#but it would be super useful to have like. a floorplan from above of the rooms.
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this is kind of a weird question, but do you happen to know of anywhere i might find shots of the terror’s sick bay? looking for refs but i don’t follow too many terror blogs
BOY DO I EVER!! not a weird question at all! thank you for asking and for your patience while i wrote all this stuff in response. you probably know some of it already, but i wanted to try to be as thorough as possible.
cinemaqua, the hungarian water park that bought the ship set after filming ended, uploaded a bunch of high quality photos with the sets relatively in tact. there is one very good one of the sickbay:
check out those little shelves with railings so the bottles don't fall off if they're sailing in rough waters (or being crushed and shifted by the pack ice).
i know you asked about terror's sickbay specifically; however, as this behind the scenes video mentions, they just used the one set for both ships, so technically terror and erebus's sickbays are the same place. however, the set designers did change a few details here and there to make them look different--the erebus scenes are a bit fancier than the terror ones, swapping out curtains for real doors, looking a bit less weather beaten, etc. (semi-relatedly, did you know erebus, even though she's the flagship and is larger, is the younger ship? terror was ordered in 1812 completed in 1813, while erebus was ordered in 1823, laid down in '24, and launched in '26. so it does make sense she might look a bit more modern!)
there are 2 good detail shots of sickbay set dressing in that video:
anyway, this is the part that took me so long to get back to you on--making a list of all the scenes that take place in each ship's sickbay (which ended up accidentally turning into a partial rewatch and list of all the scenes with the doctors). we actually see terror's sickbay less frequently than erebus's (since goodsir and stanley, both stationed on erebus, are more major characters than are mcdonald and peddie on terror), at least at first. we don't get our first glimpse into the terror sickbay until episode four! but once we've seen it, we spend a LOT of time there.
the best episodes to rewatch to take your own terror sickbay screencaps would be episodes 4 and 5, then! (the best ep for erebus sickbay screencaps would def be episode 1 since you basically get shots from every angle with the combo of david young's initial exam + the hallucination at the foot of his bed.)
here are some of my own caps from 5 that show off the background details of terror's sickbay really well so you can get a good sense of where things are!
notice how they even moved all the lanterns to one side of the room for blanky's amputation at the end of the episode?
speaking of lanterns, you may find it useful to brighten your screencaps if you can, because this show is SO dark sometimes. a brightened screencap on twitter was what helped me first notice there were anatomical diagrams on terror's sickbay walls! you can see those clearly behind goodsir when he's telling macca abt the lead line on morfin's gums in 4 and behind crozier veeery briefly and blurrily during blanky's amputation in 5.
(stanley has one on the wall of his cabin as well when goodsir's telling him about the lead poisoning in ep 6, i believe. it's not 100% clear where this scene takes place since it's quite focused on their faces and not the backgrounds so much, but i think it's in his room)
finally, when i don't feel like doing an actual rewatch or digging through a mountain of screenshots for references, i'll just go browse the stephen stanley or alexander m(a)cdonald tags, since they tend to have most of their scenes in their respective sickbays and the gifsets made by creators there can be a great help for slowing things down and observing! def follow theterroramc if you want to follow some more terror blogs too, because they curate everything and have a really comprehensive tagging system!
thank you again for your question and i hope this long winded reply was helpful for you! anyone else feel free to chime in with more details in the replies or reblogs as well.
#the terror#personal#anon#ask#long post#sorry this got away from me and got SO long#i hope this helped and if not uhhh just rewatch eps 4 and 5!!#many good scenes in those eps to figure out where things are if you can bring yourself to pull your eyes away from the incredible acting!#but it would be super useful to have like. a floorplan from above of the rooms.#if one does not exist already i wonder if i could draw one up...#my spatial reasoning is poor tho so i may not be the best one for the task#but i could certainly try!#maybe in the morning#it is well past my bedtime now#actually it IS morning now. rip
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into the fold, two: surrender | adam & nell
PREVIOUSLY: into the fold: part one TIMING: the ma’al cult investigation. PARTIES: @walker-journal and @nelllraiser. SUMMARY: nell and adam dive deeper into the cult. CONTENT: sibling death mention, torture (implied), gaslighting (demon telepathy)
The intrusion of the eldritch on Neveah Alcott’s palatial home had initially been a subtle thing. Corruption came in degrees, and just as Neveahs parties were initially just high society networking that occasionally dabbled into idle metaphysical conversation, so too were the tiny within changes Alcott’s manner easy to dismiss as tricks of mood lighting or fanciful imagination until it was far too late.
Those ‘idle conversations’ became more pointed speculation and the reading of certain disturbing texts readings as shadows darkened with the discrete crevices of the Neo-Gregorian architecture. The nooks behind statues, pillars, and within arches grew deeper until those shadows became actual holes into nothingness rather than the mere absence of light. Those avant garde readings proved to be strangely magnetic, even to those with no previous intellectual interest. As dalliance turned to obsession, angles within the Alcott residence started to be ...not quite right...not lining up correctly even when one squinted.
More people were invited to these readings as doors in manor started opening to rooms that weren’t on the building's floorplan, only to lead elsewhere when opened again later. After Helena’s first ‘demonstration’ of bloodshed and symbology could attract the attention of beings beyond the confines of four dimensional space, guests started to report seeing the horrific landscapes of alien worlds beyond the house's windows. As high society parties devolved into debauched experiments to ‘expand consciousness’ through dangerous excesses of sensation, the manors’ light bulbs started to shine with colors that didn’t exist in the electromagnetic spectrum.
It had been around the time Helena performed the first ‘miracle’ by being briefly possessed by her otherworldly patron, that the walls began to bleed.
Now Adam sat in a dark room where the floor breathed, fleshy surface moistly yielding beneath him. The walls and ceiling stretched inward as the faces of hellish things strained against the fabric of reality. Maws, mandibles, and not quite human vissages pressed in a menagerie of faces from every angle as creatures from beyond the veil struggled to rip their way into this world.
“Nell…,” Adam managed to gasp past the broken spasming of his ribs, “you there?”
It hadn’t taken all that long for Nell to begin dreading the trips to the mansion. It wasn’t so much the bleeding of the walls, or even the screams that seemed to shatter silence out of nowhere that turned her stomach. No— she liked to think she was fairly ironclad when it came to things such as those at this point in her life. Instead it was the slow and steady transformation of the people, Neveah Alcott’s loyal followers, that made her insides squirm. Many of them hadn’t the faintest idea of what they were being readied for, harvested for as they pledged undying dedication to the woman whose ‘miracles’ left them wide-eyed and breathless despite the brutality of it all.
It had taken most of what Nell had to make sure she didn’t succumb to the trials and tests of the demon, and the witch had been sparing her magic and strength specifically for nights such as these when she wasn’t sure whether the shifting of the floor beneath her was due to the emerging hellscape or loss of blood. It would have been easier if she could use her usual protections against the less savory side of demons and their effects, but such a thing wasn’t thinkable when she was meant to be embracing the demon that lay in wait, getting closer to phasing through the thinning veil every day. No doubt any resistance would be perceived as opposition, and that wasn’t the behavior of a willing and wanting devotee.
