00:00Me being homeless at 17 years old, that was like the biggest pinnacle of me wanting to make something mine.
00:06But I didn't realize that like the trauma of that, it made it hard when I finally did move somewhere
00:11to actually make it my own.
00:12So I feel like this is the first time I can really feel at home in my space and alive
00:17again.
00:20Hi, I'm Kiana LaRoe and this is House to Home with Ebony.
00:24I was looking in the New Rochelle area. I actually came out here to look at an entirely different space.
00:30By accident, when I was actually driving back home from the apartment tour, I came across this space.
00:36So as soon as I walked in here, I was like, go ahead and send me that application because this
00:40is this is my space.
00:42And now we're here. When I walk in my house, I want the first thing you see in my house
00:46to say me.
00:47So, of course, I feel like a lot of people see my windows first and I feel like I manifested
00:51these windows because when I was in the shelter, the windows were small.
00:54And I was like, the first thing I'm going to do when I get my own place is make sure
00:57it has big windows.
00:58My design philosophy bringing this together was really wanting to have a personality vomit, if that makes sense.
01:05I feel like each space in my space says something about the different parts of me.
01:11At times, I'm very laid back. And so I have laid back parts of my house that are very moody
01:15and just chill.
01:17And then there's times when I'm very vibrant and I love to host. So I like to have color.
01:21I'm not a monotone person. I would say that I'm just a little bit extra.
01:27I feel like anything in my house has to give me a sense of dopamine.
01:30If I see something and it gives me that, I feel like that's something that even when I wake up
01:34in the morning, it's going to give me that pick me up.
01:36So even like the little decor.
01:38One of my favorite spaces in the house is my kitchen.
01:41I wanted my kitchen to feel like something I wanted to be in, not something that felt like it was
01:46just a part of the routine.
01:47My best space is my yellow pots. Everybody comments on that in my videos.
01:51They love just that pop of yellow and the pop of color.
01:54And I feel like having some type of vibrance in my house kind of helps with my whole just, my
01:59nervous system just feels relaxed when I see yellow.
02:02A day in my house is very interesting because it starts out chaotic, of course.
02:06I have a strict routine with my daughters, but having two little girls, there is nothing about routine that stops
02:12them from still making chaos out of it.
02:15So I'm always cleaning. I have my couch area. I love that.
02:19During the day, I like to put the bouncy house up for them, bring their toys in here.
02:22But at night, I like to, you know, remove everything and return it back to me because this is my
02:27little space.
02:28I wanted my room to really feel like that hotel vibe and somewhere where when I go in there, it
02:34feels like a hug.
02:35I lived somewhere that had red walls before.
02:37It helped me kind of fall asleep feeling like that way, that vibe that you would feel from a canopy.
02:41It just felt like I was safe.
02:45From being homeless and now being in this space, and it actually speak, like saying me out loud in a
02:50way, I feel like everything just kind of says Kiana.
02:53Sleeping on people's couches or in a shelter, nothing is yours.
02:56Nothing says you. Nothing feels personal.
02:58And I think that coming in here and finally letting that guard down was a big step in my healing
03:03journey because it allowed me to really say,
03:06okay, you can unpack your things, you can actually make your little spaces look like you and feel like you.
03:11And even if you lose your security deposit, it still says you.
03:16And honestly, when it comes to leases and all of that, it doesn't, I don't mind losing a security deposit
03:22if I enjoy the space that I'm in while I'm here.
03:25We could talk about that when the lease is up.
03:27But for now, I just need it to feel like me.
03:29We could talk about it every day.
03:30Bye.
03:30Bye.
03:31Bye.
03:31Bye.
03:32Bye.
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