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When you move 12 times in 12 years, you end up getting rid of a lot of things. In the past decade, I’ve given kilim rugs to friends before moving overseas, sold dining chairs on Craigslist, and upgraded from a queen to a king-size bed to accommodate me and my 6-foot-4 boyfriend. I’ve lost count of how many IKEA pieces I’ve assembled (and disassembled). Most recently, my counter stools had to go—our new kitchen island had room for four and I only owned two in a discontinued style.
But three things have stayed with me from apartment to apartment: a small quatrefoil side table I designed years ago, an oil painting that once hung above my grandmother’s fireplace, and a white Blu Dot console with brass handles. The magic of this storage piece (other than the fact that it miraculously doesn’t have a single scratch after four years) is its versatility.
It’s acted as a dining room credenza, as a multipurpose dresser in two cramped studio apartments, and now, finally, as it was intended: a media unit (the perforated steel panel on the front is remote-friendly). The three drawers have housed everything from table linens and beauty products to socks and board games. Though the price, $1,899, seemed a little steep when I bought it (I was still a grad student), it has definitely paid for itself.
Maybe in the future it will go back to being a wardrobe in a guest room. Perhaps it’ll one day double as a changing table in a nursery. I don’t know where it will end up in our next home, but one thing’s for sure: I’m not getting rid of it anytime soon.
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