Dear Artist: Mastering the Art of Nesting + Making Peace with Your Physical Environment
First things first— let’s define NESTING.
My definition of Nesting:
Nesting is an act of not only creating and building an intentional physical space for yourself, but also for possibilities of creativity and positivity in the said space.
An act that will result in having a space that allows stimulating creative thinking and activities.
Nesting definition (Urban Dictionary):
Nesting is a ritual performed by pregnant women in ridding the house, the "nest", from anything potentially harmful to the soon-to-be-born child.
The first time I encountered this word when was when I had a fleeting thought when I moved and immigrated in the States.
I was moving things around to my liking.
My thought was to start arranging them in a style and way that made me happy.
After building a ton of IKEA furniture and making do with the existing stuff I had, I said to myself —
“ My sanctuary, my nest is finally done. I don’t feel so homesick.”
Though the usual definition of nesting - which is a pregnant woman’s activity to “baby-proof” a house — I’d like to see the similarity when trying to be more intentional with our spaces is that with nesting (as how I approached it) was that it was "stale-proofing” bursts of creative spark. An example would be preparing dedicated spaces for activities that will relax you like painting, drawing, gaming, baking, coffee grinding, book reading, It doesn’t need to be grand, just a dedicated space/nook/area to be ready to catch you to bring you to that flow state. Personally, no feeling is better than realizing you spent 3-4 painting or baking and forgetting about the time during the weekends.
As for me, my experience with nesting was really evident when I was younger — arranging my room definitely takes time to refine into something that you can do quickly/more efficiently/feels better.
So let’s clarify things further - a shorter definition of NESTING — creating a physical and personal space that accommodates things and activities that make you happy and creative.
Remember Japanese organizational guru, Marie Kondo, who built a business and became a media sensation built on her philosophy “Spark Joy” and “having a place for every item”? I think the reason it blew up so much is that it is a universal thing across the entirety of humanity. These concepts are connected to nesting and building something we live with.
It sounded so simple and some people criticized it as a way of “telling people how to live” or “not accepting of maximalism” — but I have to be honest that I understood what she meant
— she simply meant “Know what you like and don’t like, make space for the ones you like and be a steward of your belongings because they are a gift.
This nesting and organization of our homes starts and goes back ROUGHLY 1.8 Million years in Tanzania ago where it was said that proto-human species were inhabiting the so-called first “HOUSE” built from a circular rock and sunken patch of earth.
Terra Amata Shelter, according to the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History, is a site in Nice, France which was researched and proven to have proofs of post holes and multiple huts, and construction with the use of ready materials in nature to serve as protection for the early human family.
The Terra Amata shelter, one of the official proofs of dwelling in structure protection, or Tanzania “house” displaced on purpose or not — does not deny the fact that the house reflects and informs other humans of what activities, intentions, values, and thoughts of people that live in a certain area.
We started to know what was around us and nurtured them for our own survival.
Today, it’s not really as different as we think it is — we ought to place things a certain kind of way in our apartments, throw or give something away (like furniture) that doesn’t feel like us anymore, or paint our walls a certain shade of white — all because we want to own and feel safe in a so-called sanctuary.
We try to “control” or to “manage” our sanctuaries the most we can do most especially if we want to achieve or to maintain a certain peace of mind or comfort in our minds.
Another point connected to the idea of nesting is “Control”.
I saw this lovely ad campaign over at Chase bank - the local bank close to where I’m staying in New York City, Manhattan, displaying a horizontal screen at the bank of the bank tellers was displaying a video with 2 old people going on a trip and suddenly seeing a van for sale and decided to buy it and save up for it with the autosaving account (this shoutout is not sponsored, hope it was). — displayed as the text overlay was “CONTROL FEELS GOOD” and that idea clicked so much to me in every aspect of my life.
I quickly realized that control was one of the things that a lot of humans or most humans try to achieve in their life, other than enjoyment. It was funny because I immediately thought about how stern I was for keeping my room in an exact kind of way. Ah yes, the power of Advertising and Marketing.
I define nesting as building an environment that is suitable to your ideal and reality at the same time.
1.) IMAGINE:
Definitely, the first step is defining who you are what you currently want to do and what environment you think you will thrive in.
Pinterest is one of the easiest ways to just observe and see what attracts you and what makes you go “nope”.
One of my favorite things to do over the weekend is simply going out to stores to window shop or at the park or take time to dig your closet and segment what dominant parts of you exist (do you collect a certain kind of stuff? Are you an orange jacket girl?)
Segmenting things and physical spaces can be done by categories like:
Activities or hobbies that you do
A specific item or specific color you have a preference in (you collect it)
A specific fandom that physically embeds in your life and space (do you like star wars? A specific anime that you adore and hits your soul a specific way)
Area to do “nothing” or for specifically to process things - my therapist told me to create a physical space for our virtual sessions to make it feel like I’m really entering THERAPY (hopefully, therapy sessions will go back to regular face-to-face sessions)
My take:
My place is segmented in different areas:
plants overflowing: I love plants with cool streaks of colors - specifically pink. I take care of prayer plants and the starburst air plant (that almost died when I left for 3 months and now successfully reviving it).
