Katie and Hayden move into an apartment

The girls' budget was constrained. Although Hayden has access to the Basswood trust fund, it's understood that she's supposed to try to make ends meet on her job as a publisher's assistant. And while Katie's vintage bicycle and skate shop is the darling of the hipster set, it makes very little actual money. The girls finally settled on a loft condo that doesn't offer much space but is close to downtown amenities.

The condo is housed in what is officially the worst-assembled bookcase in the entire history of bookcases, including some shop projects that cause high school teachers to giggle to the point of hysteria. This is the fifth of these Walmart Mainstays bookcases I've assembled in recent years, and I've never had the slightest trouble before. This time, screws broke, MDF split (can MDF do that?), the backing split... the structure is secretly held together with cardboard braces, duct tape, and copious amounts of wood glue.

The bookcase is a craft supply box, $2.97 at Walmart, spray painted Krylon Colormaster "Brown Boots" satin. The rug is a small pillow cover from SAS Fabrics, your home-away-from-home for animal prints. I may give up on the concept of a dining table and turn the sofa to back the kitchen. I may tip the bookshelf the other direction, as it's equally stable either way.

I built the kitchen from scratch. This seemed like a better idea before I started than at, say, hour thirty in the project. There will be more detail on the kitchen when the appliances are fully complete. Despite my real-life kitchen being completely coated in newspaper, wood fragments, cardboard, string, containers of glue, containers of paint, plumbing supplies, beads, and scissors, there is still much to do. But I will say this: opening doors. Every last one. Girls have storage.

The bedroom is more-or-less planned, but no way am I starting it right now. I want to see my real-life floor for a few days.