Cripping Interior Design
Jul. 18th, 2025 08:03 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lb_leeMori: you know how some people got really into sourdough or birding because of COVID? Well, Biff got really into interior design.
Not in the “ah yes, this is the Edwardian room” or “put a mirror here for feng shui” ways, but in the “how can I make this room better for me?” way.
We might talk, as disabled people, about ramps or visual doorbells, but not so much interior design. That’s considered frivolous, I guess. But if you’re struggling to stay sober, what room is going to be better for you: one with booze as the centerpiece of the room, impossible to ignore, or one with no obvious visible liquor cabinet? How many of us have come to hate a bed or chair that we just can’t get comfortable in?
Plague meant we were going to spend a lot of time indoors. We might as well arrange it to be as comfy and sanity-boosting as possible.
We already choose our possessions and furnishings around constant moves and semi-regular homelessness. But Biff found that if we rolled out our futon next to our bookshelves, we were happier and could easily read in bed. Having our clothes rack similarly near made it easier to get out of bed on cold winter days, because we could grab warm clothes without exiting the blankets. Having too much stuff made us feel blurgh and also made it harder to find the USEFUL stuff on a bad brain day, so we pared down. Being able to put our bed directly on the floor and see every corner and door of our room made our nightmares way easier to deal with, more so than any medication. A million little things, scooting stuff around like a hamster, made our room feel like HOME.
He by far has the most energy for this, and we all agree it’s made a subtle but significant positive change in our life. We don’t know how we got by without him.
Not in the “ah yes, this is the Edwardian room” or “put a mirror here for feng shui” ways, but in the “how can I make this room better for me?” way.
We might talk, as disabled people, about ramps or visual doorbells, but not so much interior design. That’s considered frivolous, I guess. But if you’re struggling to stay sober, what room is going to be better for you: one with booze as the centerpiece of the room, impossible to ignore, or one with no obvious visible liquor cabinet? How many of us have come to hate a bed or chair that we just can’t get comfortable in?
Plague meant we were going to spend a lot of time indoors. We might as well arrange it to be as comfy and sanity-boosting as possible.
We already choose our possessions and furnishings around constant moves and semi-regular homelessness. But Biff found that if we rolled out our futon next to our bookshelves, we were happier and could easily read in bed. Having our clothes rack similarly near made it easier to get out of bed on cold winter days, because we could grab warm clothes without exiting the blankets. Having too much stuff made us feel blurgh and also made it harder to find the USEFUL stuff on a bad brain day, so we pared down. Being able to put our bed directly on the floor and see every corner and door of our room made our nightmares way easier to deal with, more so than any medication. A million little things, scooting stuff around like a hamster, made our room feel like HOME.
He by far has the most energy for this, and we all agree it’s made a subtle but significant positive change in our life. We don’t know how we got by without him.