Nell’s eyes were closed when Adam’s voice found her, cutting through the fog of her mind like the beam of a lighthouse on land’s shore. In a moment they were opening to the twisted visages of the creatures waiting to emerge into this world, but she quickly searched for Adam’s face amongst them until she found it next to her, reaching a hand toward him instinctively as he looked for her. “I’m here,” she answered, the tail end of a cough finishing the words for her as she covered her mouth, pulling her sleeve away to find fresh blood amongst the dried bits of it. Her first thought was to check his injuries as she usually did during a quiet spell of their demonic endeavors. “Everything in one piece?” she asked, already trying to scoot closer so she might try and take a look.
Adam stirred again at Nell’s voice. Bloodshot eyes opened. Adam’s gaze was unfocused at first, as if he were looking at some other world entirely. But his broken fingers found Nell’s outstretched hand and that physical presence seemed to anchor him. The red-rimmed brown of his eyes eventually found Nell’s face.
“Uh more or less,” he rasped, a weak attempt at a smile stark against a livid canvas of bruises and lacerations down his face and neck.
Adam had been conditioned to quietly endure suffering and even agony if it was necessary to preserve humanity’s destiny. But spiritual wounds that’d sapped his Hunter powers have become all the more serious in the sadism and darkness of this place. Day after day the cult’s rites wore Adam down physically as the tendrils of their master’s psychic influence drilled down into the bedrock of Adam’s selfhood. Little by little, Adam felt himself giving ground inside.
Adam struggled to sit up, but broken ribs protested so much that he abandoned the attempt. He himself fall back against the fleshy softness of the not-quite-stone floor.
Adam adjusted his head as the now literally blue-veined marble throbbed with cardiac warmth against his temple.
“How’re you holding up?”
Nell cradled Adam’s broken fingers gingerly, thankful for the grounding effect his touch had, but reminding herself not to squeeze his hand in reassurance for fear of making things worse. A pinpoint of frustration surfaced in her stomach, wishing for what wasn’t the first time that she could mend bones as well as she closed up flesh wounds. “I guess I can’t ask for more,” she managed to say while matching his half-hearted attempt at levity. “Actually that’s a lie. I can and will ask for more, but I know it’s not gonna do anything.” As she spoke she reached her free hand towards the gashes she could see making a jagged and broken path across his neck, beginning the work of magically willing them shut, scabs beginning to form where open wounds had been before. It wasn’t anything as useful as healing fingers or ribs, but it at least made her feel like she could provide some relief, no matter how small.
“I’m not super sure if I’m just lucky enough to see two of you- or if there’s actually some doppelganger who’s decided to give up the long con and just lay right next to you.” Who said you couldn’t mix potential impending doom with a bit of flirtation? Despite everything, she was determined to keep things light for a moment longer, hoping it might somehow hide the truth of their shared misery. When she’d finished with the gashes on his neck, Nell tried to lower herself closer to the ground to begin work elsewhere, but it seemed her noodle-like ams had other plans when they gave out halfway through her descent. She landed roughly next to Adam, and a grunt of pain paired with a gasped curse of “Fuck,” worked its way through her lips.
Sometimes Nell thought about what it might be like to give in. To fully immerse herself in the whisperings of the walls inside this mansion, and let herself be truly taken into the fold. It would stop then, wouldn’t it? The pain she watched Adam go through far too often. Her own injuries, and the constant ache in her body she couldn’t seem to shake since joining up. Fighting had always been second nature to her, as if she’d been born with a stubbornness that made it impossible for her to give up no matter how far ahead or behind she might be. There’d never been any exception to that rule, and yet here she was— doing her best to keep herself semi-vertical and thinking about how the easy way out was looking more and more appealing every day. If she were being honest it wasn’t just about making sure she and Adam were safe. There was a space for here whether she wanted to face that truth or not, a place where her talents would be embraced rather than shunned or cast out. This was a coven that wanted her, not one that had turned their backs to the witch. “You know...do you think he’d settle for just...one of us?” she asked quietly as she lay next to Adam, her voice barely above a whisper as if she were worried that Ma’al might be listening at this very moment. “Like if I just hung out here with the cult and really gave it my all- maybe you could go keep working on getting your strength back and stuff. It might not even be so terrible.”
“Shouldn’t use up your power like that Nell…” Adam rasped even as pain became more manageable and the clammy numbness of blood loss stopped crawling up his body. Adam may not understand magic, but he intuited that everything Nell spent on him was strength she didn’t have to save herself later. This forces in this place were looking for any chink in their armor and Adam swallowed down guilt that Nell was leaving herself vulnerable to keep him from sinking.
Adam’s gaze was drawn to the walls and ceiling as alien forms protrude into this reality. Spined proboscises stabbed blindly. Mouths with multiple interior rings of saw-blade teeth punctured outward like bladed xylophones before folding back in on themselves. Tendrils slick with acid fumbled around for organic matter to dissolve and absorb. Flowery blooms opened to lash out with hungry stigma while even stranger orifices extended luminous filaments or branching nerve clusters in search of fresh lifeforce to drink. Some of the faces pressing in through the walls were even vaguely humanoid, just with eye-sockets and too many mouths in all the wrong places. The stone and wood of the mansions structure buckled, like a dam about to give way before the tide. There was a taut tension in the air, as if reality itself was straining under some vast weight.
Adam looked into that wall of horrors for longer than was safe, and found his mind wandering dangerously as something weaved insidious thoughts in Adam’s own inner voice.
Why did Adam fight his true nature? He’d had always been addicted to the wrong things, craved the fucking, fighting, and killing like a drug instead of being pure and purposeful. Sure, he’d shackled himself with a code, hoping pious bullshit some dead martyrs had come up centuries ago could make him something more than just an adrenaline junkie that got his rocks off from killing. Adam had been a good little soldier, dutifully risking his life to save people who never even know he existed.
But look at you now, Adam had told Adam. Broken, repressed, and bleeding out while those normie motherfuckers just keep slaughtering each other in rich mens’ wars. Admit it, your mission is pointless. You were made into a weapon for a cause that is already lost.
Adam looked at the woman who’ve risked everything to follow him in here.
Shouldn’t he just be free? Free to fuck, fight, and kill without guilt. Why not take his strength back, and use it how he liked? It was his life wasn’t it? What claim did others have on it? Why was he afraid of what he wanted?
‘Didn’t Nell deserve to be loved by a real man, not someone’s else’s wind-up soldier?’ asked a quiet voice that knew all Adam’s deepest insecurities.
Adam put a small and feeble pressure on Nell’s hand, bloodshot eyes alive with forbidden thoughts as they looked at her with the wrong kind of hope. “I dunno but…”
“I’m an oathbreaker and you're an exile,” the fallen Hunter pointed out softly. “Maybe like, this place we could just…,” Adam didn’t finish the question, but raised torn eyebrows to Nell as if trusting she understood what he was asking.
