Of Austen and Bedroom Furniture

About two weeks ago, I decided something crazy: I was going to re-decorate my room. If you know me well, you'll understand that this is a big undertaking for me. Anyway, so I selected furniture, a bedspread, and other various decorative items from Kohl's This entire week, packages have been arriving everyday with my new decor. As you can probably guess, I am not the type of person to use a screwdriver and take the time to put together a 20 pound piece of wood. (For example, I bought a bookcase once and thought it would be a cinch! The pieces for it laid around the living room until I had one of my neighbors build it for me.)

You're probably wondering why I'm even rambling about my home improvement adventures, but I've had a revelation. To me, going through my project is like a metaphor for my experience of reading "Pride and Prejudice." I was thrilled to begin reading it; my excitement could not be contained! I had the same feelings as I was determining which desk would look better in my room. As I kept reading, the plot became more intricate and even more entertaining. It was like a waiting game to see what would happen next.

The same happened with my awaiting furniture: I imagined what my new room would look like after it's finally done, hoping and praying it'll be amazing. However, after reading the end, I was incredibly disappointed. It seemed as if it were completely disconnected from the rest of the novel. The personality had changed; it wasn't the same witty romance I had been reading. As you can imagine, I felt this way when I finished putting together a piece of my new furniture, too.

It was a desk--a polished, white desk. The picture from the website made it seem beautiful. But, after assembling it, it seemed blah. Nowhere near as perfect as I thought it would be. It was disconnected from the style I wanted for my bedroom, just as the ending of "Pride and Prejudice" was separated from the rest of the book.

Although the end was disappointing, just like my new desk, it will grow on me. Jane Austen wrote an excellent novel, filled with fascinating characters who were life-like in every way, shape, and form. Overall, I loved the book and I won't let it get me down. I just hope the same goes for my home improvement adventure.