In 1972, as America protested the Vietnam War and Helen Reddy’s 'I Am Woman' played endlessly on the radio, 21 students were embarking on a mission to put together a feminist art project. What they called Womanhouse was an installation piece, set in an actual condemned house in Los Angeles, that explored the ways that women are trapped by the home. There was the 'Nurturant Kitchen,' with egglike nipples applied to the ceiling and walls; the 'Menstruation Bathroom' with bloodied tampons; and the 'Bridal Stair-case,' featuring a new bride in her new home/prison.

This house has haunted me. I was raised on Betty Friedan–style feminism. Growing up, I wanted nothing to do with domesticity, motherhood, marriage, or anything else that reeked of traditional womanhood. My dream was to become a famous bohemian like the writer Anaïs Nin or the feminist artist Miriam Schapiro.

My attitude remained unchallenged throughout my college years. I was a women’s studies major at UCLA in the early ’90s, and my professors, like the artists who created Womanhouse, perceived the home and its accompanying activities as something that women needed to free themselves from. Smart, enlightened women had little time for silly things like cooking, sewing, knitting, or cleaning. And it all made sense to me. After college, bad-ass and ambitious, I hopped from job to job, working as a filmmaker, a video editor, and a Web producer. My focus was becoming successful. As a result, I never learned how to save money or create a nice home.

Then, at age 28, I crashed. Sure, I had built a 'career' for myself, but I also had a huge debt, a crappy apartment with the requisite futon on the floor, bad eating habits, worse boyfriend choices, and no real clue as to how to be a grown-up. I began reevaluating who I was and what I wanted, including many of the things that I had always dismissed because I didn’t want to be one of 'those' women. After all, I reasoned, what did I have to fear from domestic entrapment? I was a single girl with a job and a growing posse of girlfriends. I just wanted someplace nice to come home to.

Before I knew it, I was buying books on macrobiotics and natural healing. I also read about home furnishing and feng shui as I plotted out the new décor for my apartment. I took up knitting, crafts, and sewing. I bought overpriced glossies, 'cool' mags like Wallpaper and Nest. And I got secret subscriptions to Martha Stewart Living and Gourmet magazine.