“I want to,” Nell insisted stubbornly, not pausing in her work of closing up every wound she managed to find on Adam. By the time she reached the end of her efforts the black spots in her vision had widened, and a part of her was thankful for the way they blocked out the terrors of the surrounding walls. It was easier not to get caught up in the unsettling yet mesmerizing shifts that the twisted images went through when you couldn’t see half of them. She tried to wait until the world had stopped swimming to begin on the cuts decorating her skin that were bleeding a little too much for comfort, not all that keen on passing out here and now. It was taking the majority of her strength to make sure she didn’t slip into something of a forced sleep, her body practically begging for rest and a chance to recuperate the magic she’d spent while she swayed where she sat, forcing herself to sit upright, and hoping that would be enough to ensure she stayed conscious.
Despite Nell’s best efforts, her head swam with the visions on the walls, and for a moment she could have sworn she saw her own face among them. The bones of her cheeks looked sharper, harder than the reflection she saw in the mirror, but there was a confidence that couldn’t help but be alluring, a promise of power and the ability to ensure that no one would ever make a victim of her again. She could make them afraid if she really wanted to. Most normies were already there when it came to witches. Surely it wouldn’t take all that much to rake others into a similar boat? And if they were afraid, there’d be no one to lop off the heads of sisters in clearings in the forest like a knife through butter, or trap Nell beneath a Ring while brain biters stole bits of her she never thought possible to lose. What was stopping her? The judgment of others? The fragile and paper-thin concept of right and wrong? Was it wrong to want to protect herself? Wasn’t releasing the demons within the walls of the mansion the perfect way to achieve such a thing? No doubt a town that was razed would be one that wouldn’t lift a finger against her or the ones she cared about.
It was the press of Adam’s hand in her’s that made her realize she’d lost track of time somewhere in the middle of her wanderings, and her fingers pressed lightly against his own while she blinked herself back to this plane of existence. A mirthless chuckle fell from her, because she knew he was right. An oathbreaker and an exile. The world didn't want them, so why should they want the world in return? But as her vision cleared and her black eyes searched Adam’s, there was the smallest reminder somewhere in the back of her head. They’d come here for a reason, right? She hadn’t wanted Adam to fall. But was it really falling? Focusing on the man in front of her, her brows furrowed, a frown claiming her lips while she spoke. “We...that’s not why we came here...was it?” What if they’d both secretly hoped to be taken into the cult? Perhaps Ma’al had simply awakened a part of them that was already present. No- there was a promise she was meant to be keeping. A promise to the hunter that she wouldn’t let him go under, because that wasn’t something he’d wanted. “That’s not why we came here,” she said with more certainty this time around even as another voice within her tried to poke holes in the words. “You...want that? To stay here?”
Adam knew Nell was right, that wasn’t what they’d come here. Something was leading them astray.
But the walls breathed, bulging and distorting inward as multitudinous alien things strained against the skin of the world. The bleeding painting on the walls asked Adam if that was true.
Hadn’t he already been astray? Was really it so bad to realize you were lost?
“Only if you’ll stay with me,” he murmured.
Let me set you free. It was the slithering voice of Kevin, and the words the dream-being had uttered within the caves of the catacombs that echoed through Nell’s mind as Adam made his admission. Even then Nell had nearly given in to the promise of peace and the sheer relief of simply letting go and giving up. She’d barely managed to shake free of the tempting offer when it was a stranger making it, but now that it was the familiar and comforting features of Adam that was making the proposal she found the words all the more intoxicating— certain that warmth and safety would be found on the other side of them. “I want to stay with you,” she said while reaching out her free hand to place it along the side of Adam’s face, thumb resting upon his cheek as she weighed the gravity of her words. This was one of the only things she was certain of these days- that Adam was one of the more stable pieces of her life, and she was more than willing to follow where he went. So many people had left in the last few months, other magnets that had kept her carefully balanced between one another. Winston, Bea, Blanche, and now Jared. They’d gone the ways they’d needed to one by one, and though Nell didn’t resent them in the least it was undeniable that their departure had left her adrift. So if Adam wanted to find the peace they deserved here amongst the cult, and so did she...what was there to stop them? “I’ll stay with you, and we can just be here together.” Away from the world that was determined to throw whatever pain it could their way.
Hey Ma’al,
It's me, Adam.
Guess it's about that time?
If I do this, let you in...there’s one condition
Soft spring sun refracted through townhouse windows, golden rays playing across the kitchen.
“So anyway,” Adam said, trying not to get dish-soap on his jersey as he put plates in the washer. “Dad said Winn and Mr. Woods might be coming over later to help fix the roof...”
Sunflowers swayed in the warm wind outside the window, the nostalgic golden haze of the afternoon casting golden petals stark against their black centers. Light glinted off the harbor bay and the commercial bustle of the Sink District as tourists poured in from ferries to peruse shops and Spring Festival stalls.
Adam turned to look across the rooms with gentle brown eyes that’d never beheld violence beyond a locker room scuffle. He ran an unscarred hand through his hair and gave Nell a lopsided grin. “Hey...Nell? What’re you thinking about?”
Nell had been watching the gentle arc of the sunflowers as the breeze played with them, more than pleased that they’d grown so beautifully in the past year and already thinking about what she might plant next. “Hmm?” came her questioning hum, head turning towards Adam with a look of chagrin at being caught staring into space. The light of golden hour played over her unmarred skin, the only lasting signs of imperfection being the dirt under her nails from the garden, and the roughness of her finger pads. “Well I was definitely listening religiously,” came her knee-jerk reaction of a tease. But as she took in the perfectness of Adam’s grin and the sun lighting his hair her own smile claimed her lips, softening in the slightest. “Nothing. Nothing, really.” Her mind was at peace, finally serene with a lack of problems to solve and shadows of witch-killers to fear in the night. “Just thinking about how I’m...happy.” She took a few steps towards him, beginning to close the space that had found its way between them. “Happy here with you.”
#// it's casual#soft and fine#sibling death tw#torture tw#wickedswriting#gaslighting tw#ch:Adam#into the fold two: surrender#chatzy
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Places Carrie Mathison Has Lived: Washington DC Edition
i’ve been sitting in my own apartment for almost seven months of quarantine so obviously i decided to catalog the places carrie has lived!
starting with her washington DC apartment/townhouse: the homeland revealed behind-the-scenes book included this very handy floorplan, which blows my mind as a resident of new york city. even with the suspension of disbelief that this is a tv show, so of course her apartment would be nicer than that of a real person of her age/income, this apartment is wild. why does she need a second bedroom? she has an eat-in kitchen AND a living room AND a “work room”? she has a giant patio? how much does she pay in rent? my headcanon is that she was super pissed about being shipped back from baghdad so she decided to treat herself to an apartment she can’t really afford, but come on.
we know from episode 3.04 that carrie lives in adams morgan, which some people on the internet think makes no sense (i guess that neighborhood doesn’t have townhouses?), but without any knowledge of washington DC geography i’m going to roll with it.
now for a closer look! please enjoy as i make random observations about each room without any design knowledge or affinity whatsoever.
i’m going to start with her living room because it’s the room we see the most:
first of all, i love the green brick wall. it’s the first image that comes to mind when i think of carrie’s DC apartment - it’s a great color, adds a little texture, and makes the room look really homey. we also have an ugly striped rug, which was probably on super sale, a less ugly striped throw pillow that almost matches but doesn’t, and a fun paisley throw pillow that could work if there weren’t so many stripes. there is also a comically tiny reading lamp, which is great.
