Life is Way Too Short to Live With Ugly Wallpaper.

So here goes. When I told my friend Alexis I was going to start writing a blog, she responded with a chuckle “haha, if you want to start telling people what you had for lunch, then knock yourself out.” In a world of blogging, facebook status updates, and “tweeting,” I know exactly what she meant. After following friends’ progress on building new homes, exploits of circumnavigation of the globe ala Semester-At-Sea, and even after sitting through Julie and Julia with one of my best friends in a Washington, DC theater, one begins to wonder, what do I have to offer perfect strangers and the occasional friend through the art of the “blog?" Should I cook my way through Ina Garten’s cookbooks and call it “Barefoot and Starting to Look Pregnant?” Nah. I don’t think any self-respecting bachelor should be making profiteroles or Meringues Chantilly every night.

First off, I’m not a trained Interior Designer, a professional event planner, or an executive pastry chef. I’m a 20-something, Southern bachelor (not by choice, unless by choice, you mean the choice other people have made not to date me) with a job I adore (UVA/Higher Education by day), a small bungalow in the heart of downtown Charlottesville, wanna-be photographer by night, and a hopeful, consummate host-in-training to a great circle of friends, family, and neighbors who have always seemed eager to sample the latest recipe or check out the most recent addition to the master bedroom. I’ve never subscribed to the idea that a bachelor pad has to feature a black leather, sectional sofa, a kegerator, and a fish tank that would make the staff at Benihana blush. Although, let’s face it. In some shape or form, we’ve all been there.

After playing musical furniture and paint samples in my own home, helping numerous friends design their spaces, shooting engagement photos, and even catering the occasional neighborhood Holiday Open House for a colleague, it hit me. “Oh crap, I’m another gay guy who’s passionate about photos, Persian rugs, period details, Pomegranate Mojitos, and puff pastry.” Could I be any more generic? Perhaps. However, I also figured I could just shut up and share my ideas with others. The best part, you ask? I do it on a budget. After all, this is a recession folks. I mean, I think anyone with a credit card can go out and buy a Jonathan Adler lamp, or buy out the Pottery Barn showroom, but where’s the fun and creativity in that? Step 1: Pick out expensive sofa. Step 2: Write check for 3 Grand to cover expensive sofa. Step 3: Don’t let anybody sit on new, expensive sofa. Done! Remember, you can pay for school, but you can't buy class.

Don’t worry, you’re not going to see me serving Ramen to a dinner party of 10 (Sandra Lee is my least favorite Food Network hostess, I’m just saying.) wrapping a chair in tin foil to make it look like stainless steel, or wallpapering my bathroom with paper grocery bags…at least not yet, we’ll see how my investment portfolio looks in a few years. But you will (hopefully) get some new ideas for your space, your next cocktail party, and see how you can live fabulously, on a budget.

While, my idea of the hopeful, perfect family consists of 2 men, some Danish, mid-century, modern furniture, a restored row house, and a baby that doesn’t look like either of us (thanks W&G), I try to share my life with others and make my current home a place that’s not only fun and functional for me after work, but a place that’s both comfortable and memorable for my amazing, inspiring family and friends (the family you actually get to choose). So hopefully you'll find as much fun and amusement in my life as I do. After all, life is way too short to live with ugly wallpaper.

Cheers,
Ed