The house now looks more lived in than how it did when we first moved in couple of months ago.
Back then we hadn't quite settled in to a regular way of life, and because of that, things weren't arranged to suit life the way we live it now.
The house isn't showroom spacious.
Neither does every space fit the purpose for what she is meant to be.
But we've kept it neat, there's a structure, and everything has its own place, no matter how odd it might seem.
Two anchors in the house that we have are these.
We don't look at them often enough, I think, but comforting a sight it is to see them (plastic) lavenders, hard cover books, memento stuffie toys, and American-bought Hulk at the staircase turns.
They're a sort of focus, I think.
Especially Hulk, who helps in the focus whenever my legs ache from climbing up the stairs.
There're some things which technically don't belong where they are, like this box of odds and ends on the MUJI bench along the narrow hallway covered by a plastic curtain once meant to separate the patio from the hallway but which we never got around to it and which we now don't care.
Out of all the spaces that we've filled in the house, our kitchen is probably the most packed one.
It's not a bad thing, mind.
Whether it be the containers of powders or jars of seasonings, whether it be the cups or the flasks or the plates or the cooking paraphernalia, every corner of this space, over and under the portable black shelf atop the stove, has been fully used.
I have a couple of glasses and glass cups under one side of the shelf.
I have on the other side- next to the unused stove- a measuring jug, and a couple of plastic containers holding pink Himalayan salt and some cajun seasoning.
Not just this space.
The space under the shelf where we hold a myriad of plates and bowls and flasks and cutlery too has been filled.
There's hardly any space else to place the cartons of mineral water that now thankfully we order online and have them delivered to our door.
This is a place where sometimes stuff get shifted around.
But this is also a place where most of the time they don't.
One thing I love about Steppyhouse and how we've made it is that we don't usually need to wonder where our things are.
They're more or less at places where we hang out at, where it's easy to reach for, and you don't have to delve too deep into the cupboard or toss aside boxes to get to the things you want.
It's great that there're other anchors in this house besides the staircase decor, the work desks and the fridge.
I'm talking about these two.
Patient they are always waiting for me to come back through the front door.
Patient they are in my arms each night and each morning when I wake.
It's lovely to have them beside me right now even as I type.
Same way it's lovely too that I get to look out the balcony door to where the black drape of a sun drape is right in front of me.
The bike's gone, however- we moved it out to the main area beside the lift so we wouldn't need to continually shift it in and out.
Not that the balcony's empty- I wish there were less stuff- but we have had to shift a couple of boxes out, move the vase from its corner to the center of the balcony thanks to huge gusts of winds that nearly toppled the vase over somewhere in early February.
I'm glad for the Christmas we have had here at Steppyhouse.
It didn't matter to me that there was no tree.
Neither did it matter to me that there were no twinkling lights along the side of the staircase or anything for that matter.
We had our own little Christmas corner.
We had our own little space (on top of the fridge!) with two little knitted boots, plastic poinsettia flowers stuffed into the boots, and warm, cozy decor in the form of silvery fir cones that I dropped in the box together with them furry warm boots.