and now for something completely different

There are many downsides to living in a house during its renovation: not having doors, tools being constantly underfoot, cleaning the living room only to have your husband unexpectedly sand the staircase and cover everything in a 1.5" layer of sawdust, etc, etc.

The good part is that things are always changing. From week to week and month to month a room will undergo drastic changes. This is an excellent environment for someone like me, who gets extremely bored with colors and furniture arrangements and style that stays the same day after day. I'd actually like to think that my insatiable need for visual variety is the indicator of some sort of hidden, mad genius. Or something.

While growing up, I could only go so long without changing something--usually it was my hairstyle (later, hair color) or the order of the knickknacks on my bedroom shelves. Every couple of months I would wind up rearranging my bedroom furniture. I remember, as a teenager, arranging and then rearranging my room twice in one month. It didn't have to be a brand new layout every time; it just had to be different than what I saw presently. I even dismantled my bed, at one point, and slept on a mattress on the floor for many months. The change of view was incredibly refreshing.

Now, as a "grown-up" (I use the term loosely) I still get the itch for a change of scenery with predictable regularity. I rotate rugs and vases and accent pillows from room to room. I find a new spot for the coffee maker every few weeks. My hair is never the same color twice in a row (someday soon it will fall out altogether, but that's another subject for another day.) I have even contemplated packing up half of my coffee mugs so that I can change them out every now and then.

It was today, while putting up different curtains in the living room, that I was struck with an epiphany of creativity. I had thrown the previous curtains over one of my chairs when I decided to tuck it around the cushion--I wondered what the chair would look like blue instead of orange. And I liked it! It was an incredible change in the look of the room, and it appealed to my need for diverse scenery.

What struck me was an idea that I had never considered previously: the two orange chairs--actually halves of a sofa--are modular, designed to break into pieces and be rearranged at will (that's why I wanted them) and therefore perfect for handmade recovering. No store-bought cover would fit them, but all one would really need to do would be to sew four large squares.

Of course, I would NEVER want to do something permanent, but having two or three sets of slipcovers for the chair set would be a dream come true. I was so giddy when the idea hit me that I laughed and did a little dance and frightened the cats. Even now, the thought of being able to change the color of furniture at will is incredibly exciting.

So I'm making a list of possible materials and colors to use--Velcro and such. I'll keep you posted.