Two months ago, Shaan and I bought our first home together – a condo in San Francisco. Throughout the process of looking for and securing a property – like getting pre-approved for a mortgage, going to open houses, making an offer – my mom was on my mind. I missed her guidance and support, knowing that especially with her real estate background she would’ve walked us through every step of the way.

Despite it being hard, it was nice too in some ways to go through this process, as I got to learn exactly what it was that my mom did as a Realtor. I saw the nitty gritty of what goes into an offer, learned about all the paperwork and requirements, and experienced the human element of finding a home, and it felt good to better understand the work that my mom used to do.

Next came moving into our apartment, which felt more bittersweet. Setting up one’s first home is a big milestone, and one I wish I could have shared with my mom. This is a place where Shaan and I will establish many important memories, and naturally I desire for my mom to be a part of that.

While I can’t get what I want there unfortunately, her mark is still all over our apartment in another way. In setting up our apartment, I drew so much inspiration from my mom’s decorative and homey touch. I’ve always admired her eye for interior decoration and knack for turning spaces into beautiful homes.

Accordingly, one thing I knew we needed in our apartment was a lot of plants. Our family home in Pleasanton has several plants, both real and fake, in basically every room in the house – and I’ve always liked this. It brings life and vibrance into the house and the nature nicely complements the furniture and decor.

So with our first furniture order of the basics like a sofa, bed, and dining table, I also made sure we ordered – you guessed it – plants. We’ve now got plants in every room too, even in the bathrooms.

I also took note from my mom’s quirky creativity. She was always coming up with imaginative and scrappy decorative ideas for around the house. Like, how to elevate a piece of pottery made by Nikhil in his high school ceramics class; on its own, it was quite the odd amalgamation of gray spheres (sorry Nik), until my mom stuck some flowers in it and transformed it into this cool and futuristic-looking vase.

With this in mind, I decided to combine pottery with plants à la Anju.

I’d recently bought a small leafy plant, but it sat in a black pot that looked rather drab. I also had an orange ceramic jug that I wanted to display on a shelf, but it looked too empty on its own. So, I took the plant –

stuck it in a paper coffee cup to make it the right height,

and placed it in the jug to put on our shelf:

Okay let’s be real, I know I’m no Picasso – this is a plant in a jug. But the fun of it is that it’s completely inspired by my mom! Sanam, Nikhil, and my dad can surely attest that this is right up her alley.

Finally, our apartment is home to a number of things that we plucked right from our Pleasanton home. For instance, a selection of liquor bottles my parents bought ages ago that are probably as old as I am. They’re now proudly displayed on our shelf (and whoever is bold enough to try them is welcome).

Then there’s these classic books and this elephant clock we took from Pleasanton to add some sophistication to our living room shelves:

And then this house-shaped candle, which if memory serves me correctly my mom gave to me when I was about 12 years old at Christmas (and Sanam got one too):

That’s all I took pictures of, but we also brought a bunch other things from Pleasanton like placemats, serving dishes, and decorative knick knacks. In some way they all tie to my mom.

Despite not having stepped foot in it, my mom defines this apartment. Just as she’s done for every other place I’ve lived in, and in every place I will live. She makes it home.