Building My “Forever” Home

Feb 09, 2026

When I first started renovating this apartment, I called it my “forever home.” I said it so confidently too. Like it was just a fact.

Forever home. Forever plan. Forever life.

And now? I honestly don’t know what forever even looks like.

This place was designed for two people. The multiple bedrooms. The extra closets. The bathroom layout that made sense for “his” and “hers.” The office that would be converted to a future nursery. The grill I definitely don’t know how to use - yet.

There was a version of this home that held a very specific future. But no matter what has shifted, there’s one very important constant - I bought this place on my own.

A piece of Manhattan real estate. Mine. By myself. After years of building my career brick by brick. After trying things, messing up, learning, growing. After just not giving up. No matter what else changes, that part doesn’t.

And that actually feels bigger to me now than the “forever” narrative ever did.

There’s another layer to this apartment that will always be part of its story - I was proposed to on the roof.

At the time it wasn’t even really a roof - it was a full construction site. Exposed concrete, dust everywhere, beams showing. Completely unfinished. It wasn’t polished or aesthetic. It was raw and in-progress. All those aspects made it meaningful and romantic, ‘perfectly imperfect’ is how I described it.

And honestly… that feels kind of fitting now.

Because I’m redesigning that roof entirely. We’re laying pavers, covering the concrete, building it out into something beautiful and intentional. It’s going to look completely different.

The memory will always exist. It mattered. It was real. I’m sure standing up there will feel emotional at first..

But I get to reshape the space. And that feels empowering.

And when I zoom out, what excites me most isn’t what didn’t happen - it’s everything that’s about to. I can already see it..

Long summer nights on the roof with music blasting and friends sprawled everywhere. Girls nights that turn into sleepovers. Team lunches up there in the sun, white wine, laptops open but barely working. Dinner parties that start civilized and end with everyone around the kitchen island laughing at 1am. The extra bedroom becoming a workout studio - somewhere that makes me stronger in every way. Actually learning how to use that grill. Filling every corner of this place with energy and noise and new memories.

Every major apartment in my life has coincidentally marked a new chapter. The SoHo loft. The renovated Tribeca rental. And now this one.

So maybe this isn’t my “forever” home. Maybe it’s the start of my biggest (and best) era yet.

I’m truly just excited for the fun of it all, and I can’t wait to see who I become here.