Home Decor and no home
Lexie Roth
Photograph by Lexie Roth
Recent searches: Deco Barware, Mid Century Turned Leg Standing Planter, Turquoise Velvet Pillow Cover, Swedish Pod Hanging Chair.
As of late, I have found myself obsessed with online shopping, or at least online “looking”, for beautiful pieces of home decor. The thing is, I don’t own a home of my own. In fact, my one and only family home is for sale.
Nomadic shape shifting has been the name of the game after I left college. Transplanting myself from Northampton, MA to all corners ofNYC back home to Martha’s Vineyard, LA, Europe, and always back to Martha’s Vineyard, has left me with a broken heart for all of the abandoned vintage bureaus, upright organs and the mature plants I’ve had to kiss goodbye. The unseen details ofsublet chasing are the mattresses pushed out of city windows, endless flights of narrow stairs loading in and out my mason jars of grains and boxes of oils, long limbed fussy delicate plants and the endless garbage bags of clothes. This naturally makes me long for one place, where my growing collection of vintage Dansk, kitchen appliances and spices can live in harmony, together at last. But home is where your heart is, or in my book, where your Vitamix is, right?
I tend to go hard wherever I land in terms of making it feel like home, I always am the one to unpack her suitcase in a hotel room and use the drawers, use a turkish towel as a bed spread and to light some palo santo or sage and hope the smoke detector doesn’t go off.
Awareness of this ‘home’ prep obsession has been confirmed because big brother is reading my activity. Ads upon ads are coming up on my gmail and my Instagram feeds, including emails like “oops, did you forget me?” showing a whole ton of shit I put into my “shopping cart” and then closed my computer. Reminding me of those bleary late nights staring into the world wide web of sheepskins.
It feels like a massive therapy session. Imagining my dream plant room, looking at gigantic moroccan planters that I dream of potting up with larger than life tropical plants that I get to water everyday with my sweet time. While preparing for this major loss, of losing my family home, my crutch, I figure, may as well have my interior game on lock for when the day comes, wherever I end up.