Got 20 seconds? I'll take you on a tour of my apartment!

Okay, there it is. Haha. Small, huh? I stood inside one closet to take the first picture, and the opposite closet to take the second. These are from "before." Before I walked down the street and bought a mattress; carried a bed frame six blocks uphill; built my kitchen table; and recreated the standing desk.

When it's empty like this, you can really tell how little it is!

I won't lie to you. It sucked at first. As a homebody, one of my life rules is this: fall asleep in a space where you feel comfortable and everything else will work itself out. I was not super comfortable when I first moved in this space. I was living in a brand new city, had just sold or donated all of my belongings, and was facing a pretty major culture shock.

I found out pretty quickly I was going to have to grow some thicker skin. There's a lot of noises that go on outside my window at night. A. LOT. I thought by living and working downtown Cincinnati I had been exposed to a fair amount of homelessness and/or mental illnesses. Not true. It's extremely heartbreaking and still upsetting every time I pass a woman or man sleeping in front of my building.

It was a big change, and it was hard. I really wanted to give up, but I didn't. And one day, after several months -- well, I ended up making this space a real home.

I love my apartment now. You've seen a lot of the updated space through my other blog posts, but I'll write up an official documentation soon. And don't worry, in the end I did get that thicker skin. I've got mad street cred now. Well, more street cred than when I moved in, at the very least 😏.

Photos: Nikond3200 Kit Lens/ Edits: Adobe Lightroom