you can also see onto her patio, which has multiple very nice chaises with cushions! there is a 0% chance carrie remembers to bring those cushions inside when it rains, which means they’re probably a little musty. i want that patio.
there are also a bunch of framed photos scattered around the first floor, some of which i’m going to guess were taken while she was in iraq, based on the architecture. i like the idea of carrie taking great care to print and frame these photos while not unpacking any of the boxes we’ll see in her bedroom.
this shot shows a few framed photos on the wall, but it’s hard to tell what they are. the first one looks like a building, and the other two might feature groups of people? i couldn’t be bothered to actually look for a better screenshot, so i guess i’ll never know the truth.
now for her work room/study/location of many a manic spiral:
(i had to include the ~iconic~ timeline shot!) the giant corkboard is both visually striking and hilarious, since i picture carrie having to go to michael’s or whatever to buy enough tiny boards to fill her wall. did the cashier say anything when she bought these ~70 pin boards? amazon obviously existed in 2011 but wasn’t as ubiquitous as it is now, so she probably bought them in person.
i like the top shot because it shows that carrie’s tv is sort of centered along her Conspiracy Wall, so i can see her throughout the years half-watching tv and half-studying the wall to see if she can think of anything new to add.
the kitchen:
carrie’s kitchen is kind of boring, since she never uses it, but it’s really big and… has a fireplace? you can see the mantel behind frank in that second shot. what a weird choice. also, the woven basket on top of her stove in that first shot looks like the kind of basket you get in a chinese restaurant when you order a lot of dumplings. what could carrie possibly have in there?
here’s another angle of her dining area off of the kitchen. she has so many shelves! and random pottery pieces! i like to think those are all pieces she brought home from the middle east.
and now her bedroom:
carrie clearly loves to mix prints. i like that the curtains have almost a tree-branch pattern. i also like the painting above her bed but the colors don’t really fit with all the gray on her bedding. i would move it to the living room, and put the painting that’s above the mantel in her little breakfast nook in here. also, you can’t see it in this screenshot but carrie is listening to music using a silver ipod classic, which is the ipod i used in 2011 and still have in a drawer somewhere. the comically tiny reading lamp also makes an appearance!
this shot is from the pilot and shows that she still hasn’t fully unpacked her boxes, which is a mood. i like that they appear to be unlabeled.
here’s another angle of her bedroom:
this shows us that she designates different sides of the bed for sleeping vs. listening to moody music, as one does.
we can also see that her full bathroom is off the master bedroom, which is weird to me. if she has someone staying in the guest room, does that person have to go into her room in the middle of the night to pee? or go downstairs? is there another bathroom off the hallway? how many bathrooms does this fucking apartment have?
on that note, when virgil finds her meds in the aspirin bottle in the pilot, does that mean he went all the way upstairs and into her personal bathroom? instead of the bathroom that we never see on the ground floor but is in the floorplan? that seems like an invasion of privacy, although it’s not super clear how close they are as friends, so maybe it’s not that weird.
inside the bathroom:
carrie has so many hand towels. no one person needs that many hand towels. she also has… scarves on a hook? is that multi-colored scarf the same one she wears in 1.11? i don’t think it’s exactly the same but it looks very similar.
she also has a walk-in closet, which is so neatly organized (look at how nicely those t-shirts are folded on the shelf by her head!) and features a lot of stripes, even though i can’t think of a single time we’ve seen her wear stripes. she occasionally wears dress shirts with prints, especially early on, but otherwise she’s a solids girl through and through. why is she buying so many stripes that she won’t wear?
here’s one last shot of her bedroom, which i love because of the jacksonville jazz poster and the free weights on the floor of her room. according to google, there’s a jazz festival in jacksonville, florida every year so i guess that’s what this is from. did she actually go to said festival, and did she go with anyone? i would read that fic.
in summary: green brick wall, lots of patterns, lots of photos + art, a confusing fireplace, and many questions about the bathroom situation!
#homeland#homelandedit#carrie mathison#this is inspired by sara's things carrie wore this week#also unhinged quarantine restlessness#i just want to live in this apartment#sorry to anyone on mobile because i guess read mores still don't work in the year 2020!#cma*
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AHWM - What if Yancy had a Past Life?
When creating characters, some character traits are recycled as is necessary. When creating his latest heroic story, Actor had created a character that had some personality traits to a man he used to know a lifetime ago. Unknown to him, the man who would become Yancy grew up with an interesting case of reincarnation memories.
Word Count: 1,085
(This is actually something I had been writing back in November. I personally think Yancy has nothing to do with the events of Who Killed Markiplier, but this is one possible reincarnation story.)
--
It had started when NAME REDACTED Yancy was a child. He was from a family that was trying to do better in life. All his older siblings had been encouraged to pursue further education, yet he constantly struggled. School wasn't interesting to him, it was a constant reminder of what he couldn't do. He was in second grade, struggling to read a book. The teacher asked a question about whether the boy had been practising. Questions were answered wrong, which prompted the teacher to question whether the boy had bothered to do the work in the first place. Eventually, frustration bubbled over and he slammed the book on the table.
"I KNOW this. I used to read much harder books than this. But I can't do this! I should be able to! This used to be so easy for me when I was a grown up!”
What a strange excuse to give. How could a child be sure he could read harder books when he ‘was’ an adult? How could that same child know what a budget was and could explain how it worked, yet also be a pupil who scraped passes in math tests?
Then, what about the drawings of a family that wasn’t his own? One where there should be Yancy, his parents, and several teenagers and adults. However, he would show his parents drawing of himself and a girl who looked to be the same age as him. She had short hair, a black dress, and several band-aids.
"Who is the girl in this picture, son?"
"It's my twin sister. She was brave and super popular, but I think she was a witch." The father would shake his head and leave the boy to his ‘imaginary game’. This was only fuelled by writings in an old copy. It had spelling mistakes, but it talked about other times when he ‘was a grown up’. There was mention of a soldier with a bushy moustache, and an actor that his sister had married. He wasn’t sure if the couple were happy, and he thought they split up ‘toward the end’. As for Yancy himself? He was someone important. As an adult, he always dressed in the nicest clothes, and had many friends. He worked in an office in a big city he had never visited, but Yancy was able to draw a floorplan of his office with surprising detail.
Years later, Yancy was arrested for the first time. One of the police that shoved him into the station had spent the walk in bickering with the greaser and intended to put him into a cell.
"Hey! Ain't youse gonna book me?"
"Don't you backtalk me, punk."
"This is my first time bein' arrested. Youse is s'posed to take a record of my fingerprints an' info so I'm on file."
"You trying to be some sorta lawyer?!"
"Nah. It's common sense."
Truthfully, Yancy didn't know how he knew that. When he turned 21, he wouldn’t know how he would later have a rough idea of the proceedings of a murder trial. He had suggested pleading guilty to skip the trial before his lawyer could. Why delay something he wasn’t feigning innocence for?
But it was in prison that things started clicking into place.
Yancy knew he had random moments throughout his life where he spoke of things he shouldn’t know. When the librarian came to the prison at one point, he spotted a copy of the 'Hamlet' script.
