I’ve scheduled this thread for 11:00 AM on Friday, when we’ll be moving. Picture me anxiously directing movers to deposit large objects in their (hopefully) ideal rooms before being at the mercy of internet technicians the following day.
I’d love to know, while I’m in the bustling hustle of it all — is there a single thing that, upon moving, makes you feel anchored and at home? A constellation of things? An aspirational thing you keep chasing?
Talk to me of moving, and the settling that comes after.
It's been more than a little while for us since we moved house last. But the anchoring that comes from a well organized kitchen is a pleasure that knows few limits in my book. Beverages must be brewed, after all. I have slept on floors and couches -- but where be my favorite mug?, that's the question that must be answered.
Mine is an odd example, but fitting given the year it's been. You see, I've become a hermit crab: I took up my shell and went to spend the first part of the pandemic with my girlfriend in Manhattan, then I went to my parent's house in Connecticut in June, then my girlfriend's parent's house in Long Island in August, and so on, and so forth . . . I really haven't had a home base for me to think of as my own in a while. So it's been interesting to watch the shorthand I've developed to bring home with me, items of significance that root and anchormen back to a time and place of home, of what home was to me when I was building it for myself. And they're a little odd, friend, but still: a Books Are Magic coffee mug, a plush penguin named Iceberg (Bergie for short), my pillow with purple pillowcase, a DnD handbook, a card game, half a dozen notebooks, and always about 10-15 books. It's been very odd watching me develop this tactile language of home, but if it all fits in my shell, I can bring home with me for a little while longer.
I wish I knew. I've moved a lot, but moving as a military brat is a completely different experience. I never felt anchored and settled into a place like that, cause you always knew it was temporary. Civilian moves are totally uncivilized. Trying to pack around life continuing on and everything instead of the world pausing for you to move? I am not a fan. Though there is nothing like having to pack all your own stuff for the first time in your life to make you cull stuff.
For me, finding the perfect spot for my reading chair and settling in for a chapter or two makes a new space feel like home. Hope every little thing goes well.
I've moved numerous times but fortunately not for several years now. But during all those moves, one thing was consistent in keeping me feeling anchored: There were several books I would always leave unpacked, but instead I'd carry them with me from one place to the next. Some of these were ones I was currently reading, but most of them tended to be ones that I considered comfort reads. The very first thing I moved into the house I'm living in now was an armload of books; I just carried them out of the old house, then into the new one, and put them directly onto a built-in shelf.
No idea what would anchor me. But after 28 years in the same house, we're hoping to move in the next few weeks. Fortunately, not to great a distance. I think I'll feel at home when the cat is settled, the chooks are in their temporary new run, and the fish a back in their tank. And I have a pot of tea brewing.
We moved to Portland last year in April, and it was the first time I had moved to an unfurnished apartment (random living situations in the past). So the first night, the only furniture we had was my small TV, an unbuilt couch and futon, a coat rack, a lamp, and some random kitchen accessories. Slowly accumulating things over the next few weeks made it feel more and more like home, but I kind of look back fondly on that first evening when there were No Things there.
When my partner and I bought our home, and gradually moved our things into it over the course of several weeks and multiple car trips from our apartment, it felt like home when we finally dropped the apartment key off at the landlords and ate pizza standing up in our new kitchen.
Layers of books padding (almost) all the walls. Plants, alive and well, on windowsills. Board games stacked randomly on top of book shelves. OK, it seems like what anchors us most or makes the new place a home: lining windows and walls with beloved objects... (Re)building a fort!
I've moved 6 times in the past decade, 9 since 2006. I haven't felt anchored or at home for a long time, and I wish you the best of luck for your moving. But I will say that what makes every move OK for me, regardless of how transient it feels, is a combination of a small bookshelf my stepfather made me, that I've had since college, and this one plant. The bookshelf was made to hold my favorite books and it's a pretty maple thing, solid with nice curves, but small enough for me to carry with ease. The plant is a hoya carnosa, one that does those waxy globe flowers that smell like chocolate, and even when I can only take a small cutting of it, I'll take it anywhere.
We haven't moved in five years, although we've got an upcoming move in December (our first international move!). It's a few things for us: it's having our bed set up, which is a bit of a project - it's a massive four-poster bed that we bought as our first piece of adult furniture when we were graduate students. It's having a functional kitchen (as I get exceedingly cranky when I can't cook or bake) and it's having some of our art on the walls. Because we print the vast majority of our art (yay for having a banner printer!), we usually keep art on the walls until the last minute before moving out, since that really helps the place we're moving out of feel like home, even without our stuff.
It’s been 14 years since I moved in here. I think setting up some basics (bed, couch, table) where you think you’ll want them really helped me. 20 years ago we moved into our prior house and the first night was our anniversary. So takeout dinner at our table was great. But it’s not home until the cats come out of hiding.
