Draft #2

Sitting on the gray two-seater couch in my 700 square foot apartment, I looked up at the TV above the fireplace and realized I was only on day 4 of quarantine. The sounds of the highway that echoed in from across the balcony became repetitive. My living room no longer felt like a place to relax but rather a box I was trapped in. Four days ago, my boyfriend that I was living with tested positive for the new illness that ended the world as we know it for the past 11 months - COVID-19. 

The news channel was a constant barrage of information since the disease spread to the United States in January of 2020. It quickly became a pandemic and with little known about the disease, many experts initially supported the idea of closing businesses and schools in hopes of slowing the spread. Lockdowns soon swept the nation. Director of the Harvard Global Health Institute, Ashish Jha, was one such expert supporter who claimed that staying home was necessary. In fact, he went as far as to say that if we didn’t implement restrictions soon, “[we would] have to implement those social distancing policies for much, much longer” (Aizenman). However, as time went on, political leaders and experts alike began to challenge this policy. The lockdowns have “many implications both psychologically and economically,” states presidential advisor and director of the National Institute of Allergies and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), Anthony Fauci (Baker). Both experts agree that sheltering in place protects decreases the case load. Yet, Dr. Fauci addresses the situation as a whole. He has pushed forth policy that discourages lockdowns and only requires staying home, or quarantining, for two weeks if you test positive. These new well-informed policies still remain in effect months later in my home state of Indiana.

I found myself glaring down at my phone and re-reading the texts I had sent to the families I worked for saying I would be out sick for the next two weeks. Being a full time college student and moving out for the first time barely two months ago, I couldn’t afford to lose two weeks of income. I mulled over this setback for days. Being an interior design major, to find peace amidst this chaos I began drawing floor plans and sketches of how I wanted to transform my small apartment. The cheap IKEA shelf currently to the right of the fireplace would go away. A bulky pale wooden entryway table would be placed against the wall alongside the front door. Design choices like these excited me. Ultimately, it was on that random Thursday in November on my fourth day of quarantine when I decided to finally start my own interior design business from home.

I’ve considered this venture before but had yet to take the dive. Last time I thought about starting a business was three months prior in my old bedroom, still lit up by dim christmas lights I had up year-round. It was August and my boyfriend sat by my side late at night on my messy bed helping me come up with a name. While his ADHD kept him busy, he randomly blurted out “Naptown Interiors” and my face slowly lit up as I thought about it. Naptown is the nickname of the city of Indianapolis, the suburbs of which I’ve lived nearly my whole life. Simple and meaningful, the name was perfect. 

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Immediately, I hopped on Google and searched to see if it had already existed. To my surprise, nothing came up. I then added quotation marks and did a Bolean search to limit my results just to make sure there wasn’t a long-forgotten startup with that name. Again, I found nothing. My fingers began flying quickly as I switched between apps on my iPhone. I opened up Etsy and created a store with the username “Naptown Interiors”. I switched to Instagram and Twitter to claim the name once again. Establishing a social media presence was essential. 

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My adrenaline slowed and I realized I was barely able to keep my eyes open. I soon fell asleep and over the next few days my excitement waned. This was until three months later when quarantine not only reignited my passion but also made the feat seem reasonable, even practical. 

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Back in my apartment in mid-November, I walked ten feet from my couch over to my desk in what was technically supposed to be a dining room. I made it my office once I filled it with that white IKEA desk, my old heavy iMac, and a few decorations on wood shelving above my setup. The iMac slowly booted up and the only noise was the fire crackling ten feet away and my fingers clicking on the wireless keyboard in front of me. I set out to make a website for Naptown Interiors and found myself on Wix.com. 

Browsing the templates, I chose one that I saw potential in being able to express my modern midwest sense of style. It was originally made for an urban artist to showcase their portfolio and had a large picture spanning the home page with a simple black-and-white logo at the top. I swapped the cityscape photo for one with a warmer tone. The website now greeted people with a dog lounging on a couch filled with colorful throw pillows. Adding a white overlay and a bulky black title, I managed to create a modern yet warm homepage that speaks to the midwest lifestyle. 

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A sudden ache in my stomach distracted me from my small achievement. I was not hungry but I also hadn’t eaten all morning. It seemed I lost my appetite and felt painfully nauseous. Taking a break from my project was the best option as I tried to lie down in front of the fireplace and take a nap. The best way for me to get over being sick was to sleep through it. The rest of that day was spent bobbing between resting and snacking while my website was put on hold. 

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The next morning arrived and I felt fine. While making my breakfast smoothie, I pondered the various things that still needed to be done on my website: the “about me” section, the services page, the blog page, the contact section, and adding links to my social media accounts. It was overwhelming. In fact, I began to procrastinate in spite of my excitement because I didn’t want to face the amount of work ahead of me. I wasn’t sure how to describe myself or what services I could offer that would stand out from other interior designers. 

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Sitting down at my desk with my chocolate-berry breakfast smoothie, I began researching. My eyes scanned across an article from The Balance that guided me through the process of writing about myself as the face of my new business. The article emphasized staying true to yourself and being as honest as possible (Doyle). With that in mind, I wrote, “Hi there, / So you’re looking for design advice or maybe even a professional to guide you through the process?”(Eikenberry). I followed this by describing my intentions with Naptown Interiors to provide digital design services, called e-Design. 

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This fifth day of quarantine was entirely productive. Writing my bio section allowed me to move forward now that I better understood what services I wanted to provide. My eDesign services would include call time that can be used to either receive advice or my digital design work. These options populated the services page so I clicked my Google Keep tab and checked it off my checklist. I managed to create all the content that would occupy the website in a single day. Feeling good about my progress, I powered down my iMac and asked my boyfriend what we wanted to do for dinner that evening. 

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The following two days were once again spent resting and snacking as a debilitating migraine took hold of my head. Although I personally tested negative for COVID-19, I was sure feeling the effects of it. I would try to squeeze onto the two-seater couch in the living room, leaning on my boyfriend while he was focused on playing NHL 20 on the Xbox. However, there was not enough room for me to comfortably fall asleep. I ended up grabbing my faux fur blanket and dragging it into the bedroom with me as I sprawled across the full size bed and slept for the next few hours. 

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Finally, day eight of quarantine came around and as it happened before, I started the day feeling much healthier. My black desk chair creaked as I leaned back while my iMac booted up. Opening my website allowed me to see how much progress still needed to be done. I needed to create the blog page, the contact section, and add social media links. 

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Thankfully, Wix had a built-in blogging tool. I dragged and dropped this tool onto my blog page and suddenly a feed of my soon-to-be-recent blog posts appeared. Adding a yellow-highlighted black title in a white box that matched the other pages tied the website.

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The same process was done for my contact page. I slid my hand across my desk holding my blue wireless mouse as I dragged and dropped a pre-built contact form onto the page. Going into the customization settings, I set the colors to black and white and matched the font to the rest of the page. Throwing a title on top, I considered the page to be done. 

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The last step was to add my social media links. I created social media accounts as soon as I came up with the name three months prior. Little did I know I would be creating the website in the dining room of my own tiny apartment in November. Wix came in handy once more with a template that showcased business contact information and social media accounts. I dragged this to the bottom of each page for consistency. Lastly, I found a row of black-and-white social media icons that would live in the footer of my website. I linked the template and each icon to my social media accounts and I was finished. My black office chair creaked louder this time as I sat back with pride in my completed website for Naptown Interiors.

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