A Good Ole Before and After

Also whilst perusing my computer photo album the other day, I found all the "before" pictures I took of this house. I did this strategically back then, for I knew that someday I'd like to compare the before and after. Alas, I'd forgotten all about it ... until now. 
Something I really hate in life is when people take "before and after" pictures but the "after" is not from the same angle as the "before." It's not nearly as satisfying, and you lose the ability to truly compare the finesse of someones handiwork against the decrepitude from which it arose. I at least tried to park myself as close as possible to where I stood when I took these pictures the first time. 

I spend lots of free time looking at interior design crap. I love old wooden beams, walls made of glass and steel, big windows in kitchens, and I have a fondness for structural arches that may be unreasonable. We don't have any of those things in this house, so the overpriced someday-house I've drafted in my head contains lots of functionless decorative elements. It's bright and airy, and on the verge of ostentatious but instead it settles nicely into the categories of cozy and "design minded." 

This house however, the one I'm in right now, this cozy bungalow of comfort and color, is my favorite place to be. It has ever-evolving furniture displays, paintings that come and go with the seasons, and an abundance of dog hair and what we've decided is dirt that must come up into the house from below. It has slanted floors and walls that tick, vibrating bookshelves, and a gap in the front door large enough for amphibians to pass through with their carry-on bags. 

I'm real proud of this place. 

Now on to the pictures. Does anyone care about this besides me?

(Click the photos to make them bigger.)

Our "master bath" (below) is a room we created out of thin air. We slapped a wall up on that break in the floor, crammed a toilet in that cubby and a shower in that closet. If you're wondering, yes, we leave the blinds open while we tinkle. It's good sight-seeing while you're working things out. I do make a point of closing them at night when the lights come on. Brett is hardly concerned about these things - he'd be on the offenders list if I didn't intervene.

I want to paint the bathroom ceiling navy, but Brett won't let me. He like... doesn't get my vision.

The people that lived here before us moved out and left all their crap in this back room with no floor. They also left all their attic and garage crap for us to clean out as well. This is how they we found this room. As a fun fact, back in the 1920's and 30's, this room was used as a hair salon. There was a separate entrance for customers, and there are outlets high in the walls for hair dryers.

The sunny room acts as our office, dog room, crap room, and mud room. We pile our recyclables here, our giveaway piles, and anything that needs to be taken out to the garage. This room is never clean. It agitates me often, but it's also the only room that gets good light so in this case, love always wins.