valis2 | Pics of my house

I promised these ages ago. And then the Riptidians began doing the bookcase meme, where you post pics of, well, your bookcases, and I decided to be lazy and combine it all into one.

Disclaimer: No cleaning occurred, except for a bit of clutter reduction. I would fail the white glove test spectacularly.

Also, I used to have at least a thousand or two books (I worked at a couple bookstores, remember?), but I have downsized tremendously. I've sold a bunch on eBay and donated boxes of them to the library. And there are still a couple boxes of my mass market paperbacks somewhere in the basement.

Where to start? Let's see. How about the living room? Okay then.

The view of the living room, toward the entryway. I always joke that I am forever trying to recreate the living room of my parents' house. Um. I'm quite succeeding, as these are their chairs, their antique sofa, and their rug. The famous rug which became the basis of many carpet civilizations for me. Anyway, this is also my beloved piano, which I learned to play on, which wasn't in the living room, but was close enough.

The squid, that wonderful, wonderful squid, is courtesy of

cactus_wren, and the cuttle blanket is from

florence_craye.

View of the other side of the living room. New lions for the DVD shelves, courtesy of the wonder that is

blumsmile! Gas fireplace. We've only used it once, just to check if it worked. The pieces hanging on the wall on the right hand side are ceramic, and they're impressions of old architectural details in Detroit. The pictures on the left are all pics I've taken in my travels.

Not shown: the bay window, full of plants from my grandmother and the plants I'm plant-sitting for my mom. The orchid on the table is one of the latter.

squee! My piano. *snuggles* I'm a rubbish player, honestly, but it's still fun. There is a Koran stand on the left hand side. It's hard to see, but it's carved out of a single piece of wood, all slotted together, and it folds up into a single piece when not in use.

And now we come to my first bookcase! The top shelf is devoted to myths and folk tales. The second shelf is devoted to different versions of Robin Hood. And there's a whole set of Time-Life Books about different cultures, which I devoured as a kid. There's a shelf for some fantasy books, like Dragonriders of Pern and Robert Jordan and the Deed of Paksenarrion. The bottom shelf is flotsam and jetsam, books on writing and stuff like that.

There are a couple of stamps from Morocco--large stamps that were used to decorate houses, I believe. And a little painting of Colorado that

blumsmile gave me.

Another bookshelf in the living room. The bear on the right is Baby Bear, my beloved stuffed animal, and he wears a dress and bloomers and is utterly unconcerned about it. The bear on the left is the replacement bear my grandmother made in an attempt to get rid of Baby Bear. Pepper the kitty is a gift from my sister, and she often adds little mementoes to his basket when she stops by. Ticket stubs and stuff like that.

Here you'll find my Weird books, which I adore. They chronicle weird people, places, and events in different states, and they're a lot of fun. Oh, and there are a few more mythology books. The heavy ones. The upper shelf is another flotsam and jetsam shelf. Astronomy, heirloom tomatoes, my cherished How to Hold a Crocodile, Monty Python, Ed Emberly, etc.

And off we go to the dining room/kitchen area.

Here's the kitchen, which overlooks the pond. Our house has a very standard eighties ranch layout; so much so that the appraiser was certain it was built in the eighties, even though it was actually built in 92. heh. Anyway, my dad commented that he thought it was odd that the living room didn't overlook the pond. That instead, the kitchen overlooks it. I kind of agree. But obviously I'm not going to switch it now. lol.

Anyway, the window on the left is where I snap the pictures of the pond. The table and chairs were Husband's grandmother's, and they're quite adequate.

View of the dining room while standing at the window. The hutch came with the house, also, and we took the top portion off and put it in the basement. It really crowded the room and made it a bit oppressive. I'm still trying to decide what to put on the walls here.

The bookcase here is really Husband's, because I don't cook. I mean, I've bought most of the books here, but still. The only thing I can say is that the Barefoot Contessa must know something about me, personally, because even though I'm a bit picky, I would eat 90% of the food in her cookbooks. Compared to 20% for most other cookbooks. No lie.

The kitchen. A little bigger than the apartment kitchen we had. I wish it were a little bigger still, but it's fine.

Another of the plant-sitting plants. And a dish containing herbed salt that's drying. And a bowl with pumpkin seeds. Next to the window is one of those humidity/barometer/temperature gauges. It used to be Husband's grandfather's. We also kept his little framed sign containing a quote from some military laws about not engaging in frivolous conversation in the dining hall. Or something like that.

Fridge! Where the Wild Things Are magnets, troll magnetic poetry, pics, doodles from the nephews, cartoons my dad cut out and gave me. The usual.

Aaaand a bonus little secret for you guys. Hidden behind the utensil vases is a teeny little tile I bought years ago when I first began dating Husband. It's of two people, warmly embracing, and I love it and how it sums up our love for each other. You don't really notice it, because it's small and, well, hidden, so it's our little secret and it always gives me a warm glow.

The entryway, with my Wall o' Friends and Family Pics. No bookcases here, though.

Our very unexciting bedroom. Up on the wardrobe on the right you can see the horses I made out of scrap wood and nails and gave to my grandfathers for Christmas one year. Also the boats that I made out of scrap wood.

Husband's bookshelves, mostly. Except for the D&D stuff and the Mage: the Gathering stuff, though it's pretty much his now, anyway.

Athena used to accompany me to craft shows, but she got a bit disillusioned with that and now graces the bookshelf instead.

Guest bedroom, boring as hell.

Here's another bookcase, though. It's my Lit bookcase, from years of English classes in high school and college. The top shelf is all Shakespeare. My favorites are the clothbound rusty red books on the right; they're a set of Shakespearean works, and they were printed in the thirties. They're wonderful.

The bookcase was made by my grandmother's first husband. There's a matching bookcase next to it which I just got, and which I have not yet filled yet.

This is as close as you get to the office, sorry to say. I took a couple pics, but gave up. It's just too crazy. Anyway, this only barely qualifies as a bookshelf, as it only has a few books in it, but they're the books I'm reading at the moment, or, at the very least, referencing. And note the S&H sets, which I will begin watching as soon as I'm done with Miami Vice. Oh, and look, Riptide. What a surprise.

My beloved volume of HD's poetry is in here, I see. Also, the Things They Carried, and that David Sedaris book which got me into trouble with the Lebanese guy, lol.

Bonus! Deer in the backyard. First deer I've seen since moving here!

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

From:

catyah.livejournal.com

How *lovely* and cool your house is! Someday when I get a chance to come and visit you, I'm going to have great fun just exploring your house (and all your bookshelves, especially) and hearing the stories of all the stuff that you have that obviously mean so much to you!

Thanks for posting these!

:: hugs ::

From:

Bornino

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