Homo Depot

So my weekend has finally arrived and with it I've been planning a little home project of sorts, painting this cheap little unfinished pine table I bought at IKEA a million years ago to "temporarily" use as a desk. (It was after a breakup and I moved out and had to get all new stuff.) More than a decade later -- and now living in the smallest coziest of one-bedrooms in Chelsea, I've finally come to the conclusion that the "desk" suits my needs perfectly, so why not accept that it's here to stay and spruce it up a little? (In the past 11 years I've probably looked at a thousand little computer desks and secretaries, and nothing works in this tiny corner better.)

So for starters, when my parents asked me what I wanted for Christmas I said a new chair. The one I'd gotten in '97 was literally falling apart, so the timing was perfect. My mom got me this beautiful Carson side chair from Crate & Barrel I'd been eyeing, which led to Step 2: buying paint for the desk. My next-door-neighbor is a professional apartment painter so he helped me pick out the right stuff (he encouraged me to avoid staining the thing, which he said would be a nightmare), and I selected Benjamin Moore classic burgundy.

Which brings me to the point of this post (really, there is one!), something people who don't lived in Manhattan apartments (of the non-filthy-rich variety, I should say) would never even consider could be a problem: as I went to set up my painting area tonight I realized something: there isn't a single area of floor space in my entire apartment that's big enough for me to pull this (tiny) table out into to paint! And there's no garage, no basement and no backyard in my world -- and I won't even get into the Larry situation, who has no problem lying in a shower stall that is COVERED in Soft Scrub with bleach and hot water!

Lest you think I"m just being a big wuss, perhaps trying to lure Ty Pennington into coming to my rescue, let me assure you that I've accomplished a surprising number of home improvements over the years, in an attempt to up the "cozy" factor around here. My living room (above) was painted by yours truly (three times, no less, till I got the right color) . The picture ledges and framed family photos are my work, too. I've also painted my bedroom, hung bookshelves and replaced a closet door with a curtain to maximize space. In nearly every one of those cases, though, all I had to do was put everything in the middle of the room to reach the walls. I've now given myself 48 hours to figure this out. (Where's that Murphy bed when I need it?!!!) Wish me luck ...