Since my Hot Daughter moved out, the Smart Man and I have been executing on some long-delayed home improvement projects here at the Big Yellow House, and I'm pleased to report that we've made significant progress.
Here is the new spare bedroom, rescued from the swirling vortex of entropy and hoarding that was my Hot Daughter's bedroom:
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| Now fit for human habitation. |
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| Clearly you want to visit. You know you do. |
The bathroom also needed some work, and if you've stayed at our house in the last two years, you know why:
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| There's even room for your toothbrush! |
So then we decided that it would be nice to have a secondary sleeping option for when we have a houseful of guests. But we didn't want to spend money on additional beds and such - eventually we're going to downsize to a more reasonably sized domicile. So the downstairs futon has been moved to the new library, and can be used as a fairly comfortable bed as needed:
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| Plus there's a place to sit and read. |
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| This is what's left after dozens of boxes of books being donated to our local library, and there's a third shelf out of frame. |
So now we're working the downstairs room that used
to be the library, and that I've now dubbed "The Mystery Room." The reason is because it's a mystery to me what the architect thought it was actually
for. It's a strange room, as the front door leads directly into it, the stairs to the second floor are right there, and the entrance to the kitchen is opposite the front door. It has a two-floor vaulted ceiling,* and most of our neighbors with comparable floor plans have a similar problem determining what to do with it.
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| This bookshelf needs a new home. |
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| Please ignore the lack of vacuuming. Nothing to see here, move along. |
We've considered turning it into a dining room, but the simple fact of the matter is that we don't often entertain. We don't like people very much as a general rule, and the ones we do like tend to be spread out over many states. And the idea of hosting the traditional "family holiday dinner" is enough to make us run screaming into the night and become feral people. Except we'd miss the Internet.
The Smart Man thinks getting a couple of over-sized chairs and ottomans, along with some end tables, is a fine idea. I don't really have an objection to this, except that it wouldn't fill up the room and I doubt it would get used very much. The problem, of course, is that the house is just too big for two people, said the privileged white girl.
The only thing we know for sure is that our new Empty Nest is going to remain tidy, well maintained, and clean, even after we choose to get another dog.
So, give us some advice, Internet. What should we do with the Mystery Room?
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*We're having a painting service come in some time in the next month to paint in there. Because, scaffolding.
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