A Home Away from Home

 

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Remember like four months ago when I told y'all that I had finally gotten a job and was finally moving up and out? In case you missed it ... that happened. I moved to D.C.; or rather the D.C. area-ish. I'm currently living with family in Maryland with a fun (read: long) commute into the city every morning. But actually, I won't complain. I'm #blessed to have family here to help me save up money before I venture out on my own. Speaking of which ... I have officially started the search for a new place. That's right! I'm on the hunt for a room with off-street parking—fun fact, I am very much afraid of street parking. :)

Anyway, since I really wasn't sure how long I would be staying with family, I was very unsure of how much of my stuff to bring. I'm not someone who likes to roll in with everything they own in tow ... that seems a bit presumptuous, right?

But at the same time, I did want to feel at home. I was going to be coming back to this bedroom every night after work and needed it to be a place for me to unwind from the stresses of the day. Even though I was told I didn't need to, I brought my own bedding with the encouragement of my mother. There is just something about the Room Essentials brand microfiber sheets from Target that I absolutely love. They are so comfortable!

I brought a bunch of books. Books I haven't read yet, but have had for approximately 1,000 years. Cookbooks since I knew I needed to find new things to keep my appetite up through the week.

After a few months, I went home to visit my parents and came back with my record player, and a few of my favorite records. The room has my scent now; I have candles and sprays everywhere.

I got comfortable buying things for the room that I wanted and knew I would use down the road in future rooms. I bought a cute retro style fan from TJ Maxx, since it is so so hot south of the Mason-Dixon line.

In my next place, I hope to feel a bit stronger a sense of permanence, though I know it won't be permanent. But the kind of permanence where you feel comfortable sticking a few nails in the wall and hanging up fancy wall art like the adult that you are. Of course, I will have to become a collector of such art first.

I do have a ton of photos of family and friends, though! However, I do feel slightly uncomfortable hanging too many pictures of them and having their eyes follow me room to room as I make my daily questionable decisions. Since most of these photos are stored in a digital space (very millennial, I know) and printing them seems a little excessive, I am a fan of placing the files in a digital frame and having it slide photo to photo. Check out these frames from Aura! How cute are they? You better believe the ivory and rose gold colored frame is all up in my shopping cart. And when you think about it, this is a way simpler idea than dealing with hanging frames on the wall and stepping back to see that one is like three inches lower than the rest, and you don't run the risk of people pointing out the aggressive number of picture frames crammed on bookshelves—I obviously have some opinions. Haha!

<3 Ashley

How do you make your space feel like "home?"