The House

The following pictures were promised a while ago, and they have finally been scanned. Enjoy.

This picture was taken after a certain wall had been demolished. Note that the fridge is up and running, the book shelf served as a make-shift cupboard and we were living amongst the mess. My mom still curses those days. I'm surprised we all didn't die of lead poisoning.


















This is a picture of the kitchen before it was redone. There is a wall that separates that back door, which lead to a the carriage house. You also can't see that the ONE bathroom door is over to the left right next to the door that leads to the dirt floor basement.










The wall on the right was torn down (see above picture). Our sink is a lot bigger and now stainless steel. There is also a dishwasher and oven and more counter space to the right of the sink.










This was mine and Amy's bedroom for 16 years we shared. I think my parents used it first while we all slept downstairs. No major renovations were done in here, just the normal stripping of the filthy wallpaper, removal of that decaying window treatment, and carpeting. What is not pictured is the closet that housed our clothes and shoes (the closet shown had shelves instead and we used it to store our massive amounts of Barbies and board games) that locked automatically - and yes, we got locked in once with my friend, Jessica. My dad layed on my bed listening to us freaking out and banging on the door thinking we were joking.


This is the front room. I wish we would have left the hardwood, even though it wasn't really the best quality. I also like the dark wood, but it was sanded down (and VERY toxic, mind you) and painted white. New light fixtures... you can't see this, but the light switches were old fashioned turn style ones. They were cool.






This is a picture of the carriage house, the moldy shingles that were falling apart. The bathroom window has been boarded up (had to be, that's where the shower went).

What you can't see, the awesome fling-open windows that sit on the landing of the stairs. They reminded me of Cinderella, and we would often wish the bell tower (Troy's courthouse) goodnight before going to bed.



My AWESOME dad and Uncle Craig, who did most of the work throughout the house. Whether it was demolition, construction, electrical, plumbing, roofing, gardening, painting, mudding, laying carpet or linoleum (and later tile), he's done it all. The amazing thing, my mom has been by his side the whole time. She can probably do more than half of the things my dad can on her own. In fact, while she's been in town she's done a little plumbing for my grandma and a little car maintenance.




This room no longer exists. It used to be the "Grand room." One time Amy and I decided it would be fun to call 911. See that closet? That is where we hid when we realized that the cops come even when you tell them that there is no emergency. I don't remember getting in a lot of trouble - but it was enough that we never did it again.

The stairway is pictured on the right.

Oh, and now, there is a door right across the stairway that leads to the "master" bedroom. My dad built a wall and made a room out of that area.










This entryway is the other side of the front room. My dad shorted it and put in French doors that serves as his office/piano/guitar room. There is also a closet that used to be really scary and full of spiders that they gutted and redid. The front door is pictured on the left. It used skeleton keys! I wish we would have kept it for that very purpose. The only thing was coming down the stairs as a little child at night was rather scary. I was always afraid to look towards the door in case there was a shadow of someone standing there. Kind of spooky. My brother, Mark, broke the window of the door with some sort of ball after a garage sale we had. The door has been replaced by some sort of metal door that we painted red on the outside, but it remains white on the inside. It does not have a spooky window and it has a regular lock.

This is the beautiful bathroom. My mom required that it be finished before she would agree to move in the house. Look at that picture and tell me that it wasn't a brilliant move on her part.

The claw bathtub was removed and replaced with a shower... oh my goodness, the changes that took place in this bathroom were extreme in the first place. It has since been redone AGAIN and looks 300% different than it did from the beginning. There is a privacy wall between the toilet and tub, as the plumbing did not change directions. This wall was a definite benefit, as having only one bathroom required it to be used by several people at a time... some how it worked. Though, I'm sure we scarred poor Brad, as he wasn't allowed to go pee in peace until he was maybe 12. We would just roll our eyes and continue what we were doing saying something like, "Just go. We aren't going to look." The window was boarded up, the door (not pictured) that lead to the original "master bedroom" (which has been turned into an office, a nursery - twice, another office, a toddler's room, my bedroom, now the laundry room AND Brad's bedroom (another reason for him to be scarred) and a bonus room of sorts) was boarded up as well.

This is the front of the house. I still don't have an "after" picture. But it has changed so much! Firstly, the house isn't white, the roof is not green, the porch only has the pillars but nothing in between them, the steps are wood instead of concrete (the concrete crumbled), the windows are different (though, I'm not sure about the upstairs window - which is the one that attacked my hand and resulted in my ONLY trip to the emergency room. Which turned out to be pointless, as nothing was broken.), the little side porch has been boarded up and shingled to be a sort of tool closet. At one point it housed a puppy, but our family is not a pet family. The sidewalk has been redone. The bushes torn out and the front landscaped with rocks and flowers. There are lilies that are planted on the right side of the house, which happened to be the same ones planted at the Columbus temple, among MANY MANY other things. Also, in the background on the left, you see a sign to a Hardee's. It changed from a Hardee's to an empty building, to a Casano's, to an empty building, to a Clark's pharmacy. We liked it best when it was empty, as we liked to ride our bikes through the drive-thru, play in the pine trees planted behind the fence, etc.

I have so many good memories of this house. It is in a PRIME location. Right across the street from the library. A block away from the Hayner Cultural Center. A few more blocks away from the downtown square. Still in walking distance, the city pool (before it was gay), the park, the levy, Heywood Elementary (my school for grades 1-6), Kyle Elementary (not my school), the jr. high and high school, the cemetary, and most of my really good friends. Every first weekend in June friends and family would gather to our front porch to watch the Strawberry Festival parade, because it went right down our street. The ally provided interesting characters and easy access for people who wanted to help themselves to my pink banana seat bike and later, my pink-and-purple-polka-dotted bike (we have lost a lot of bikes!)

I can't imagine growing up in anything different. I love this house.