"Huh…" The book was lifted and the back was examined. As he skimmed the blurb, he began to murmur, "This above all: to thine own self be true, and it must follow, as the night the day, thoust canst not then be false to any man."
"A scholar, eh?" The librarian chuckled as they approached.
"What? Er, no… I don't think so? Just somethin' that came to mind, y'know?"
The book was lifted out of his hands as the librarian flipped through it. After a few moments, they pointed to one page. Sure enough, there were the exact words that he had muttered. He had never read the play nor watched a recorded version of it, yet he could recite a piece.
-
One night, he woke up from a deep sleep in a cold sweat. It wasn’t about his dream - he was trying to stack chairs to keep the kitchen staff from throwing pies out? - but it was instead about a thought that had struck him hard:
What am I doing with my life?
He climbed down the ladder, pulled the chair to the wall, and climbed on it so he could peer out the small window set near the ceiling. He rested his arms against the wall to give himself further support as his eyes were set skyward. Some time must have passed before his cellmate stirred and asked what he was doing.
“I don’t know,” he admitted, eyes drifting back to the window. “We can make our own choices in life, yeah? Then why did we choose this? Why did you choose to do your crimes? Why did I choose to do mine? What if we were capable of something… Better?” He hadn’t noticed how he had slipped into his true accent from when he lived in Ohio, but the cellmate did. They said nothing, instead letting Yancy muse. “It’s like we were given a bad hand in a game of poker, isn’t it? If we had better options, could we have been better people? What if I was able to read better? Would I still have ended up here?” So many possibilities, yet in that moment it was like Yancy let himself down.
Were those daydreams more prominent? Were they something more, like memories? If so, what did that man do wrong? From what Yancy knew, this ‘past life’ was a rich man who was very clever and loved by family and friends… but Yancy himself was nothing like that. Why did he have to be such garbage after having such a good life? If that man met Yancy, how disappointed would he be in the prisoner?
The past isn't something to be trifled with, and all he could do was put it aside with a defeated sigh. He would never know the answer to those questions, nor was he ever going to be the perfect man he had been a lifetime ago; so why sulk over it?
Maybe that was why he didn’t like the look of Mark when he landed in jail...
#ahwm#writersofmark#a heist with markiplier#yancy#yancyiplier#who killed markiplier#(at the time of writing this I had noticed some posts saying that Yancy's behaviour reminded some people of Damien#and that's why people babied Yancy#but since then I've also seen ideas of him being linked to the Actor himself which would be interesting#however; just today I was talking to friends about an idea for writing Heist!Mark (who is different from Date!Mark?)#and that would rely on him being the reincarnated Actor to some extent. Maybe one day I'll write that out)#(also surprise! I'm still alive!)#dramatic prisoner (Yancy)#personal fave
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Guess who is back with another build from @gayshitiguess ‘s series “From the Bell Jar”! It’s been a hot minute since I built anything from his work, but I started rereading it the other day and got the idea to build the apartments that Molly, Yasha, Beau, and Jester were in at the beginning of “Beware, Beware”. This time instead of just posting raw screenshots of the build I made graphics of them (really flexin’ them first-year architecture students skills aren’t I). This time I also made sims to go with the build because I wanted to add pictures in the apartments. More details about the build and the sims under the cut!
The Building (overall) : I only furnished the bottom floor because I only needed the bottom floor and it would make my game run smoother if I had less on the lot. The building is just a basic block apartment complex that has balconies on the left side. I put a parking garage on the right side of the bottom floor, which is part-way under the ground level. I got done with the whole thing and realized I had no way for sims to get into the building, so I tried to add a door on the side, but it didn’t work because of the split level so I just teleported the sims into the building.
The Parking Garage : This is a pretty small parking garage, but it doesn't function to start with because the Sims 4 doesn’t have cars or bikes or anything. The cars and the motorbike are CC, but I’ve had them for so long that I’ve lost the links to them and I don’t know how to track them down. If I can find them I will add the links.
Molly and Yasha’s Place : I like to think that Yasha kinda took over decorating the living area of the apartment and made it super nice and calming. I used lots of greens and plants and light tones in the living room and kitchen because too me it really just feels like something Yasha would like.
Yasha’s Room : I kept with the lighter tones in her room with the peach, navy, and yellow color scheme. I placed some pictures of her and Molly and of Beau and Jester on her dresser and a sunflower picture above the dresser that matches with the sunflowers on her desk. I also placed some books on her desk on the side closer to the bed as if it was being used as a nightstand. I’m pretty sure the curtains in her room are the only ones I used besides the one I used in all of the other rooms.
Molly’s Room : Molly’s room is where I used a darker color scheme in this apartment. I wanted to add a lot more color and clutter to his room but the Sims 4 is seriously lacking in Molly-style decor. The hanging decoration above his bed is CC from a big pack I downloaded a while ago and the peacock picture on the wall opposite of his bed is from one of the game packs. I ended up using a lot of red and black in his room with splashes of blue. I placed make-up, nail polish, and a picture of him and Yasha on his dresser and some candles on his nightstand.
Beau and Jester’s Place : I made the kitchen and living area of their apartment very obviously decorated by Jester. I made it all bright and pink and green with fairy lights and a picture wall of her friends. I made their apartment more of an open floorplan but it still the same general shape as Molly and Yasha’s.
Jester’s Room : Jester’s room was super fun for me to build (just like in the last build I did for “From the Bell Jar”... maybe that says something about me). I used a lot of pink and yellow. I made a vanity using counters, a glass desk, large mirrors, and bb.moveobjects. I placed make-up, hair products, and a picture of Molly and Yasha on her vanity. I also placed a teddy bear and a picture of her and Beau on her dresser. There is also a shoe rack next to her door that isn’t in the screenshot.
Beau’s Room : Even though her room is the exact same dimensions as Jester’s it somehow feels much smaller. I think it has to do with how the room is laid out, the dark color, and the one window vs Jester’s three. Beau’s room is dark blue and black with some posters on her wall near her bed that add some color. I placed a clothes rack and a treadmill in her room. I also placed some books and a notebook on her nightstand.
Jester : Jester’s face was SO HARD to figure out and I’m still not 100% happy with it. I have tried to make a Jester sim multiple times in the past (shhhhh, ignore my M9 savefile in my game) and I can never get her face right. Jester is a beauty that can not be captured in a character creation mode. I hadn’t originally planned on using this hair for her, but the color in the ends really sold it for me. Her entire outfit, aside from the necklace, is CC. I didn’t change anything about the body from the random sim I started with besides the skin tone. Her skin tone (and everyone’s) is different than what it looks like in screenshots. Her skin is supposed to be darker but when I looked back at my screenshots it didn’t like it was supposed to and I was very upset. Her outfit is very cutesie and I love it. I was originally just going to do some cute shorts and a tee but I got into CAS and went feral with my new CC. She (and everyone else) has more outfits that I can show later if you wanna see them.
Beau : Beau was the easiest for me to make. If you change her eyes to green than you have 90% of what my other sims look like (I might have a type). I used a CC hair on her that has a lotus shaved into the undercut. I thought it looked more like a Cadeuces hairstyle but it looks so cool that I had to use it. Her outfit is mostly CC besides her boots. The jeans I actually downloaded specifically for Molly (there is a color swatch that is perfect for him) but I ended up using on her. Like I said with Jester her skin is actually darker than what it is in the screenshots and you can’t really see it but she does have freckles across her nose.
