My living room used to be the room I avoided showing people. Not because it was dirty or cluttered, it was neither, but because it had no soul. Light gray walls that I had chosen because they felt safe, a…
For the longest time, my living area felt like it belonged to someone else or to no one at all. The walls were painted a forgettable off-white, the furniture had been chosen for price and size rather than character, and…
My bedroom used to be the room I spent the least time thinking about and the most time regretting. It had light grey walls that came with the apartment and furniture I had accumulated without a plan, a desk that…
For years, my bedroom looked the way most bedrooms look when nobody has made a decision: off-white walls by default, a bed frame chosen for its price rather than its personality, and a mismatched collection of furniture that had followed…
When I moved into my apartment, it looked exactly the way most rentals do: white walls, beige carpet, lighting that felt vaguely institutional, and all the personality of a doctor’s waiting room. I tried the obvious things: a throw blanket…
The bathroom cabinets were fine when you moved in. Honey oak, or medium cherry, or that particular shade of early-2000s espresso that came standard in builder bathrooms for a decade, whichever version is in your bathroom, you have lived with…
It starts as a small question with the feeling of a large one. You are standing in the paint aisle holding two sample cards, one for the walls, one for the trim, and someone asks whether the interior doors should…
The farmhouse bathroom has been done so many times in so many homes that it has almost lost the quality that made it worth doing in the first place. Somewhere between the first wave of shiplap installations and the tenth…
It starts the same way for almost every college student. You wake up on a Tuesday, ten minutes before your first class, and the entire surface of your desk has disappeared under a landslide of highlighters, half-finished energy drinks, printed…
