IT'S SO VERY YOU

So what if it's a rental? Swap out the curtains, put up new wallpaper, go crazy. It's your home after all, so own it - even if you really don't.

- Sadie Stein

Jill and Polly in the Bathroom (1987), by Tina Barney.

I'm writing this on the cusp of sweater weather, already wearing one of sky blue that says NOT MY FIRST RODEO in white letters. This morning, I switched from my summer perfume to Ffern's new seasonal scent and have written out a comprehensive list of the changes that will need to be made to my rented apartment in order to get it ready for the colder weather. It's a semiannual ritual.

Of course we'll change the bedding from linen to percale; and of course I'll swap out the floral candles for a hit of ecclesiastical French smoke. I'll switch the soap in the bathroom I like fig for October and the first two weeks of November - and get asters and dahlias and Seckel pears to display on the table and a couple of quinces to put on the mantel, the best home fragrance of all. I like to order fresh walnuts from a farm in California so I can put out a bowl, with a bizarre nutcracker embossed with Shakespeare's head, for my guests.