Dream Home

If you could design your dream house, what would it be like? What sorts of colours would you use for certain rooms? Would you design a room for your personal sacred space? Would you design an entire chapel for your altar, or design a beautiful garden for it? Would you perhaps include a barn on your property to have your eggs or other animals? How would you make this house more Pagan-centric? How would you make it more "green" and Eco-friendly? from Being Pagan

My mother likes decorating shows. I have watched enough of them, despite my hating them, to practically become an interior designer.
My dream house would be a penthouse apartment, probably a two-storey one. Yes, they exist, and yes, they are expensive. If my significant other and I can’t afford a Toronto penthouse, then I’d like to stay in the town where I was born, Waterloo, in your typical suburban house. Three bedrooms, even if only two will be used as such (I’ll explain that later), laundry room upstairs, LARGE en-suite master bathroom upstairs. The downstairs would have a small hallway at the front door, which leads into a nice-sized living room. Through another doorframe would be the kitchen and dining room. I live in an open concept house right now and I hate it, so this house wouldn’t be open concept. There would also be a nice sized bathroom on the main floor. The basement would be finished with an open concept space. There would be a bar, and a large space for just hanging out, watching movies, and having parties, similar to what I have now. The basement space would also convert into some more beds in case I had more people sleeping over.

Alright, now the actual decorating! I’m a huge fan of the ‘men’s club’ look. This means dark, muted colours with lights highlighting certain things. Yes, everyone will probably think it’s super dark. Yes, that is what I want, but I would put all my lights on a dimmer. Then, if my mother was over and though it was too dark at the dining room table, I can use the dimmer switch to brighten it up. My walls would be wallpapered in a solid colour of dark blue, and my floors would be VERY dark hardwood. I would have lots of area rugs, and they would be in bold geometric patterns in dark colours with a pop of a bright colour. The kitchen and the bathrooms would probably have the brightest lights without dimmer switches. The kitchen and bathrooms would have large floor tiles in a dark colour as well. Hardwood is too hard to clean in these kinds of rooms. I would either match the colour of the hardwood, or stick to a dark blue. The backsplash and counters would be in white subway tile. The appliances would be stainless steel.
Upstairs, the master bedroom would have one feature wall of red paint, and the remaining three would be in burgundy. The bed would be a dark wood four poster if I can get away with it. The floor would be carpeted with a very plain carpet. The other furniture would, of course, match. The bathroom would be tiled in white subway tile going up the wall about five feet, then the blue above the top. Everything would be white, with a large sink. The shower would NOT be tiled. I hate how tiles feel on my feet.
There would be a guest bedroom, which would not be in the style of the rest of the house. It would be another bright room, with maple coloured furniture, and painted a light green colour. It would have a queen-sized bed. The floor would be carpeted with the same colour as the rest of the upstairs hallway and master bedroom, just for a bit of continuity.

Okay, the basic design! But wait, we’re missing one of the bedrooms! This is where the fun comes in. I would hope that I marry a pagan, but knowing my luck I won’t. Anyway, this other bedroom would be my ritual room. See, I like my stuff. In fact, I really like my stuff. And, of course, I really like my pagan stuff as well. Now once I move out, I can start to buy things online, such as herbs or oils, and my father won’t be like “NO! Someone will steal my identity!” So, this room would just be for spiritual things. I would paint the walls in a sandy colour, and the carpet would also be a sandy colour. You know, for Egypt! I’d get shelves in gem tones, especially blue for lapis lazuli. There would be no furniture except for shelves. All my items that were not displayed (oil vials, herbs, candles) would be in the closet, which would be organized for easy storage and access. My items like statues, big fancy candles, and other things I want to display would be on the shelves. The walls would also have my wall reliefs and other hanging artwork. The room would be big enough for a small group of people (maybe about eight), but it would be mostly me (and maybe my husband). The overhead light would be bright, but it would be on a dimmer as well in case candle light wasn’t enough.

Lisey, I know you like the idea of having a barn and living off the grid (you god damn hippie) but I’m a city girl. No barns, no farm animals, minimal eco-friendly...
It’s my dream house damnit!