Creating Comfort in My Kitchen
I’ve lived in six apartments throughout my two decades in Manhattan (not including a tiny air mattress on Wall Street and a very small couch on the UES I crashed on for three months until I found a place to live).
Each apartment I’ve inhabited has faced either the back of the building or the side, which meant sunlight didn’t come around often. Or at all.
I recall moving into my Chelsea apartment many years ago and while my bedroom was in the back of the building, it was flooded with natural light in the spring and summer for about two hours in the late afternoon. Those two hours of pure, natural sunlight created a sense of comfort inside of me in ways I can’t really describe. It was the sunlight that made me realize I had been living in darkness for so long, hiding from life for so long, depressed and unwell for so long.Â
It’s interesting isn’t it? Sometimes we don’t realize we’re even in a dark place until some light creeps in unexpectedly. I’m grateful for that apartment – the sunlight showed me what was possible on the other side of depression, grief and shame.
Fast forward to this apartment and I’m finally facing the street! The natural light in this loft is magical. It shifts ever so beautifully with each season and sort of dances along my white walls. I love it! Facing the street also means a few more horns honking, but I’ll take it.Â
This view is one you’ve seen in the videos on my website and throughout Instagram. I’m in my kitchen, back pressed against my refrigerator. I’m facing the front of my loft, where my little creative nook sits off to the right. I take photos like this often but rarely do I post them. Until now. This week I thought about how this home truly reflects so much about me and thought it’d be fun to share this view with you throughout the year. This way, I’m not the only one seeing the light dancing on my walls. So, we’ll call this photo: winter.Â
I’ve created comfort in my kitchen in many ways. There’s a bundle of fresh greens sitting in water right in the heart of my kitchen. A few twiggy branches hang nearby. Burnt orange roses (my favorite color) from a bodega shine through in the mirror’s reflection giving this front room another dash of orange-y color. Fresh anything – fruit, squash, greens, flowers – brighten my day when they’re scattered around my kitchen and home. I talk to them and it’s wonderful.
Sometimes I sit right here and just smile, watching how magnificent the light is as the sun shifts from winter to spring to summer to autumn and then back around to winter again.
I’ll do my best to remember to snap another photo as we head into spring and will share in my Home Design Highlight on Instagram.
I think you’ll enjoy it.
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