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From the editor: no place like home (even if it’s too small)

By Trista Thurston 3 min read

My two-bedroom apartment currently looks like an Ikea exploded all over it.

Now, I didn’t anticipate still sharing walls with my neighbors at this stage in my life. Had everything gone to plan, I’d be in a house somewhere with a yard for my medium-sized mutt.

But then that pesky pandemic derailed everything.

With the current housing market in mind, we’ve decided to stay put in our current abode, which is quickly becoming not quite enough space for two adults and our tchotchkes.

So we’re doing what we can with the space to make it as close to home as possible. I’ve had reorganizing, redecorating and rearranging all on the brain lately, and I know I’m not the only one. Spring is commonly the season to start thinking about improvement projects inside and out. Even though I’m not yet a homeowner, I, too, get the itch for something fresh around this time of year. It’s the season that I upend every room, contemplating facing this table that way or flipping this room entirely, putting that bookshelf in place of this one.

That’s why my apartment is currently in project mode. One new piece leads to visions of what might be. But my eye is always bigger than my stomach and my budget.

I’m the dreamer.

My fiancé is the logistical planner that brings me back to reality and reminds me I have to deal with things like getting the giant item home in our passenger sedan or other pesky constraints. But no matter how realistic or unrealistic we are, we’re still in a third-story apartment with only a couple of closets for storage and limited options. For now, I’ll keep longing for attics, basements, stairs, garages and more.

If you’re also in the mindset of wanting more from your space, you’re in luck. The South Hills Home Show is coming soon, and it’ll have plenty of options from hundreds of area vendors. If you’re in the market for someone to work on your house, new windows or really anything related to renovation, it seems like just the place to visit.

Or, maybe you’re looking for a spring reset for yourself personally? Might I recommend floating in a sensory deprivation pod?

True REST Float Spa just opened in Peters Township on Route 19, and the Epsom salt soak has been calling my name since it opened. It seems like the perfect counterbalance to busy lives that pull us constantly in competing directions — to simply buoyantly rest with nothing else to do, no obligations or expectations. Typing that out made me want to book a session yesterday.

We’ve also got a story on a local music act with dad, daughter and son-in-law and a new children’s music lesson studio.

But don’t forget about our cover story. Like so many small local businesses, Steel Lotus had to find a way to stay afloat when people weren’t walking through the door physically. So they turned to social media and interactive, engaging live sales to get their products to their customers from a distance. It’s been working, and it’s also fostering a sense of community that’s lasted far after shutdown orders ceased.

No matter what you’re looking to do in the coming months, I hope that you and those you love are healthy and happy. Stay safe, and see you in the next edition.

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