Spring cleaning happened in June.
“Few months late... But that's how we do it in NYC ;)” was how I sent the finished photos.
The apartment had been getting more workable piece by piece. We had already painted a whiteboard wall in the home office. This round included shelves, a cleaned-up living room, a better kitchen, a shoe rack, and enough organization to make the small space feel intentional.
The shoe wall was the most obvious part. Dark shelves ran nearly to the ceiling above a packed clothing rack and an old dresser. Boots, heels, sneakers, and hats used every available inch.
New York apartments make every object negotiate for space. Work was happening at home. A clothing business was taking shape around us. I had multiple jobs, multiple computers, and plenty of equipment that did not become smaller just because the rooms were.
The answer was to build upward and keep changing the place until it worked.
There was also a street-found painting that made it inside, plus the normal pile of smaller projects that come with trying to turn an apartment into both a home and a studio. Some parts looked finished. Others still looked like the project had paused for a work call.
That was accurate.
My professional life was moving quickly. I had left Peek, joined Reality Check, started rebuilding its systems and team, and continued taking outside infrastructure work. The apartment was the stable point underneath it, even when it was not especially clean.
The photos were proof that we had finally made a pass at the whole thing.
Not in spring. Close enough.