Tag Archives: new house tour

The Official Virtual House Tour: the downstairs

I present this house tour to all of you, but it is especially for my friend Angela who requested MORE PICTURES and for my aunt Lin who requested MORE PICTURES from my mom.  Since Angela is a close friend who helped us move and my aunt owns the house with my mom and is letting us live here – it is my pleasure to fulfill your requests.

You will notice that the house is in a spectacular state of dishevelment like a mistress of leisure who has just woken up after a bacchanalian night of questionable taste.  Reality, she sets in with the sunrise.  Behold: THE MAD CHAOS.

I was resisting showing any more house pictures because I wanted to wait until I had everything arranged and looking nice.  Since I work 30 hours a week, try to keep food on the stove, and have my kid to take care of, the shopping to do, and all those hideous chores like getting my California license and getting Max registered for school – this is going to take a while.

(I need to mention that this old cabinet, which I love, is disgustingly dirty and peeling and needs to be sanded and repainted but I’m nearly passing out at the thought of all that work.  You can’t see the grime in this picture.  I suppose you should be spared some horrors.)

So here’s what I thought this morning: why not take pictures of the house en déshabillé so that pictures taken later when the house is put together will make for stunning contrast?

This is a wonderful house.  We love it.  Even so, it has many awkward spaces.  So good luck shui-ing its feng.  Let’s just say it’s all going to end up a little quirky, like us.

At some point this space will be filled with quilting projects and copies of all the novels that I’ve published.  Shut up.  I have an invisible friend for an agent so I’m ALL SET FOR SUCCESS.

We don’t actually have a dining room table.  We’re going to have to use our round metal patio table for a while.  My dream is to commission my friend Jim to make us a table and chairs.  Or at least a table.  His work is gorgeous.  That’s my end-game with this room.

We don’t eat meals at the table very often anyway.  We’re unconventional like that.

No more words are necessary here.

If I had money and my mom and aunt’s permission I would redo this kitchen with new cabinets, a much better stove, and new flooring.  But it’s not so bad as it is.  At least I have a gas stove again!  (At least until all the natural gas runs out.)

I got a little sloppy with my captioning.  This bathroom is so much nicer than any bathroom we’ve had for 6 years.

I think a cute shower curtain and maybe a matching cute curtain would be nice.

The colors on the walls and ceiling don’t show up really well in my pics but they’re very soothing and pretty.  The floor is carpeted in a plum-ish color.  Cat vomit shows up spectacularly well on it as do chewed up corn cobs.

Le mess.  Sigh.

If I had been redoing this house I would have chosen reproduction fixtures to go with the vintage of the house but my mom and aunt, in their infinite wisdom, opted for lights with fans in almost every room.  I’ve not been sad about that even once.  I think this is a particularly nice fixture for being modern.

There you have it.  These are all the rooms in the downstairs “unit”.*  Next up I’ll give you an excessively candid tour of the upstairs “unit” and then, if my mom will give me permission, I will give you a tour of the back “unit”.

*The house is divided into three legal rental units but the upstairs and downstairs units are easily convertible by the unlocking of the French doors.  The back unit is a little more separate and that’s the space my mom chose for herself.