Every Home Should Have One

[Herbsman.]

This, places with bare walls are weird

Visitor, looking at beautiful A2 framed print: "Ooh that's a nice picture, where did you take that?"

Houseperson: "Well it's interesting, it was when I went to stay in Africa with Lara, it was such an amazing, life-changing experience. We stayed with the Falagonghuti tribe for two years, where we really absorbed the local culture and adopted their way of life, it was so peaceful and respectful, and we learnt so much about life and priorities, I just feel so at one with myself. Anyway the photo is one that I took at the manhood ceremony, where young members of the Falagonghuti are celebrated for passing into manhood with a highly energetic, vibrant and colourful display, as you see in the picture. It really was great."

Visitor: "You bought it from Argos didn't you?"

Houseperson: "...uh... No! I took that myself!"

Visitor: "Then why is it in this Argos catalogue?"

Houseperson: "...uh...bu...ah...Oh."

Places with random pre-framed pictures bought from Ikea or Argos are even weirder than places with bare walls.

 

[Geri]

Cats, for me. My house would feel a bit empty without them (her).

 

[sim667]

Cats, for me. My house would feel a bit empty without them (her).

Exactly what i was going to say

My cat is really antisocial, but still nice just knowing she's around somewhere.

 

[Crispy]

The lamps are essential for the books, I need a couple, someone said halogen are good but I think they may be greedy on the electricity

They are indeed
The red light is a burglar alarm heat/motion detector

I couldn't live in a house without some way of playing back my music. Got to have music.

 

[dilute micro]

wool blankets

 

[PacificOcean]

A 70" 200mhz Sony Braiva HD TV with a 5.1 home theatre system and a reclining leather chair.

 

[ChrisFilter]

Big TV
DVD player that plays divx/xvid files
Rapidshare account

 

[moonsi til]

Sofa has to be big enough to lie down on and be scattered with cushions. A blanket should also be folded and placed on the sofa to be used when watching films etc.

Fairy lights are a very pretty way of lighting rooms

coffee tables so drinks are easily reachable, nothing worse than being in a lounge and nowhere to place your drink

candles pref scented and generally just having a home that smells good. I use a JML fresh air globe plus oil burners and scented candles. My BF uses incense and I have lost count of the times that the smell alone has lifted my mood and caused fancy day-dreaming.

Champagne glasses and enough crockery/cooking stuff to have a dinner party.

Handwash (not soap) and clean dry towels...sod it a clean bathroom!

I also use my blender a lot so if you don't have one def a blender.

Music in the kitchen

Plants/Fresh Flowers

 

[Ralph Masters]

Today I bought the light bulbs, what a difference they make, I was beginning to think I was going blind, now I feel like it's an operating theatre. I still can't work out the burglar alarm, it makes me feel like I'm being watched, maybe I could turn it into a feature. The candle idea's nice as is the idea about plants, they're a bit like the first stage of pet ownership.

 

[Herbsman.]

I reckon every home should have goatse in the back garden.

 

[AnnO'Neemus]

Visitor, looking at beautiful A2 framed print: "Ooh that's a nice picture, where did you take that?"

Houseperson: "Well it's interesting, it was when I went to stay in Africa with Lara, it was such an amazing, life-changing experience. We stayed with the Falagonghuti tribe for two years, where we really absorbed the local culture and adopted their way of life, it was so peaceful and respectful, and we learnt so much about life and priorities, I just feel so at one with myself. Anyway the photo is one that I took at the manhood ceremony, where young members of the Falagonghuti are celebrated for passing into manhood with a highly energetic, vibrant and colourful display, as you see in the picture. It really was great."

Visitor: "You bought it from Argos didn't you?"

Houseperson: "...uh... No! I took that myself!"

Visitor: "Then why is it in this Argos catalogue?"

Houseperson: "...uh...bu...ah...Oh."

Places with random pre-framed pictures bought from Ikea or Argos are even weirder than places with bare walls.

I have an enlarged photo of a old French man wearing a beret riding a bicycle past a green-shuttered house. All that's missing is a stripey Breton jersey and a string of onions, really.

A friend who visited commented that she liked my print and said she'd seen it somewhere before, someone else she knew had one. No, they didn't. I took the photo myself in Saint Amand Montrond.

It's obviously better to frame family photos or groups of friends, because if you take a half decent photo, people will assume it's a print.

 

[AnnO'Neemus]

I think moonsi til has it about right.

Fairy lights are good. Some nice lamps/candles so you don't have to rely on the main room lights.

Big sofa is on my to do list, haven't got round to it yet, just got a tiny sofa bed, which doesn't feel that homely. Invest in a decent sofa if you can afford it.

Nice glasses, yeah, definitely - different size and shape ones appropriate to different drinks, champagne/wine/tumbler/slim jim etc. Not just a couple of pint pots you've knicked from your local.

Enough plates and knives and forks to cook a meal for friends. A sturdy metal potato masher - if you buy a set of kitchen utensils, the masher might be too feeble. Cheese slicer and parmesan grater.

Several matching fluffy towels so you have enough to use while others are in the laundry basket waiting to be washed.

I'm not very good with proper pot plants, I tend to kill them. But I do like to have fresh flowers in my sitting room. Don't bother waiting for a bloke to buy them for me (although that would be lovely), just buy them myself, because I like them and 'because I'm worth it!'

And don't feel you have to get all the stuff at once. It's okay to wait until you find a table or chairs or whatever you like. Shop around in charity shops or community furniture projects for bargains. Or try Freecycle. You might find something you really like, or be able to pick up a free or cheap stop gap.

 

[Herbsman.]

I have an enlarged photo of a old French man wearing a beret riding a bicycle past a green-shuttered house. All that's missing is a stripey Breton jersey and a string of onions, really.

A friend who visited commented that she liked my print and said she'd seen it somewhere before, someone else she knew had one. No, they didn't. I took the photo myself in Saint Amand Montrond.

I wouldn't know how to take that. Should I be pleased that they think it's so good that a 'proper' photographer must have taken it, and that it's a picture that's on sale in various places? Or should I be massively vexed that they think I couldn't have possibly taken such a good picture?

This is why all of my photos are crap - so that everyone knows that I definitely took them.

 

[AnnO'Neemus]

I wouldn't know how to take that. Should I be pleased that they think it's so good that a 'proper' photographer must have taken it, and that it's a picture that's on sale in various places? Or should I be massively vexed that they think I couldn't have possibly taken such a good picture?

This is why all of my photos are crap - so that everyone knows that I definitely took them.

Well, it was simultaneously both. Flattered that they obviously thought it was good, while put out that they thought it was a commercial print and hadn't given thought to the possibility I might have taken it.

Loads of my other photos are crap. Just every now and then I get a quite good one where the composition, lighting and some other random factor like a man cycling past in beret serendipitously come together.

 

[Epona]

Pets and books. Pets only if you want them, can afford to provide for them, and have the desire to give them plenty of attention of course. Books are lower maintenance. But I cannot imagine a home without animals of some description, I have always had multiple pets and I am sure I always will.

 

[susie12]

another vote for books, also fresh flowers and smell of home baked bread or something lovely cooking - and having my friends or family there always makes it lovely for me

 

[Pie 1]

Sharp knives
Expresso machine
A rice cooker
lots of small lamps dotted around the place
Books.
Fleece blankets
Big fluffy towels
A cat
A bottle of Islay single malt.