Yasha : I hit randomize sim and got pretty much what I imagine Yasha looks like. I had to change a few things like eye color, nose shape, and lips. Her hair is CC that is actually from an Anime pack but I thought it looked very Yasha-esque. Her outfit is all in-game. I tried to use the gender settings in CAS but I couldn’t get them to work with the CC hair so I left them alone and worked with what I had (Yasha is trans in the “From the Bell Jar” AU if I’m not mistaken). The shirts automatically add cleavage even if you have the bust slider all of the way down.
Molly : LEMME TELL YOU HOW HARD IT IS TO CREATE MOLLY IN THE SIMS. Y’all, he took by far the longest. First thing, CC doesn’t work well with the gender settings in CAS. I downloaded so many things to use on him only to get into CAS and find out that it doesn’t matter if you turn off gendered clothing, for most CC if it was designed for female sims it is only going to show up if the sim is female. The jeans I used on Beau were supposed to be for Molly but they wouldn’t show up in CAS when I making him because they are for female sims and the CC ignores when I take off the gender filters. Second thing, most of the eyes for male sims don’t have eyelashes! There are very few that have lashes on them and my CC lashes are broken. Luckily one of the pre-set eyes with lashes I could mess with until I got some eyes that I thought looked like Molly. I am very happy with the sim I ended up with. I wish the purple hair in the sims was darker or that there was a darker purple available, but I still think that he looks very cute. His hair is CC and so is most of his outfit besides the shoes. One of the screenshots of him actually shows him in his party wear (which is one of the outfits you set in the Sims 4 in case anyone was unaware. It can sound kinda odd to anyone who doesn’t know that’s what the category is called). The top of his party wear is CC as well. His skin tone is darker in-game like Beau and Jester’s and he also has freckles on his face and arms but those don’t show up well in the screenshots. (Also those aren’t pecs, both of the shirts you see him in are technically female tops so they add shadow and cleavage and you can’t get rid of it. I started on his body shape and went “okay let's make a twink”)
Bonus Screenshot : Guess who won in a 1v1 video game match
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Vesuvian Palace Notes
I’ve been trying to puzzle out the layout of the Palace cause I’m going to need it for the comic so here’s some notes I have so far. Some of these are headcanons but most are gleaned from studying the game backgrounds.
The dungeons where Julian and Valdemar worked are actually part of a much older cistern running underneath the Palace and parts of the city, discovered and repurposed by Valdemar for their “”research””. It’s located in the south-west part of the palace and water run-off from it still leaches into the city water supply, hence the reason the water’s poisoned in South End’s reservoir
The ballroom is central; two storeys tall with a massive staircase and a large domed ceiling. Perhaps it’s central in the Palace itself, with the other rooms constructed around it?
The library is also two storeys and the big window faces west or slightly northwest, just above the willow tree and fountain
Other ground floor rooms - the main dining room, the kitchen, the servants quarters, the parlour
I headcanon the servants quarters aren’t super large. Most servants probably live in the city if they’re not ‘essential’ servants. The chamberlain, cook, groundskeeper and maybe a few others would live on the grounds, but as Portia’s head servant she lives in her own little place ofc
First floor - Lucio and Nadia’s wings, guest quarters, at least 3 - 4 bathing chambers, at least 2 - 3 balconies probably
Lucio’s wing would comprise of the menagerie hall, the master bedroom and probably a private bathing chamber. His dining room is only accessible through a hidden chamber in his bedroom and storey-wise would be on the ground floor. His wing is accessible by stairs off the main hall. It’s probably southwest, opposite to Nadia’s.
Nadia’s wing comprises of her bedroom, her bathing chamber and a private verandah overlooking the maze. There’s probably a couple other rooms, maybe a sitting room or similar. Her tower is only accessible through her bedroom iirc. Her wing is northwest.
Guest quarters - There’s at minimum about 3 - 5 rooms, but likely around 10 I’d say, most of which are not in use. They’re probably split between the southwest and northwest parts of the palace. They’d probably have at least 2 bathing chambers (perhaps one per ‘side’)?
Grounds - the stables are northwest, near/under Nadia’s wing.
The maze is directly west, and stretches so far you can see large parts of it from both verandahs
Portia’s cottage is in the northwest palace grounds
That’s..all I can think of right now, maybe I can do up a rough floorplan?
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too high (can’t come down) by @danfanciesphil
Suspending himself 7,000 feet above the rest of the world seems likely to be a sure-fire way for Dan to escape normality, and isolate himself for the foreseeable future. The Secret of the Alps, a small hotel tucked into the side of the Swiss mountains is too niche for most avid adventurers to have heard of, making it the perfect place for Dan to work as he sorts through his problems. Unfortunately, privacy is a coveted thing, and as Dan soon finds out, the hotel harbours one guest who values it more than most.
Rating: Explicit Tags: Enemies to lovers, snow, mountains, skiing, hostility, slow burn, secrecy, longing, repression, nobility, classism, cheating, eventual sex
Ao3 Link
Chapter One Chapter Two Chapter Three Chapter Four Chapter Five Chapter Six Chapter Seven Chapter Eight Chapter Nine Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
*Warning: This chapter has a mild reference to an eating disorder. Nothing graphic, and nothing more than a mention of past issues with it. But if you are easily triggered, maybe avoid this chapter.*
Three hours later, Kaspar is departing after a quick check around the hotel to see if anything needs repairing - “Little Dan, your handyman skills are excellent! You wound up Mona’s big ugly clock, and fixed all her trinkets! I am impressed!” - and then loading the cable car with around twenty large bags from the outside bins, which he does once a month.
“I am in for a smelly ride!” he shouts cheerily as he squeezes into the cable car amongst the bags, and waves to Louise and Dan as if he’s a child on a merry-go-round waving to his mum and dad. “See you soon, friends! Please do tell lovely Mona I think of her constantly, and send kisses upon kisses!”
Louise leads Dan back upstairs then, sits him down in a chair in the mezzanine, and brings him a freshly baked cupcake. He blinks down at the treat once it’s placed in front of him, pleased but bewildered.
“What’s this for?” He picks up the cupcake anyway, marvelling at the swirled peak of blue frosting. His mouth waters as he peels off the paper case.
“Well, I was hoping to get a smile out of you,” Louise says, pulling a chair around to sit beside him. She rests her chin in her hand on the table, and looks at him with obvious concern. “But perhaps I’m dreaming too big.”
Dan sinks his teeth into the cupcake. It tastes like sweet relief. “Unfghh,” he says, eyes falling shut. “Sensational.”
When his eyes reopen, it’s to Louise’s pleased smile, but her worry lines peek through, betraying her. “Was it that bad?” she asks.
“Meeting Nikolai?” Dan asks, and wrinkles his nose, contemplating the question. “Meh. I’m used to dealing with snobby wankers at this point. Though he makes Phil seem like a peach.”
