I haven’t posted in awhile, and I’m sure people must think I’m dead.
I’ve, frankly, been away from my desk.
Now that we can leave the house, I’ve been to the East Coast and Pacific Northwest, gone on countless adventures with family and friends, gotten exercise every day, plenty of dinner and drinks and nights on the town, spent quality time with my special person, and all that horseshit we couldn’t do a year ago during the global panini.
And now that I’m not home, the one thing I’ve been neglecting has been, well, home.
My apartment has become a den of dust, bags of tagged clothes, open suitcases, and expired spices.
Recently, my person came to stay with me for a few days, and I was embarrassed.
If you really want to get your shit together, invite someone in your space for more than 24 hours – all of a sudden you’ll notice quiet horrors all around you.
So I’ve been on a cleaning binge.
Goodbye rooftop dance parties, hello swinging the Swiffer.
My friend moved to town recently and his Friday night date was postponed.
“I’m free as a bird tonight!” he texted, and normally we’d go grab drinks.
Unfortunately, my Friday night was completely booked – I had to rearrange my sock drawer.
I’ve been on a kick the past week or so getting my place together. When I moved in, it was my first place of my own. The upside is I can keep it as clean as I want.
The downside is it’s as clean as I keep it.
Over the past couple years I’ve added a bunch of stuff – a circular clothing rack, a squat rack, other racks, endless racks – but never really made additional space. On top of that, the person I was with wanted to surprise me after I moved in with some new paint and accessories – which was a nice gesture at the time, even though ostrich feathers and crystal lampshades were a bit much.
So it’s time for a fresh start.
Part of that is getting rid of the old, making the most use of existing storage, and upgrading from “temporary, disposable college furniture” to “hey, when I get a house someday, I can bring this with me” stuff.
My first acquisition was a drafting table for the kitchen, replacing a wall of just piled up shit.
Next was a new couch, which in my hubris I could lift into place myself.
Part of this process also means parting with the existing furnishings, so I texted another friend to give him a progress update and see if there was anything he wanted.
His response: “You’ve got the style tastes of an effete French Lord but the setups look good. Great desk area”
Of course, I reminded him of the furniture I did pick (chaotically painted moldings excepted:
His response: “More earthy classy steampunk vibe then. Okay that’s better”
To clarify, I helped him understand.
More this:
Less this:
Brando’s house is really cool actually, and where I saw a similar sofa to what I ended up with:
There’s something deeply satisfying about textured neutrals and white walls.
I almost typed “textured naturals” but that’s a whole other topic.
It feels so good to get my place in this direction, and not the one of the little lad who loves berries and cream.