The Making (and unmaking) of a Home
The first time I walked into apartment 502K, I sat on the floor and cried. I had many reasons for those tears, among them the hormones of being eight months pregnant and finishing up two months of living out of a suitcase. But 502K provided plenty more. Dorms are a special college experience, but not quite so glamorous for a young family, and 502K screamed dorm living from every inch of its 660-ish square feet. For months I tried to beat the institutional construction into a more homelike existence, and it seemed I met frustration at every turn. I'd measure shelving then go out to purchase organizers only to have to return them when I discovered that the size of the shelf was not uniform across it's length and so didn't fit... or maybe it would have fit, if there hadn't been a totally awkward door frame around the closet or if the bathroom door didn't make it impossible to have a bath rug in the bathroom or if the cupboards had been large enough to keep dinn