oriental look. However it looked interesting, it was the right color wood, and I think with the right accents, it will still look good in an oriental style.

I've had trouble finding a foyer table. My foyer is rather small (it is a town home, after all), and the stairs start right in the foyer, so I had to find something small enough to not block the stairs.


There a still a few things I have to do in the foyer before it's done. The most important right now is to get a door stop, so the door doesn't swing into my new table and beat it up. A trip to Lowe's and half hour's work should take care of that. After that, I want to hang up a mirror over the table, put in a shoe rack by the hat stand, hang up that picture of bamboo I got at the festival, replace the light fixture with something oriental or Himalayan looking, and get a Chinese or Thai dragon to go on the table. Which is more plan than I have for the rest of the house.

The other weekend was the Mt Dora Arts Festival. I went looking for something with which to decorate my townhouse. I am trying to avoid cheap decorations. I have several posters in plastic frames I could hang, but I want my home to be a home, not a college bachelor pad.

At any rate, I found some paintings I liked. They are Chinese in style, done by a man named Godwin Kou. Actually they are prints of paintings, but whichever.


I plan on hanging this one in my foyer. I'm currently trying to find a little table with a drawer that I can put in there. I want to hang a mirror over that, and put this painting up next to that, at the base of the stairs. I'd like to find the table and mirror first, so I know where to hang this painting.


I want to hang these two in my living room. I have a large amount of wall that needs something on it. These paintings are a good size, but I still have some room for other stuff. The Chinese on the tiger painting says 'when the tiger roars, you can feel the wind.' The painting below is the Chinese word for meditation. I still need to frame the tiger one before I hang it.


I was trying to make the foyer in a somewhat Oriental style. I have a wooden wall carving of a dragon I got while I was in Thailand on one wall now. But the living room is supposed to be an old world European feel. I think I can still use these last two in there. I really want something that is slightly exotic and fantastic, without being over the top or outrageous. With the right furniture and accent pieces, I can do it. And there is still plenty of wall space to cover.

A week ago I commented that finding furniture was hard. But sometimes the furniture just shows up. I received this as a late Christmas gift from my grandmother:


Apparently grandma bought this for herself, but when she got it home, decided she didn't like the way it looked. My dad knew I was looking for a stand, and thought it would match my tastes, so he brought it home with him after Christmas.

A coat rack/hat stand is one of the many pieces of furniture I have been looking for to decorate my house. I've wanted one because I do not have a coat closet downstairs, and I wanted to be able to put my hat and jacket by the door. The hat/coat stand appealed to my sense of anachronism. This one looks good. The wood is a little bit lighter than what's in the great room, but you can't tell from across the house.

I've already put it to use.

This past year, I bought my first house. A townhouse really, but it's very nice, and it's mine. It is two stories, two bedrooms, two and a half baths, and there is a loft at the top of the stairs, so really I have three bedrooms worth of space.

Since this was now my home, I decided that I wanted to actually decorate it and furnish it properly. Until that I point, I had lived in apartments, and had never really thought of them as my home. The furniture was all hand me downs from family from when I went to college, and is still in good condition, though old and mismatched. And the decorations were mostly posters of Hubble photos or nature scenes, along with random glass paper weights, and various knick knacks I had gotten from medieval fairs. But I wanted my house to be a home, not some cheap college bachelor pad.

So I have set about the task of decorating. Having some rather different tastes from modern America, and wanting to get quality furniture instead of cheap, 'it'll do' stuff, it has turned out to be surprisingly hard.

Overall, I want my house to have a fantastic feel to it. I want a hint of exotic and magical to my home. I say hint because I want subtle, not over the top. It should suggest strange worlds to the imagination, not look like the set to a cheesy fantasy movie. It is a very hard target to hit.

For the great room downstairs, I am going for what my friend termed 'old European.' It goes past traditional and Victorian, and into the old world, such as you would find in a 17th century palace, with all the gilt and gaudiness removed. The first piece is an entertainment center.


I really like the dark wood. That color wood is popular right now, so it should be easy to find. More difficult will be finding wood with clean lines and simple adornments. Contemporary furniture is very flat and plain, no adornments at all. And I don't like the curves and curlicues of traditional furniture.

I also got this chair. While it is definitely contemporary in style, the color and pattern of the fabric help break up the plain shape. It should fit in well with the style of living room I'm making.


But now I hit my first road block. When I picked out the entertainment center and chair, I also found a sofa and matching chair and ottoman. Cream colored upholstery, same dark wood trim. It definitely fit the old European style. But I couldn't afford everything. My plan is to buy a few pieces, pay them off before interest starts accruing, then repeat for the next few pieces. Rather than buy an entire room and spend 2 years and twice as much money paying it off.

So I bought the entertainment center first, since at the time my movies and video games were just stacked on the floor, and then threw the chair in for color and to split the cost of everything I found evenly.

And then they discontinued the sofa set. In six months and half the furniture stores in the city, it was the only sofa that looked right and was also comfortable to sit in. So now I have to start my search all over again. This is the trouble of only buying what you can afford; sometimes when you can finally afford it, it's not there anymore. Still, new things should have come out since last I went looking, so perhaps I can find a replacement in the coming months. By which point I should have paid off the last set.