Woman Redesigns Apartment to Match Life She Isn’t Living Yet

At first glance, it looks like a catalog. Soft wood tones. Clean lines. Muted sage accents. A mug that cost $38. Her apartment whispers “calm,” “elevated,” and “this person probably hosts dinner parties with people named Sienna.”

But if you look closer, there are no dinner parties. There’s no Sienna. There’s just her — eating rice cakes while standing over the sink and wondering when the rest of her life is going to catch up with her aesthetic.

She designed her space for a version of herself that wakes up early, journals without crying, and folds linen napkins with quiet dignity. That person hasn’t arrived yet, but the apartment is ready.

“It’s aspirational,” she says. “Like… emotionally aspirational.”

Friends say it feels like a space made for stillness and intentionality. What they don’t know is she hasn’t turned on the stove in three months and once cried after breaking a dried eucalyptus stem because she thought it ruined the vibe.

Babs Relata explains: “We no longer decorate for function. We design for the life we’re trying to manifest — even if we’re too anxious to live it.”

There are three unread coffee table books, two unopened candles, and a stack of handmade ceramic bowls she’s afraid to use because they “look like they’d judge microwave mac & cheese.”

Still, she’s hopeful. She lights the incense. She rearranges the throw blanket. She stands barefoot in her living room and tries to believe in the life her apartment keeps whispering about.