stripethree

Here, as promised, is the pictorial tour of the house now that I have unpacked, arranged, and decorated so that it looks like, well, a house someone actually lives in instead a field of boxes. Click on any of the pictures to see a larger version.

We start at the most important part, which no doubt has to deal with food.

Perhaps the most missed possession of mine, it has been cleaned, reassembled, and put back into action. The journey was a bit harsh and it’s not as prime a piece as it once was, but it sure as hell still cooks well, and that’s what matters most.

The next photos are of the kitchen, before and after.

No big changes, just made room for the wire shelves on the floor between the stove and the cabinet. This was necessary as the entire kitchen has only one drawer and the pantry (not pictured) is in an odd place and I’m sure how much I’ll use it. I also realized quickly that the shelf above the stove was not secure to the wall brackets, the wood piece was simply sitting on the brackets, so that was fixed also.

On to the master bedroom.

I wanted to keep things simple, and Summer and I found the shelves you see in the second picture and thought they’d be a nice addition. This lead to a few interesting discoveries about the house’s construction. First, the drywall flakes like mad when driving a screw into it, even by hand. Second, on any outside wall, about a half inch under the drywall, there is some material that I couldn’t drive a screw or nail into, or drill into. I have no idea what it is, but I thought better to leave it alone. As a result, the shelves proved to be well, a challenge to hang and it wasn’t helped by the fact that they aren’t that well designed. They look great now that they are up though.

Full bathroom, before and after.

Instead of spending money on more curtains, we came up with the idea of cutting a spare opaque shower curtain to fit the window and hung it with a tension rod in the window. The bottom half of the window glass is opaque, but that wasn’t enough for me. When walking up to the window in the backyard I could almost read large labels of anything on the window ledge through the window. Not that I expect to have people walking up to the window when I’m in the shower, but if they do, no show for them.

Next we have the smallest bedroom, which will be the office.

As you enter you are met with the Maryland wall.

Then there’s the now full bookshelf.

Not pictured is the black table I have in the center of the room directly under the light. I painted the light housing white again, as colorful as it once was, and removed the fan blades. The fan, even at low speeds, seemed ready to pull itself right out of the ceiling when turned on, and my limited investigation of the problem didn’t yield any straightforward solution. So for now, no fan. The blades are also repainted for if and when I want to throw them up there again.

Next we have the second bedroom aka the pink carpet room aka the cat room.

Outside on the hallway wall, there is some lovely automotive decor and a closet across from it which houses some… not quite as lovely automotive decor.

The closet was perfect for all the extra car parts and tools, so why not?

Now on the main room, the living/dining area, as it is called, before and after.

Different views yes, so to orient you I will point out that the TV and stand is on the same wall as the door at the far end of the ‘before’ picture.

Here are some shots looking into the dining room where you can see the curtains and such.

The window is about 14 feet long and it took three pairs of normal size curtains to fit the width.
The vertical blinds that were previously present had been beaten up a bit (the previous tenant had three young children and a dog in the house) and wouldn’t open or close well at all. When closed, they didn’t do well at blocking the incoming light and it got noticeably hot if you stood near the window for a few minutes during midday. The curtains worked out quite well though, as Target had some inexpensive options. I didn’t want to spend a lot because I knew the cats might poke holes in them, and they have. One will be walking on the window sill behind the curtains and the other will feel the need to attack the silhouette. I never said they were the brightest kids, but I think the curtains will hold up well enough and long enough for me to get my money’s worth.

Here’s a closer shot of the dining area slash alcohol corner.

Why ‘alcohol corner’? I don’t have fine china to put in this built in shelf for which I do not know the appropriate name and I’m not in the market for expensive dishware. Thus, it will house my shot glasses, wine glasses, other glassware, and whatever liquor bottles will fit, since the shelves are not adjustable or particularly tall. Then of course, for a touch of class (maybe that’s pushing it), there’s the wine rack, which isn’t quite full. Yet.

Also in the dining room is the arrangement of black and white photos that I used to have in my bedroom at the Columbia apartments and another view of the kitchen.

I like having this back again since, for those that don’t know, I shot (except for my portrait) each of these in black and white and printed them by hand in the darkroom. I’m already planning another, similar wall at the other end of the window, though it is very likely I won’t be printing those prints by hand. The other view of the kitchen completes the tour.

I don’t have any other big plans really. The backyard needs some cleaning up after the previous tenants dog and there’s a couple odds and ends to fix, but I’m really not planning any big furniture additions, any paint, or any other big changes.