I write Everyday Nesting from a rented apartment I have rearranged more times than I will admit. Everything here got lived with for a few weeks first, and I keep the attempts that failed in the piece, because that is usually the useful part.
A secondhand dresser sat half-stripped in my hallway for two months before I figured out what I was doing wrong. Notes from the whole slow process, including the part where I quit.
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The small square landing where my staircase turns sat bare for over a year. I tried three approaches before finding one that…
I spent a week marking sunlight on the floor with painter's tape before I moved a single piece of furniture, and it…
Thread count told me almost nothing useful. Weave type, on the other hand, explained why one set of sheets felt cool in…
I spent months moving the same three plants around the apartment before I figured out which window each one actually needed.
A simple set of living room curtains stretched from a weekend plan into a four-month project, with a long stalled middle and…
I spent a year assuming I could not do much with cabinets I was not allowed to paint or replace. A few…
Three floating shelves stacked up my hallway wall looked disconnected until I found one small repeated shape that tied them together. Here…
Three boxes stayed sealed in a closet for two weeks after I moved in, and the apartment was better for it. Here…
My under-stairs space sat empty for a year because every shelf I bought was rectangular and the wall was not. Here is…