“No, not that,” Louise says. “Obviously he’s a Royal pain. Could you tell he doesn’t remember my name? He learns it once and makes a big show out of using it, but after that you’re less than dirt to him, though he tries not to let it show.”
“Dick,” Dan says firmly, then takes another bite of fluffy, crumbly goodness.
“But I meant the weekend, Dan,” Louise says, apparently not willing to let this drop. “I knew you could handle it, but I did worry. What with all the... friction between you and Mr Novokoric.” She pauses, eyebrow arched, perhaps to give Dan a chance to jump in, which he doesn’t, instead opting to finish off the cake. “Did something happen? Another argument?”
At her first question, Dan almost chokes, but is quickly placated by her second. He thinks about pretending that nothing whatsoever occurred, that they barely glanced at each other in three whole days, but decides quickly that it would be far less believable that things went totally smoothly.
He shrugs one shoulder, trying to exude nonchalance, then licks his fingers of crumbs. “Some minor disagreements. He called me bony.”
Best way to disguise a lie is to conceal it in truth. That’s what Dan’s always found, anyway. The admission makes Louise laugh, and mercifully she seems to relax. “Struck a nerve, did he?”
“I have a perfectly normal amount of bones, thanks very much.”
She titters again, then eyes him curiously. “Anything else? You were alone up here for three days together. I half expected to walk in on a crime scene.”
Dan can feel the traitorous blush creeping into his cheeks, and he shrugs again, trying to think of something that will appease her. Perhaps he should give her a small nugget of the real story. The shock of it might be enough all on its own to get her to ease off.
“We, uh, went skiing,” Dan tries. “Briefly.”
She balks at once, lipsticked mouth falling wide. “You what?!”
Okay, perhaps that nugget wasn’t the best one to choose. Dan winces at her obvious flare of anger. “I know it’s against the rules, but Phil’s super experienced. And anyway he practically dragged me out the door!”
“Do you even have skis?”
Dan hesitates, biting his lip. No point trying to backtrack now. “Phil lent me his new ones.”
A weighted blanket falls over the conversation then. It feels like Louise is scrutinising him, for some reason he can’t put his finger on. As if he’s accidentally revealed that he has gills beneath his shirt collar, and she’s spotted them peeking out.
“Did he now,” Louise murmurs. It doesn’t seem to be a question.
In the hopes of lifting the quilt of this weird new atmosphere, Dan decides a change of subject is in order. “Anyway, enough about me and dick-brain. How was it with Pearl?”
Despite her obvious reservations, Louise’s smile breaks through upon hearing her daughter’s name. Relieved to be off the hook for now, Dan listens avidly to Louise as she gushes about her little girl, about how she’s grown, about her predictable but adorable three-year-old interests - Frozen, My Little Pony, Peppa Pig, etc - and sits patiently smiling at photo after photo of the blonde toddler, beaming her gap teeth at the camera, ribbons decorating the wavy locks she inherited from her mother.
It starts getting dark eventually, he and Louise still talking about nothing much at all. It’s so pleasant, just sitting with her and laughing, bantering about life, sipping coffee and eating cupcakes, that Dan doesn’t even realise he’s stalling until Louise points out how long they’ve been doing just that. Reluctantly, Dan starts to extricate himself from the conversation, mind wandering to all the tasks he needs to accomplish. He hasn’t swept the balcony since the storm, and the lobby could do with a mop and tidy after all the hoards of people traipsing through it today.
“Oh, by the way,” Louise says, scooping cake crumbs off the table into her hand. “I don’t know if Mona mentioned, but as we don’t get a lot of opportunities to get into Mr Nov- I mean, Phil’s room, we usually snatch any chance we get as soon as he’s gone for any length of time.”
Dan sends Louise a puzzled look, and she chuckles.
“To change the bed and the bins and everything. He doesn’t let us do it normally. So might be an idea to go and give it a spring clean.”
“Ugh, do I have to?” Dan asks, dreading the idea of re-entering the scene of what feels like his very recent crime.
“You should go in just to have a nose around,” Louise tells him with a reticent grin. “You’ll never believe the size of his suite.”
Dan shrugs, picturing the untidy floorplan of room eight, already moving to the stairs. “The bed takes up most of it.”
He’s already up the second flight of stairs before he realises he’s probably let slip a little too much.
*
After three trips up and down the three flights of stairs, carrying dirty mugs, sheets, towels, and rubbish, Dan finally gets Phil’s room to a point where he can begin rebuilding. Phil Novokoric has the only King-sized bed in the entire hotel, so there are just two sets of bedding big enough to fit. After half an hour of searching, Dan is still unable to locate the second set, so he gives up, resigning himself to waiting until the sheets currently in the wash are clean and dry.
Knelt in Phil’s ensuite bathroom, scrubbing the glass pane of the shower, Dan is not feeling particularly warm towards the man. The bathroom isn’t dirty exactly, but it’s clear that it’s been a while since the sinks and bath have been properly scrubbed and bleached. By the time he’s done, he’s too exhausted to think about re-dressing the bed or lining the wastepaper bins. Instead, he goes down to Louise, wrung out and pissed off, to complain and beg her for snacks.
“I don’t know where you put them all,” Louise says as she hands Dan another cupcake - his third. “Phil’s right, you’re all bones.”
Dan shoots her a glare, but given that he has blue frosting smeared across his mouth, he doubts it’s particularly menacing. “He’s one to talk, he never eats anything. I practically had to force soup and pizza down his throat.”
She’s quiet for a minute, folding tea towels. “He ate soup and pizza?”
“Only after I yelled at him.”
Her mouth quirks. “What did you say?”
“Something like…” Dan tilts his head, trying to remember. The events of last night somewhat obliterated the rest of the day from his memory. “‘Starving yourself isn’t cute or impressive and I won’t be fired for your valiant attempt at martyrdom.’ Roughly.”
Louise stops folding, then leans against the counter. “And that worked?”
There’s something amiss in her tone. “Apparently. Why?”
She catches a strand of blonde curl in her fingers and twirls it. “I don’t know the extent of it, but I understand he has a tricky relationship with food. His brother, who used to be his PA, told me that once.”
Guilt lashes through Dan like he’s been whipped. “Oh. Shit, wow. I didn’t know.”
“I don’t think it’s as bad as it once was, judging from what Martyn told me,” Louise says with a shrug. “He only said something to me so that I wouldn’t push him to eat, or say the wrong thing. If you ask me, it was probably a sort of rebellion on Phil’s part, to do with all that awful Royalty training he had to go through. Can’t imagine the sorts of things they put him through.” She grimaces, and Dan replays some of the conversation he had with Phil last night, about nose jobs and personality bleaching. “You know, he told me once that they made him do something called ‘kidnap situation training’,” Louise says, clearly not noticing the anvil of guilt Dan’s struggling not to be crushed under. “They stage a kidnapping when he least expects it, take him to an unknown location and he has to get out of it using self-defense and mediation. And they use live ammunition to simulate reality. I mean, obviously they’re experts in avoiding actually shooting him, but can you imagine? It must be terrifying. And he has no choice. He’s forced to do undergo these crazy exercises because he married Nikolai so fast. He probably had no idea what he was signing up for, the poor kid.”
