As you may know, twice a year, Apartment Therapy hosts the spring or fall cure, an 8-week program based on the book. I’ve started the cure three times so far, and have never actually finished satisfactorily, but usually I get at least six weeks through. When I started this spring, however, I only got started on week two before I jumped ship. Why so soon? Because at that point, my then-boyfriend and I decided to amicably separate. Although there are no hard feelings whatsoever and the breakup was relatively painless for both of us, the event did sort of throw a wrench in my immediate plans and it didn’t make sense to continue with the cure when he would be moving out over the next month or two. We’d lived together for four years, so the amount of his and hers stuff that got mixed together in cabinets, drawers, and closets was a little overwhelming. Thus, at this point, when most of it has been separated, it’s more important than ever to start over with this cure – with an entirely different purpose.

Relatively little has changed around the house since he moved out, and as he’s put it, it’s a little like a “tomb of memories.” The first chapter in Maxwell’s book talks about the importance of reclaiming your space after a breakup, and because I adore my house and have no intention of moving, I’m going to continue this cure from where I left off, this time with a different perspective.

Hidden messes are everywhere.

Unless you’ve done the cure, no one tells you how satisfying it is to actually go through every drawer in the kitchen, take everything out, clean it, sort the contents, and put back only what you need. It’s like grooming a really overgrown dog and looking at the pile of gross that you removed. The dog is happy, and so are you. This drawer – one of many – contained a pile of gross that involved duplicate takeout menus, manuals for electronics I no longer own, broken picture frame parts, and instructions for planting trees I’ve already planted.

Chalkboard paint in the kitchen: yet another bandwagon onto which I've jumped. Did I mention I'm becoming a vegetarian?

I love this new chalkboard corner. I found the paint for a dollar at a garage sale, and it plus the act of removing everything from the counters, cupboards, and drawers and rearranging them made the kitchen new again. I replaced most of the old plants, moved the canisters to the other side of the kitchen, threw out all my old knives and cookbooks, added drawer organizers (a.k.a. wooden rice bowls from japan that weren’t being used), and tossed out some old glasses that no longer had any matchy friends left. I freed up a drawer for pot lids and one for my grandmother’s old cookbooks and aprons. I cleaned out the refrigerator and freezer, which still actually had some stuff that he’d bought (fyi, I’m keeping the candy cane Joe Joe’s. Don’t worry).

I also swapped out all the art on the walls and installed a new (er, vintage) lighting fixture and will eventually repaint the floor in lieu of the marmoleum tiles I can’t quite afford. The end result is an emotionally changed space that feels new … and mine.

It looks like the same kitchen, but it doesn't feel like it.

This entry was posted on Monday, August 3rd, 2009 at 10:36 am and is filed under AT Cure. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.