Collected vs Decorated
One is finished on the day it is installed. The other is never finished at all.
The decorated room arrives complete. Every finish agrees with every other finish, and the effect — briefly — is impressive. Then it dates, all at once, because everything in it is the same age.
The collected room arrives never. It accumulates: a mirror bought before there was a wall for it, a rug that outlived two houses, a lamp acquired for reasons no longer remembered.
Collecting is not the same as accumulating. The discipline is subtraction — for every object that enters, one should be questioned. A collection with no editing is simply a room that has given up.
The test we use: can you name where three objects in the room came from? If not, the room was decorated. If yes, it is being collected, and it will keep improving without your help.
