Nesting

Home is a powerful concept for me. Ideally, home is where we're the most comfortable.  It's where we restore ourselves.  It's where we kick off both the public pretenses and the shoes that feel tight at the end of the day. It's where we're safe. When I moved, I fell in love with my new town immediately.  It's friendly,  has areas of great charm, and activities I enjoy.  My new apartment took a little while longer.

I live in an older condo complex. It was built in the sixties and has been well maintained and updated over the years. It has interior entrances. When I first walked into the hallway that holds my front door,I thought, "Oh, God, this looks like the hallway from The Shining."  I kept expecting to see spooky, hand holding twins staring at me.  Then I unlocked my door, and I thought that there was absolutely no way that I would fit everything in here. My sister, who basically made my move possible and located the apartment, told me that it was small, about 900 square feet, but just how small that would be didn't really register.  It turns out that it's really 750 square feet

I have one room that is combination kitchen and living room, a good sized bedroom, a tiny bathroom, and a small patio. When my moving crew left, I had paths between furniture and boxes.  I dug in and within a couple of weeks, I had my furniture basically in place, but getting things right took awhile. I found out that I didn't trust myself or my taste.  I didn't even have a clue where I wanted to hang pictures.  I called in my oldest friend, my daughter, my sister, and they all had good ideas.

It's next to impossible to move into a new place without buying some new things.  When I found a curtain rod, something inside of me woke up.  It was silver with a clear crystal ball for a finial.  I loved it.  It felt cool, sophisticated and a little quirky, and I realized that I had the chance to make my home an expression of who I am.  I just had to find out what I liked, and that's the journey I'm on.