Home, Sweet Home

Since quarantine started, I’ve probably spent the most time “at home” in my bedroom. I say the term bedroom lightly because my bedroom isn’t your standard room with a queen bed, some furniture, a TV, and closet. No, my bedroom is actually the equivalent of a studio apartment and/or efficiency.

I’ve taken you through my room a few times before, but never given you an in-depth tour of my sanctuary.

So when I moved back from Orlando, my aunt converted our former garage room and spare back room (it was more like a glorified closet than a room) into one room. For reference, I actually fit every item of furniture I brought back from Orlando in the space, and when my grandmother passed away last year, I inherited some of her furniture to help keep my stuff organized and maximize space.

My “loft”, as it is called, is split in two: the living room area, when you first walk in, and the bedroom, in the back. I also have a full bathroom (that is perfectly placed between the two).

In the living room, you will find my sofa bed – which can open into a queen sized sleeper (a very comfortable one at that), my coffee table (which has a hidden TV table built in so I can eat or work off it), a book shelf, the armoire I inherited when my grandmother died, and my chevron chair (my aunt likes to bitch at me that the sofa and the chair aren’t used for sitting, but rather to hold my shit). The front of the room has a little utility closet, where the water heater for the house is located, that I have converted into a spare closet (the one in the bedroom is actually relatively small compared to others in the house. The downside to the room is the lack of good storage space.

This is where having worked for Disney comes in handy; Disney prides themselves in making efficiency a huge part of their brand and I personally think making things more efficient can reduce a lot of headaches. This being said, I’m sure you have an idea of where this is going, I took the lack of space in the room and created new ways to store my stuff.

In the utility closet, at the front of the room, I added six plastic storage boxes: this is where I hold my t-shirts, bathing suits, workout gear, shorts, or miscellaneous things that I don’t need on a daily basis. Within the armoire I inherited from my grandmother, I hang my hoodies, jean jackets, cardigans, and blazers. There is also a little drawer within the body of the armoire, which is where I hold my socks, and then there are two long drawers that hold my pajamas and scarves (this is more than likely going to change now that I’ve actually realized what a horrible waste of space). I also store my hats and extra towels within the armoire, behind the jackets.

Above the armoire you will find my “Disney momentos”, such as my “Mousecar” trophy (essentially it’s a giant Mickey statue you get when you leave the Workforce Management department at Disney), a popcorn bucket full of trading pins, the Star Wars Diet Cokes I brought home when Galaxy’s Edge opened, and some pictures from my time at Disney. The last few things in the “living room” are my Chevron chair, my ottoman (this stores a bunch of photo albums!), and the three shelved book shelf that stores my books, trophies, and some pictures.

Parallel to (and technically aligned with) the book shelf is my TV stand (otherwise known as the piece of furniture that holds my TV and other devices). This piece of furniture doesn’t just hold my TV, it’s also serves as the “divider” in the room separating what is considered the living room from the bedroom.

Since my loft serves be two different rooms, I have a wireless cable box and an AppleTV that I connect to the TV. Having the TV table as the divider gives me the chance to hide all of the cables that would typically be found behind a TV. The TV table has glass doors that open into a shelved storage area where you can find my collection of sunglasses, my travel accessories (I.e. chargers, headphones, MagicBands, etc.), some Notebooks and office supplies, and an overflow of books. I also have some gift wrapping items hidden in the organizers that hold everything in the space.

Perpendicular, between the living room and the bedroom, is my bathroom and outside of it, before you get to the closet is the tall dresser. This is where a majority of my stuff is actually stored.

Next, (and this is where you’ll notice I rearranged things since the last time I posted about my room) across from the closet and next to my bed, is the night stand that matches my TV table and tall dresser. Here I store every day things like medicine, extra chargers, cables, cases, etc. My aunt likes to call it the junk drawer, but it’s actually not full of junk…that is located elsewhere. Then, to the left of the bed, is the shelving unit I bought before this quarantine happened (essentially, I flip flopped the night stand and the shelving unit). I store my immediate work stuff in the shelving unit; I have pens, scissors, post-it notes, a stack of books that are next in the reading lineup, my files and paperwork, notebooks specifically related to work, and then at the bottom I have a basket of my Minnie ears!

Another piece of furniture I inherited from my grandmother is her jewelry armoire. I have three acrylic cases for my necklaces on it, then inside the jewelry armoire are my rings, bracelets, fashion jewelry, watches (non-Apple Watch), etc.; lastly, and the most recent addition to the room is the portable work desk I bought. It’s built like the portable TV tables; I can literally fold it up and store it behind the armoire when I’m done! This is next to the only window in the room, which I love because I can see when people get to the house (AKA Amazon). It’s also nice to sometimes look out the window, especially considering I don’t leave the house!