Downwardly Mobile

We have had a clear sign of downward mobility in our household:

The reintroduction of a laminate Ikea bookcase.

This is the clearest sign of the economy in recession. When you’re over forty and Ikea marches back into your house from the garage storage, well, something is up.

Last night, standing in a beautifully renovated kitchen in conjunction with a complete house remodel in Silverlake with old friends, most of them well established in their careers, it was noted by one party guest, “You know, my salary hasn’t changed at all. It’s just from reading everything I get so scared, I’ve been making soup and eating it all week and brown bagging it for lunch.”

For the most part, like the party talker, we have not felt the crunch too greatly, though in this house we have never had anything but freelance careers. Maybe that makes us even more ready for wacky economic times. We are certainly pliable.

But yesterday, having spent a couple of days getting our little guest house ready for a little renovation so we can rent it out for maybe a little year, we needed to bring some books back into the house. Which meant a bookcase. Usually, we’d drive down Venice Boulevard or poke around antique stores to try to find something nice. But we didn’t consider those options. We grabbed the old laminate instead…leftover from our apartment days in Santa Monica.

It’s not beautiful. But it is highly functional.

When the revolution happens, it will most likely appear Swedish.