Accepting interior design suggestions
I recently cleared off my built-in vanity; what do I do with it?
If everything goes according to plan, my apartment will be clean in five weeks.
And I started three weeks ago. This is a project with an eight week timeline and a scope that covers the entire physical manifestation of my life. We’ve moved beyond classic Spring Cleaning (which was not invented by P&G’s marketing team, as I had assumed, and instead traces back to Iranian traditions).
Each weekend, I parcel out my energy into a new corner of my 650 square foot apartment. Accompanied by my best zero-waste wishes and a roll full of paper towel reality, I scour behind sinks and scrub down sticky substances on cabinet doors. I am trying to make this apartment feel like it did five years ago: brand new, full of possibility, and not yet ruined by rabbit teeth and water leaks. Of course it’s a metaphor, everything is.
But this weekend I unearthed the built-in vanity in the hot hallway by the bathroom. And I can’t bring myself to repopulate it with the pants that once lived there—what if this is a turning point for that space? Is that the writing room I’ve so desperately wished for? Is it a space where I turn inward, full of spiritual reflection? It already has a mirror.
What if this is a turning point? Instead of a return to the way things were when I was 25, what if these days are full of signs about who I’ll be when I’m 35? I’m hopeful about the full two weeks I’ve set aside for my bedroom; the place that I’ve been dreaming all these nights. Because as I carefully tuck my pants into their new cabinet, I’m finding that there’s still space.
I just have to clear out some junk.
Next Steps: Drink a glass of water, open up a window or two if the morning is still cool, and dust off the baseboards in your hallway.