We're back with the final installment of A Renter's Diary! We've followed Rebekah Hall in her first month moving from a single family home into a 800-square-foot apartment in Little Rock, Arkansas. She's had to figure out how to downsize and work around the quirks of the space. Last week, Hall shared how she shopped around her apartment (and her parents' home) for no-cost kitchen storage solutions. For her last diary entry, she reflects on all she's learned this month.
We've officially been living in our new apartment for a month. Every box we've unpacked since moving in has felt like a gift to our current selves from the people who packed up that house in Missouri.
My boyfriend said that moving feels disorienting because it's intensely un-personal: You move to an unfamiliar space and for awhile you aren't able to see or touch your favorite things. There is nothing to tether your space to you. I think he's onto something.
When we first moved in, I had moments where I looked around our new apartment and felt a sudden combination of sadness and a deep nostalgia for the house we left in Columbia, Missouri—both the house itself and the environment we created within it. But as soon as I realized I had ample time to ease into my new home and learn the space, it got easier to be more gentle with myself. Instead of hurrying to hang all my art, I'm waiting. I am using a patience I did not know I possessed. I'm giving myself the time to get to know our new walls and corners, spots where the afternoon sun hits just right. I'm lingering on all the pieces we've lovingly collected, and waiting to figure out the exact right spot for each of them.
Now that our boxes are open and emptied, I feel see myself in my space again. With my things hung, shelved, and carefully arranged, it's finally starting to feel like home.
That being said, everything isn't the way I'd like it to be, yet. But I've found that I recognize my apartment's particular quirks better than I would have if I had rushed to settle in—and now I can more thoughtfully work around them. Here, the four most surprising things I found about my apartment—and how I made these off-putting things feel more like home.
from Apartment Therapy | Saving the world, one room at a time https://ift.tt/2OV6VZv
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