the home issue, no. 5

AS MUCH AS I LIKED living in New York City, it never really felt like home because I was never allowed to settle in, not like I have up here. This coming year will be my fourth anniversary upstate. Short as it may seem compared to my time in the city, my life up here truly feels like home. This feeling was validated a few months back: I was driving along one of our bucolic roads, allowing my mind to wander, when I was struck by something so visceral, that I began to cry. In that moment, I became fully aware of my surroundings and I began to appreciate the freedom granted to me by this region that has allowed me to express my life in exactly the way I had always wanted. That was it—beauty and freedom. It’s what I had been searching for my entire life in a home and I finally found it here. Being here, without all the financial constraints of the city, without all of its distractions, has helped me transcend all the background noise and fully appreciate what is right in front of me. And that’s what this issue is about. It’s about people searching for beauty in their lives and for the freedom to express themselves in the homes they have built, whether it be an off- the-grid trailer, a rural villa filled with exquisite furnishings, or a simple cabin in the woods. Because home is where the heart is, and each one of these personal refuges is a tribute to love.

Nhi Mundy, Editor in Chief