Sunday, January 29, 2012

Doorway to Heaven. (Probably because there are Turkish delights inside...)

I may joke sometimes about wasting my degree in interiors but I thank jeebus every day that I didn't continue on that career path.  Bless those who do but it was not for me.  My brief experiment into Interiors included days upon days researching the button mechanism for handicap accessible doors (a noble yet intensely boring quest) and drawing HVAC plans.  Poorly drawing HVAC plans.  Not for any lack of skill on my part but my job was to follow the project manager's orders not question the fundamental principals of office design.  Had they asked though...

It was surprising to me how little thought (if any at all) was put into the physical comfort of the end user.  I sat there adrift in a sea of cubicles shivering in my sweater during a July in Atlanta drawing spaces that were exact replicas of my own personal hell.  Have I told you this story before?  Pretend it's new, I'm feeling nostalgic.

I was so miserable during my ID job I quit eating.  I QUIT EATING!  Normally under stress I binge eat like a normal person does to avoid dealing with emotional hurdles but I was way beyond the comfort of mashed potatoes at that point.  A woman on the verge!  

When I realized I had quit eating I figured maybe I should do something else because I fucking love mashed potatoes, y'all.  I still liked designing but I was in the wrong part of it.  Fast forward through some soul-searching and a bit of luck and I have a job I enjoy and this is where the thanking jeebus part comes in.     

When I think about my possible alternate life where I'd be slaving away on AutoBAD all day I don't miss it one bit.  Currently I get paid to spend hours on Pinterest, shop catalogs and doodle.  I didn't know how to articulate "I want a job that involves grown-up coloring books" when talking to my college admissions.  

But every now and then I see something and for a split second I think 'Damn, 20-yr-old Madame!  Were mashed potatoes really that important??  Couldn't you have just stuck it out a little longer to move beyond HVAC plans so we could have maybe had the chance to design cool things like this?"

via Apartment Therapy
'This' being this doorway that is from somewhere in Architectural Digest if anyone is familiar with where exactly it came from and cares to enlighten me I would appreciate it.  I kinda want to see where this door leads...  (Narnia??!!!)

It's really nothing special except for its UTTER PERFECTION!  I love everything about it.  I love the patio/sidewalk and the low blue steps and the round little shrubby things and every damnedable thing about the door surround and even the fact that the door doesn't appear to have a peephole.  It doesn't even matter to me since the door should be left open at all time just like this.  Come on in, friends and criminals!  We have Turkish delights in here!

I'm not saying I could have actually designed anything like this if I'd stayed in ID most likely because I would have shoved my head through my computer screen one night while working late.  They would have found me dead and frozen at my desk the next day.  

Of course, I found this image on Pinterest during my current job so let your brain wrap around that mobius strip of alternate possibilities.

See, Pinterest is more than just pretty pictures (of Ryan Gosling), it's about questioning your life choices!  And then reaffirming those choices with healthy amounts of mashed potatoes eaten at my desk during lunch.  

A desk that has a small heater under it.  


12 comments:

  1. Your addiction to Pinterest obviously paid off.

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  2. hhahahaha. Do you know the word I had to type to get my comment approved? Suckmon! Yup. That was the word alright.

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  3. So question.... I'm staring at a blog post with no photo and thinking "It must be me". Refresh. Refresh. Dammit Refresh. Nope, it's not me. It's you. How's that for dating honesty? Yeah... let's just say a second date didn't happen.

    *disclaimer* I'm painting my office black. I'm wearing more paint than the walls and I think I'm high on fumes.

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    1. I believe in honesty. Even if it's brutal and this wasn't brutal - you were just being nice. Thank you for telling me! I don't think you were high I think it was me. It's probably the boxed wine...

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  4. How about we call it a tie? Once the fumes died down I started acting about as normal as I normally do. Which of course really isn't saying much but at least my hands were steady enough to pour my martini and not spill on the desk.

    So much for Low-VOC.

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    1. Don't front - we all know you huff paint all day. But I have the number for Intervention and am not afraid to use it!

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    2. I think Steve had the number for The Center for Disease Control on speed dial all night just in case.

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  5. Whatever your job is, I WANT it. Also -mashed potatoes are everything!

    Love this door too, although not as much as the paving. And I'm not so keen on the potted shrubs beng doubled up, but then I've never worked in ID.

    xx

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    1. I don't even count myself as a designer - I like the shrubs because they look awkward. I bet a real designer would do something more "pleasing" but "pleasing" is soo overrated.

      Unlike mashed potatoes...

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  6. If you had stayed with your previous ID job and been found dead at your desk, babyJeebus would have walked you THROUGH that door of perfection into Narnia and your prayers would have been answered. Well, except that I don't believe in babyJeebus or prayers. But it's a nice thought. (K)

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    1. So is Mr. Tumnus baby Jeebus then? If Aslan is gawd... This metaphor makes my brain hurt. But is an excellent thought! Fake heaven obviously consists of Narnia and doors and streets paved with gold/Turkish delights!

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