In the summer of 2007, Philip and I finally moved out of the apartment we'd rented for the past decade or so... We moved into a house with two of our best friends, Mark & Sara. Phil & I are the 'maintenance crew' so to speak, so we think of the place as much ours as theirs, even though we don't technically own it. As of this writing, the arrangement is going well, and we are all happy to be here!

The house was built in 1909, and has seen many renovations over the years. I'm just starting to try and put up a few photos. When we moved in, the whole place was painted 'realtor beige'. That is in process of changing. As things get finished and the boxes go away, I'll post some pics.

Front Yard/Porch	The front porch at move-in	More photos pending
Hmm. I just noticed I didn't take a shot of the front of the house! I'll get to that eventually. We haven't done anything with the outside yet, anyhow. That'll be a 2008-9 project.

Entry/Foyer	No photos taken at move-in Foyer, December 2007	The Holiday Tree, 2007
2007 The little foyer, where we've put coat-trees and hooks, since the homes of this era are sorely lacking in closet-space. The tree was a mish-mash of ornaments this year. A little of everything. We prominently hung some beaded ornaments made by our recently-deceased friend LouAnn R., in her memory. Yes, the eagle-eyed may note that is a valkyrie tree-topper.

Living Room	The living room/craft room/front room (whatever you want to call it) at move-in Bookshelves & Bay window @ move-in view of Kim's Desk, Dec 2007 view of window, December 2007	Mantle, December 2007 Entry to Foyer, December 2007 The other end of the room, Dec 2007. Lots of folks say it looks like the window shelves were made for this house, but they weren't. I inherited them from my grandparent's home...
2007 Dubbed "craftworld" by the guys, since it is mainly a room for Sara and I to keep books and craft things. The fireplace is purely decorative, a relic from the house's original construction. It isn't even hooked up to a chimney anymore. The bookshelves flanking the big central window used to be bay windows, at some point long ago. The archway decorations this year were all fantasy ornaments; fairies, mermaids, unicorns, etc...

Den/TV Room	The den area at move-in Another view at move-in TV area, December 2007 Another view, December 2007	Mini-tree, December 2007 The entry to the game room, Dec 2007 Entry to "craftworld", December 2007
2007 Our TV room area. The trim is all original oak, and the pocket doors are in good working condition, including original locks! This has become our "Sci-Fi" themed room. The dark blue trim paint has little crystals in it, that reflect like a starry sky when the light is just right. And a very geeky holiday to you! The large door to the game room is all Star Trek ornaments. The door to "craftworld" is all Star Wars. And the little tree has toys and comic-book characters on it.

Dining Room	The dining room at move-in	Gameroom, December 2007 Another view And around...
2007 Mainly refered to as the "Gaming Room". The closet was apparently once part of the chimney, as well as once being a cabinet of some kind. We put shelves back in it to hold games and such, go figure. We're still unpacking in here... The room also serves as our main library.

Kitchen/ Pantry	Kitchen, December 2007	The pantry area, December 2007
2007 The kitchen was partly an add-on, the pantry definitely is. Circa 1950-ish, we think. I neglected to photograph this area when we moved in, don't know why...

Bath/Laundry	Downstair Bathroom, December 2007	Laundry room, December 2007
2007 The downstairs bathroom & laundry area. I neglected to photograph this area when we moved in, don't know why... We're adding insulation around pipes and such, so we haven't gotten the hole we put in the wall patched yet...

Stairwell	The stairwell at move-in
2007 The original wood here is awesome. We haven't done anything here yet. We bought paint, but we decided to wait until all the heavy furniture moving was done through here, and it just got too cold (can't air the house right now). It will wait until spring.

Upstairs Hall	The upstairs hall at move-in	Upstairs Hall, December 2007
2007 The wood upstairs all got painted over, which is sad, and the hardwood floor is in terrible shape up here, hence the carpet. But we've made a start. We painted and hung artwork, at least.

Phil's Office	Phil's office at move-in	Phil's Office, December 2007
2007 The tiniest bedroom, which has become Phil's office/gaming storage area.

Master Bath	The master bathroom at move-in	-
2007 The master bathroom, complete with claw-foot tub. We use the room, and so haven't done much with it in terms of decorating; we can't have all the bathrooms out-of-commission at once! I decorated the downstairs one this year, so this one will have to wait a bit.

Guest Room	The guest bedroom at move-in	Guest bedroom, December 2007
2007 Aside from being the guest room, this is Mark & Sara's computer room. Really it is more a computer room, honestly. The decor was for Mark, and we've since dubbed this the "room of evil"... There are three different graduated shades of purple on the walls. It was a real pain to paint, but I love how it turned out!

Kim & Phil's Bedroom	Phil & Kim's bedroom at move-in	Phil & Kim's Bedroom, December 2007
2007 Our bedroom. Not the largest in the house, but with the benefit of a private half-bath. A good thing, since we kept the cats separated at first, until they got used to each other.

Mark & Sara's Bedroom	The master bedroom at move-in	August 2007, new paint & window treatments. The accent wall (more imbedded sparkles & granite texture) Refinished wood, installed chair rails, & new ceiling fan!
2007 The largest bedroom, I spent a good deal of time decorating for Mark & Sara. We discovered that the original plaster-and-lath ceiling still exists underneath the newer ceiling. There won't be any further photos of this room, as I don't want to disturb their privacy. You can imagine it. Their bedding matches the curtains, and the furniture is mainly oak-colored.