apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

My whole home is my refuge.

My favorite escape is the benches near Buckingham Fountain - I can people watch, get a quick, windblown mist every now and then, and bask in the sunlight - if even for 15 minutes.

A cafe.

I escape to 2 places in my condo. The little sun room right off the living room...That is where I set up a reading corner. The other place is a corner in my bedroom that I am now carving out to be mine and all mine. It is funny because the chair is hidden by a tall dresser and no one can see me. Husband and son walk around wondering where I went. Ha!

the bathtub, with hot lavender bubbles and a good book.

While I would love to have an outdoor oasis its simply not there. I live in an apartment. I have a patio that's great for sitting, eating and sharing with friends, its not quiet/solitary space. My oasis, escape, and refuge is the Duravit Starck tub. Its long, its clean and usually filled with very hot water.

Everyone does need a place to which they escape.

I have a very busy home with a feisty 4 year old. I carve out "Me Time" in my old comfy overstuffed wing back chair complete with mis-matched ottoman. I pour a chai tea and get inspired by my favourite magazines.

I also love a hot soak in my old tub. It has a generous slope that's great for the back. My indulgence is locally made TVal Cotton Candy body sugar or Cupcake soap. http://www.tvalskincare.com/ It's delicious.

Bed.

Sitting on a stool next to the stove, looking out the window. Only one person can sit there (only one stool in the room!), and no matter what else is happening, I can clean the counters, wipe down the sink, have a cup of coffee and pretend everything in the apartment is as orderly as my kitchen. In a NY one-bedroom shared with others (human and feline) the psychological value of the space is far greater than its physical dimensions.

I live alone, so my whole place is my refuge. I have a large bay window shaded by a big leafy tree, and I like to sit there with a cup of coffee and a book and watch the world go by.

My tiny backyard is my refuge.

When I moved in to my townhouse, it was open to the neighbors on both sides. I fenced it off with 9' fences and turned the whole thing into an patio with interloc stones, with narrow garden beds all around. It went from sun-baked and exposed and ugly and unused to shady and green and awesome.

It's really important to me that my home be a quiet, comfortable, and beautiful refuge. Although I have 1800 sq. ft, I only live in 900 of it (guest room and front sitting room go unused). From May through October, my backyard/patio is my favorite living space, however, I've been working diligently since October 2007 to turn my home into my very personal retreat. Today, every seat is comfortable and every view is pleasing. I count myself very fortunute to indulge in not one, but several rooms of my own.

I have a little nook in my kitchen for a table that I instead converted into a reading area. I can open up the door for a breeze and relax in my big comfy chair; I painted the wall with blackboard paint so I can doodle or write lists, cozy up with a book, watch my kitties play in the fenced backyard, or look at the progress of my little garden. You'd never know I was there!

My front room and bedroom, for sure, but also our back deck, which I am cultivating now. I just got a gorgeous table/chair set on craigslist and now am in the market for a big umbrella for a splash of color. And for even more color I'm setting up a trellis for bougainvillea (in hot pink). I can't wait for them to arch over my doorways with their beautiful flowers!

It's funny though, because different people in my house have different refuges. For my roommate it's sitting at the kitchen table, but for me that's not appealing at all. Interesting. . .

Our house is our refuge. While our friends all leave town for holidays we like to stay home. We've just spent the last 2 years of weekends landscaping and we're almost finished now. We've done all the work ourselves and through our local version of Ebay we've made purchases to incorporate a few luxuries like an outdoor shower, an outdoor bath concealed beneath the day bed and an outdoor kitchen. I still have to knock together some sort of solar water heater to supply some hot water to these but I'll get there in the end.

Slowly, my house is becoming my refuge, but when I can't bear the thought of picking up a broom and sweeping, or figuring out where to hand the artwork, I sit on my little back porch and chill.

My flat is too small and open plan to have a refuge, but I guess my comfy sofa is kind of my place of safety and rest. When I lived in a place with a bathtub, that was definitely my refuge...

I go putter in my garage/workshop.