Hey yo.

It's been a while. Like, a year and a half. It feels like three minutes, because that's how time rolls these days, but it's been incredibly, unforgivably, long. Forgive me?

Suffice it to say, what started out as a brief break to head down to Florida to volunteer for the Hillary campaign morphed into a 17-month exodus into other paths, leaving the blog behind.

Behind, but not forgotten. But let's discuss those gory details later. For now, let's put aside any other lights and tunnels that may be top of mind. Let's talk about, instead, this little gem-like nook at the end of our hallway.

A lot has changed since last we spoke. Including this corner, which was a curtained off shared closet for Bret and Lou --

-- and then became a storage spot for West's stuff, and other sundry items. Puzzles. Toys. Overflow diaper collections. Just everything was shoved back here, behind these curtains. Which was fine.

But I was finding we were outgrowing the plastic shoe box "solution." More accurately, I guess West was outgrowing it? Where once several pairs of pants could be tucked, file-style, into each little box, now they were overflowing. The shoe shelves we were stacking them on were sagging under the weight, and the whole thing was becoming unsightly. I began to think about finding a dresser for West's clothes, daydreaming about real drawers to fold things away into. I set about scouring thrift stores and curbsides for a good dresser.

About three minutes later (literally, that same week), West and I stumbled upon a beautiful dresser, left right next to the car we were borrowing from friends. That's my universe juju, guys. I wish for something, and it appears on a Brooklyn curb. I swear.

Anyway, on a balmy 15 degree day, West and I found this dresser. I rushed home and got our wheeled carseat bags and slowwwwwllly and precariously balanced the dresser on them and wheeled it home. Without much ado, I evicted everything that was living in this closet, and slotted the dresser in.

I happened to have, because I'm nuts and collect such thing, eight elephant head drawer pulls. I cleaned the dresser, attached the knobs, loaded it up with West's stuff, and ta-da!

With just a little polishing and the new knobs, I was in love with the dresser. I had taken off the curtains from the front of the closet to move things around, and I never hung them back up. Instead, I made use of the wasted space next to the dresser, behind the wing walls, by stacking in some boxes containing seldom-accessed stuff (cords, old computer equipment and photos) and stacking my old brass floor lamp on top of these. A little unconventional, I guess, but this space is pretty dark, and this lamp was pretty available.

I also used Command hooks to hang some easy-to-remove and access baskets (remember the makeover of these ?) on the wall above.

Baskets making use of otherwise wasted space.

I stashed our portable crib on the other end -- I find keeping a portable crib around is useful for inducing friends with babies to come over for dinner -- and then stacked all my pretty blankets and textiles on the top shelf. A little dresser top "styling," and this nook was just about complete.

The dresser could use some refinishing. The baskets are a hung a little crookedly, and it's not the perfect lamp. But all of that is for another day, and it's always fun to keep an eye out for funky lamps. In the meantime, this open space at the end of our labyrinthine hallway has completely changed the feel of the apartment -- adding a little area of interest and light where a light-sucking curtained hole once stood. If you're wondering what I did with the rest of the stuff that was in here, and if this little change catalyzed a cascade of reorganization all over the apartment, you better believe it. Wanna see it all in its glory? Well, we're back. I'll show ya'.