It's been more than a little while for us since we moved house last. But the anchoring that comes from a well organized kitchen is a pleasure that knows few limits in my book. Beverages must be brewed, after all. I have slept on floors and couches -- but where be my favorite mug?, that's the question that must be answered.
Mine is an odd example, but fitting given the year it's been. You see, I've become a hermit crab: I took up my shell and went to spend the first part of the pandemic with my girlfriend in Manhattan, then I went to my parent's house in Connecticut in June, then my girlfriend's parent's house in Long Island in August, and so on, and so forth . . . I really haven't had a home base for me to think of as my own in a while. So it's been interesting to watch the shorthand I've developed to bring home with me, items of significance that root and anchormen back to a time and place of home, of what home was to me when I was building it for myself. And they're a little odd, friend, but still: a Books Are Magic coffee mug, a plush penguin named Iceberg (Bergie for short), my pillow with purple pillowcase, a DnD handbook, a card game, half a dozen notebooks, and always about 10-15 books. It's been very odd watching me develop this tactile language of home, but if it all fits in my shell, I can bring home with me for a little while longer.
I wish I knew. I've moved a lot, but moving as a military brat is a completely different experience. I never felt anchored and settled into a place like that, cause you always knew it was temporary. Civilian moves are totally uncivilized. Trying to pack around life continuing on and everything instead of the world pausing for you to move? I am not a fan. Though there is nothing like having to pack all your own stuff for the first time in your life to make you cull stuff.
For me, finding the perfect spot for my reading chair and settling in for a chapter or two makes a new space feel like home. Hope every little thing goes well.
paintings on the wall, books on shelves
I've moved numerous times but fortunately not for several years now. But during all those moves, one thing was consistent in keeping me feeling anchored: There were several books I would always leave unpacked, but instead I'd carry them with me from one place to the next. Some of these were ones I was currently reading, but most of them tended to be ones that I considered comfort reads. The very first thing I moved into the house I'm living in now was an armload of books; I just carried them out of the old house, then into the new one, and put them directly onto a built-in shelf.
No idea what would anchor me. But after 28 years in the same house, we're hoping to move in the next few weeks. Fortunately, not to great a distance. I think I'll feel at home when the cat is settled, the chooks are in their temporary new run, and the fish a back in their tank. And I have a pot of tea brewing.
Good luck for your move!
We moved to Portland last year in April, and it was the first time I had moved to an unfurnished apartment (random living situations in the past). So the first night, the only furniture we had was my small TV, an unbuilt couch and futon, a coat rack, a lamp, and some random kitchen accessories. Slowly accumulating things over the next few weeks made it feel more and more like home, but I kind of look back fondly on that first evening when there were No Things there.
I find it helped to power through unpacking in one go. Don’t let stuff sit in boxes.
When my partner and I bought our home, and gradually moved our things into it over the course of several weeks and multiple car trips from our apartment, it felt like home when we finally dropped the apartment key off at the landlords and ate pizza standing up in our new kitchen.
Whenever I move into a new house, I set up speakers and play "Home" by David Ostwald's Gully Low Jazz Band. And then, like magic, it's home.
Layers of books padding (almost) all the walls. Plants, alive and well, on windowsills. Board games stacked randomly on top of book shelves. OK, it seems like what anchors us most or makes the new place a home: lining windows and walls with beloved objects... (Re)building a fort!
I've moved 6 times in the past decade, 9 since 2006. I haven't felt anchored or at home for a long time, and I wish you the best of luck for your moving. But I will say that what makes every move OK for me, regardless of how transient it feels, is a combination of a small bookshelf my stepfather made me, that I've had since college, and this one plant. The bookshelf was made to hold my favorite books and it's a pretty maple thing, solid with nice curves, but small enough for me to carry with ease. The plant is a hoya carnosa, one that does those waxy globe flowers that smell like chocolate, and even when I can only take a small cutting of it, I'll take it anywhere.
I always feel “in” my new place when I start putting books on their shelves. 🥰 Hope your move is a relatively easy one!
We haven't moved in five years, although we've got an upcoming move in December (our first international move!). It's a few things for us: it's having our bed set up, which is a bit of a project - it's a massive four-poster bed that we bought as our first piece of adult furniture when we were graduate students. It's having a functional kitchen (as I get exceedingly cranky when I can't cook or bake) and it's having some of our art on the walls. Because we print the vast majority of our art (yay for having a banner printer!), we usually keep art on the walls until the last minute before moving out, since that really helps the place we're moving out of feel like home, even without our stuff.
It’s been 14 years since I moved in here. I think setting up some basics (bed, couch, table) where you think you’ll want them really helped me. 20 years ago we moved into our prior house and the first night was our anniversary. So takeout dinner at our table was great. But it’s not home until the cats come out of hiding.
Good luck with the move! Yes, definitely -- ordering food into the new home, and/or cooking in it, makes me feel anchored there :)