balls in the air

I haven't even moved into my new house, and I am already thinking about decorating ideas.

My house in Salem reflected who I was.  A 1926 house filled with minimalist black and white furnishings -- with Italianate overtones.  I really liked living in that house.

For the past five years, I have been renting a furnished apartment.  The place is cozy and tastefully decorated.  But nothing there (other than my computer work station) gives a hint of my personality.

That is why I am looking forward to moving to a place that will be my own.  I already told you how I fell in love with the lines of the new house.  It is contemporary Mexican -- evoking the style of the Mexican modernist architect Luis Barragán. 

The current furnishings carry through on Barragán's minimalist style.  I simply need to find something that will now reflect who I am.

Such as, turning the house into a meeting place for my friends and acquaintances.  The courtyard will be the primary venue.  But I envision a special role for the living room.

I love movies.  And I like experiencing them with other people.  Somewhere in the back of my mind, movie night is brewing.  Friends.  Popcorn.  Long discussions on what we watched. 

Maybe once a week.  Or twice a month.  The details don't matter.  But the idea has possibilities.

While we were wandering through the electronics deparment at Selfridges a couple of weeks ago, Patti grabbed my arm, and said: "That is what you need in your living room."

And she was correct.  Hanging in front of us were 12 speakers strung from the ceiling on red chords -- all sprouting from a red cylinder. 

At first, I thought it was a sculpture -- and a rather captivating one.  But they were actually highly-rated, functioning speakers.  A perfect match for the white austerity of my new living room.

There were a few problems.  The first is that the French-made Elipson Sound Tree is not offered for sale in either Mexico or The States. 

In this world of globalized trade, that is a mere trifle.  The French, like any other merchants, could find a way to put a set of their globes in my hands -- or on my ceiling.  Finding the curator-trained engineer to install them might be another issue.

The second problem is a bit more difficult to overcome.  The cost.  In this case, £14,899.99.  If you have forgotten our little conversion exercises while we were discussing English real estate, that is about $24,135.08.  A bit more than I had planned to spend on a good speaker system.  Even a sculptural one.

So, I will pass on the French red balls.  Undoubtedly, something just as good will offer itself to me in the near future.

After all, it takes time to reproduce the self.