A Luxurious Desk in Dalkey
Oh, this ol’ thang? I’m sitting at this desk that we bought at the Dublin IKEA after moving from NYC.
We had next to no furniture, which is what happens when you are a family of 4 but live in a small 2-bedroom apartment with no storage. You commodify every free-standing thing, compartmentalize each inch of space, and congregate in the same spots because there really isn’t any place to go. But now we found ourselves in this enormous drafty rental house with a view of the Irish Sea. And…we soon learned why it was in our price range. But depending on where you move from, you will likely have a higher tolerance for (extremely) dated interiors, “damp,” and a once-stately front door that has taken a beating from the elements. We just couldn’t get over the space to stretch + the ability to do laundry in our home — true luxury!
So, as one does, we went to IKEA to fill some furniture-shaped holes in our new abode. Which is how this desk with 4 bright red aluminum legs came to be + how it came to live in what was an odd pass-through room. We truly did not know what this area should have been used for — there was already a living room, a den, a dining room, and a large entryway. So we made it into a random homework space that — sorry, kids — I commandeered. Despite this room being in the way of everything, it became a grounding space as I tried to collect my bearings after finding myself without an Irish work permit. Strangely, the non-luxe desk seemed to usher forth a ton of ideas + inspiration when I was feeling lost.
Matt initially claimed that he didn’t even remember this room. And I had forgotten that this desk faced an opening pointed toward the sea. (You couldn’t really see it from the desk but still…) This home has since been torn down and replaced with 3 luxury homes. How easy to forget something — especially when it no longer even physically exists.
But the desk doesn’t forget because the desk lives on! I never anticipated that this rando piece of furniture would still be with us 15 years on, but maybe the ability to remain open to surprises is the biggest luxury of all.
(Last = 2nd-ever IG post. 10:30 PM from our door! ☀️☀️☀️Thx for the like, Ashley)
originally published on instagram