Hangin'

Today, I’m going to address a subject which I find very painful and unpleasant: draperies, as in draperies and curtains. No matter how you approach them, the feeling in the end is not a good one. For example, when I moved into my first apartment here in Munich, where draperies must be furnished by the renter, I foolishly thought that I would be able to pick up some cheap drapes for under 100 euros. Wow! Was I ignorant.

As I quickly found out, to properly outfit the apartment with drapes would cost a bundle, at least a thousand euros, possibly more. Now, I’m glad to output some big bucks for things that I like (just ask Alice about my expensive Venetian pig), but for draperies???????!!!!!! I had no idea that draperies were that important in life!!!!

The most painful part about the whole draperies-purchase-process is that no matter which solution I chose, I knew I would be unhappy with it. For instance, there are so many choices of prints and fabrics to choose from, that no matter which one I finally went with, my brain would never stop pestering me with the thought that I should have picked the other print, the brighter one, the one with the lighter fabric. Plus, dealing with a pushy saleswoman who knew EXACTLY what I want without ever asking me made it all even a greater ordeal.

In the end, I gave up and chose the cave-man solution: I bought a large sheet of black plastic sheeting and made curtains for all the windows. It was not elegant, but it did the trick. To the horror of my neighbors, once they found out. But,if I had cared what they thought, I would have purchased the $3000 bright-flower-print which the saleslady proposed and which I completely disliked.