Weird area of baking supplies: I’m honestly so obnoxious about buying a mixer and baking supplies even though I honestly don’t have space in my New York apartment. But I found a way and I can live with it because I’ve been enjoying it so far!
weird impractical arrangement: I keep making arrangements in my home a thing and since I didn’t have enough space, I put all the things I liked together so they reminded me who I was and what made me happy - a way of survival I guess
My shelf of knickknacks - I’ve collected art books and all kinds of small things that made me happy. I keep them in groups of notebooks I use, type of books, and adorn them with small items. I use them as studies for things I want to create myself.
Pictures of my room (when I was probably 16-17) in Navotas in the Philippines:
When we moved to a new place across…
When I moved to NJ…
When I moved to NYC…
You can say I have struggled keeping some plants alive but hey, the ones I have today are really thriving from all the learning. Its been interesting how my likes have changed.
I also am currently working from home and so my room also doubles as my studio space. Hopefully I find a perfect studio space (for work alone)!
Some people would say it’s impractical or too messy but I’m happy where things exactly are. It’s a little bit messier on busy days and more cleaner on some days, haha.
2.) PLAN:
Create a sketch of your dream room where you want to build upon it.
Lists make happen as well- once you know your sections on what to clean and organize, you’ll have a clearer head.
We don’t do a whole makeover perse (unless you have the budget, go for it!)
The question is - how do we make space we have liveable? - strategize what space you have and spots for your work and hobbies that you do.
( List of places)
I knew I needed a bed, a place to lie on, and a space to work out..
A tv is crucial for my gameplay and also to blow up my Nintendo switch screen.
I work on school and work stuff in the kitchen just because I want to dedicate my room’s energy for my hobbies and sleep.
This is crucial since it’s been challenging to balance working from home and other things especially during the pandemic.
My plan in the future is to turn this closet space into another working/hobby (baking pantry) space :)
And dedicate a portion of my room as my “therapy” area — was thinking of a chair.
NYC apartments are small and pricey so I have to get creative!!
My take:
Here are some cues you can take inspiration from.
Here is what I did with my small room/apartment.
These are ideas to sketches to reality :)
I’m really looking at how I want things to fit - measurement and aesthetic-wise.
It was definitely important to me to create a cozy environment to work with.
My personal space with tons of studio/work stuff (hopeful to relocate them soon).
Final “render”, haha. As I type this right now, it is actually messy since I left for a big chunk of time and studio stuff is all over. :-
3.) EXECUTE:
Once you know what you’re working with, clear the area out first and ready your paper bags or garbage bag for storage or for giving away.
I personally love taking everything out and sorting them that way I see what I am cleaning through and placing things back as grouped looks and feels more refreshing.
I try to maintain a specific look of maximalism and avoid a specific look of unintentional crowded - sometimes too much for others, it makes me happy though.
My take:
Here are my favorite bins I like to set up and places I like to give away my stuff.
Goodwill - they will take bags on specific schedules and you will usually know if they take donations or not at the moment.
A local thrift store - it’s sane with goodwill and the one I go to is currently not accepting donations but either way, the thrift store gets a lot of foot traffic and is perfect for sending your stuff up for adoption.
Facebook Marketplace - you can post items for pick-up or even for sale. This is where I get a lot of interesting vintage items :)
Relatives and neighbors will always be convenient to ask if they like something or not. :)
Note to the giver - please make sure to give away things that you would like to receive or are still in good condition! You don’t want to make others feel bad for accepting garbage quality items. My rule of thumb is to give something to a person only if they like or love it.
4.) MAINTAIN:
(clean my room pics of what I like to use)
Have a plan set to clean your surroundings.
I remember the rule of my Physics teacher in High School that really stuck to me - I think we were talking about displacement and application in life, or whatever - he said if someone was complaining about the mess and why it doesn’t stay clean - its because people use the items and thus displace them, making it an absolute rule to place them back in place for the desired effect.
Floors, stuff, and walls don’t clean themselves thus you have to — when you can!
(Link to room tour ph and quarantine) vloggy
My take:
I usually clean Mondays, Thursdays, and Saturdays.
Nothing more like the usually sweeping (with my walis Tambo - the Filipino equivalent of the regular broom), disinfecting the floors, catching hair with a lint roller.
Buying from my links may result in me getting compensation for your purchase.
Link to amazon for things I love
References:
https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=nesting
https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/who-built-the-first-house-and-what-even-is-a-house/
Hi there. My name is Clarisse.
✨This is my online space all about creative practice ✍️ process 💌 & my life.
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