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How well do you remember the places you used to live? It turns out I don’t all that well.
I can remember generally where different rooms were, but it turns out when I tried to draw the house I grew up in, I, for one, did a really bad job with the things I could remember, and two, only have a vague memory of which bedroom was mine. 
I’m pretty sure I have no idea what color my brother’s bedroom was in this house, though I distinctly remember painting my room lavender. Or maybe I remember painting to get rid of the lavender. I don’t know. I think it happened on the Fourth of July, and “Quantum Leap” was on in the living room while I worked.
Isn’t the mind funny?
Map a House
So, first, try to map a house you lived in when you were a kid. This is your memory, so it doesn’t really matter if it’s right. I know there weren’t actually cutouts in the walls like this shows, but to my mind it was sort of right as I was drawing it.
Then maybe try somewhere you lived when you were older. 
This is husband’s apartment, the first place we lived together, before he was husband (it was before blogging, so he didn’t have a nickname back then).
It’s relatively accurate.
I drew in some furniture I remembered, like the couch along the back wall, the tiny table by the counter that divided the living room from the kitchen, the desk and beds, the washer and dryer.
Other Things to Try
- If you don’t want to draw your own childhood home, how about that of a friend’s? Or the current house of a current friend? Or your own house?
- Draw your dream house.
- Draw your dream tiny house or cabin in the woods.
- Draw what your house would look like if you were a colonist on Mars.
- Draw what you think a house in your neighborhood that you haven’t been inside looks like.
- Draw what you think a friend’s house you’ve never been to looks like.
- Map out the house of a favorite character from a book.
This is another one that will show you what was important about a place to you. It might spark some interesting memories, too, as you try to remember where the bathroom was or which wall the fireplace was on.
Or it might just remind you that you have a really rotten memory, like I do.
If you try this I’d love to see your results or hear what the exercise did for you.
