Over the next few months I’ll be writing about our new apartment and how it came together. That means painting the walls and arranging the furniture, naturally, but also smaller projects and eccentric ideas and, yes, design theories. If you’re reading this then you’ve likely seen photos of my old apartment (or maybe even had a drink there).

This would be the time of year when I would have the first fire in the fireplace and feel very happy. The new apartment doesn’t have a fireplace, but that’s all right. For many reasons, it was time to move on. It was like when I became so attached to my old Saab (née 2001) that when I finally got a newer car I didn’t realize what had happened in the intervening 15 years. You mean a car doesn’t have to shake going uphill?

Moving to a larger apartment is a little like that. It’s not that it’s any newer, but you think: you mean a kitchen can hold more than one person? Yes, we get used to things and on the whole that’s probably good. But you know what’s also good? Living in an apartment with more than one closet.

My old apartment was fairly, shall we say, settled? Which is another way of saying: it was very full. Everything was in its right place—or at least a place, and there wasn’t a lot of room for interpretation. The new apartment has more space and more opinions on what to do with that space. An interior, like a wardrobe, doesn’t come together at once. You need to be in the rooms, in the morning, at night, live in it, react to it, and see what’s needed.

When you do realize what it’s missing—whether it’s a rug, a painting, whatever—then you decide how urgently you’re going to solve that. There’s the: I’m getting on eBay right now approach. There’s also the I’m going to research, get inspiration, let the universe guide me and I hope I find the perfect thing while I’m traveling approach that can take much longer. I like both. You don’t want to have major holes where something should be. But when a space is arranged all at once it looks like a staged apartment.

So: the new place is coming together. I’m excited to share more about it. And if you have a fireplace light one for me.