The impossible weight of the anvil buckles Dan’s knees. He feels himself crumble under its mass, slowly, and he has to discreetly grip the lip of the worktop to stop himself from slipping to the ground. Twenty-one, Phil had said. That’s how old he was when he was swept off his feet by a charlatan promising a life of love and luxury, and consequently forced through a complete physical and personal re-design, then locked away up a mountain. Is it any wonder he’s so moody, so snippy, so sad? And along comes Dan, griping and pestering him at every turn, telling him off for things he can’t help, for things he’s been traumatised by.
“I should…” Dan mutters, pushing away from the counter, only to wobble on unsteady legs. “I should get on. Lots to do still.”
“Are you alright?” Louise asks, slipping effortlessly into concerned-mother-mode. She lifts a hand to his forehead, and he shrinks away. “You’re all pale suddenly.”
“I’m fine,” Dan tells her, managing a tight smile. He walks briskly to the door. “Just… got a load to do before, um, before Mona gets back.”
“She won’t be back today,” Louise says, frowning.
Dan shrugs, already at the kitchen door. “Still. Best to prepare. See you later.”
“He’s alright, you know Dan.” Her voice is soft, careful. It makes him pause, halfway through the door. “He made a bad choice, I’d say, but he’s not completely without a brain.”
“A dick-brain,” Dan says half-heartedly, though he still feels wretched.
“Better than nothing,” Louise says.
Dan doesn’t know how to reply, so he nods, swallowing something acrid and bitter, then pushes out of the kitchen.
*
An unfamilar noise splits through the silent crackle of the night, burrowing beneath the thin skin of Dan’s light slumber, and waking him. His eyes are crusted and filmy with dried tears as he wrenches them open, and he scrubs a hand over them, sitting up. There is only one thought clear enough to articulate in the gloop of his viscous mind: why am I awake?
Blearily, he turns to the window, or the place he knows the window to be, given that it’s dark and his eyes have yet to adjust. Nothing seems out of place as far as he can tell. No ghostly movements in the shadows, or unusual shapes that might be demons lurking, ready to pounce. Of course, these things are impossible anyway, but Dan’s rational brain doesn’t like to be disturbed during the nighttime hours. He listens for a good minute or two, ears straining against the thick blanketing silence; faintly, he thinks he can make out muffled movement from downstairs.
He sighs, thinking of Louise scuffling about, trying not to make too much noise, and reaches blindly for his phone. It’s two in the morning. Given that Louise often tells Dan she would rather watch her own legs be chewed off by ravenous wolves than disturb her slumber for anything less than an emergency, he thinks he’d better go and see what’s stirred her. As he peels back the duvet and drops his feet to the carpet, trepidation begins settling around him like a cloak. The more he wakes up, the more images his paranoid brain provides of possible situations happening below: Louise, legless and bleeding, at the mercy of an actual wolf. Some sort of mountain-dwelling-specialist burglar, currently hauling the TV down the floating stairs. A poltergeist, smashing coffee cups and tugging Louise’s curls. He’s barefoot, but it’s not cold in the over-heated hotel, so he pads out of the room and begins making his way down the stairs, wishing he’d thought to grab some kind of weapon on his way.
The shadows paint the wooden walls with hunched, crouching ghouls, warping the layout of the familiar building until Dan is disoriented enough that he has to pause on the lower landing and re-evaluate where he’s headed. Eventually he makes it to the mezzanine, and the moonlight streaming through the balcony windows illuminates things a little better. Dan looks around, thinking idly that he’s likely to find Louise in the kitchen, if anywhere. He starts towards the door, and stops suddenly, heart lurching into his throat as he catches sight of a shape curled in one of the beanbag chairs, large and too bulky to be a stray blanket.
As his eyes adjust, he’s sure he can make out the form of an actual body, and has to swallow a scream of terror. Luckily, as he’s spent the past few days staring at or thinking about a certain sweep of jet black hair, the specific hue of pale skin and big, long-fingered hands, he recognises the blob in under a second. He has to blink a few times to be sure he’s not hallucinating.
“Phil?” he asks once he’s relatively certain this is not a mirage.
Eyes flick open, and that brilliant blue shines out, caught in the wash of moonlight. “Dan.” His voice is barely a croak. He moves sluggishly into a more upright position, as if his limbs are weighted, and presses his palms to his eyes. “Ugh. Di’n’t wanna wake you up.”
Ignoring the urge to unpack that statement for now, Dan decides to tackle a more pressing confusion. “What are you doing here? How are you here?”
“Plane,” Phil says vaguely, floating a hand in the air above his head, as if Dan needs a visual aid.
“You’re supposed to be in Milan,” Dan says, utterly bewildered.
As his eyes adjust, he can see Phil is in a suit and tie, somewhat creased now, but still obviously expensive and posh. He doesn’t appear to be wearing a coat, which is concerning. Had he walked from wherever the plane landed to the hotel without one? And even then, how he got inside is a mystery. It occurs to Dan that he’s pretty sure he didn’t remember to bolt the front door, which answers that he supposes, but the rest is still completely up in the air.
“Yeah,” Phil sighs, shoulders slumping, “couldn’t bear to be parted from you, I guess.”
Despite the typical sarcastic response, there’s something off about his words; they’re all bumping together, the consonants jostling for position. It occurs to Dan that Phil’s probably drunk, as he’s been at some fancy event, and he doubts the snobs that put those together skimp on the champagne. Further interrogations can wait until he’s sober enough to speak some sense. It’s obvious that Phil is not capable of looking after himself right now, so Dan needs to get this man into bed. He contemplates how best to do this, chewing his thumbnail.
“I stripped your bed earlier,” Dan tells him in a sigh. “Your room’s not ready for you.”
“S’fine,” Phil says, toeing off his loafers and leaning back into the beanbag. “I’ll sleep here.”
Dan rolls his eyes. “Don’t be a prat. Just wait here a sec while I get the bedding.”
He descends into the dark lobby, shivering from something that doesn’t feel like cold, then ducks into the tiny laundry room to retrieve the sheets he’d washed and dried earlier. He folds it all up diligently - though not very neatly - and puts it all into a basket to bring back upstairs. As he passes through the mezzanine lounge, he inclines his head as a signal for Phil to follow him up to the top floor.
Dan walks slowly on account of his weak ankle and the dark, but he can hear Phil’s plodding, unsure footsteps behind him, careless and clumsy. Dan wonders how fast the other man’s mind is spinning, and wishes he had another set of hands to help keep him steady.
“Not far now,” Dan reminds him in a low voice, because they’re approaching the floor where Louise sleeps. “One more set of stairs.”
“Thank God you’re here, I almost forgot,” Phil mutters, though his words are so slurred that the contemptuous remark loses its potency.
In a way, it’s almost soothing to know that Phil is still lucid enough to deride him. They reach the top floor eventually, Dan’s arms aching and his ankle throbbing. He’d left Phil’s door unlocked earlier, so he pushes it open now and heads straight for the bed. Phil ambles in afterwards, moving to switch on a lamp on the bedside, which offers some yellow light that glosses the moonlight pouring in through the huge windows.
Dan sets to work immediately, pulling off the pillows and duvet in order to cover the mattress with a clean sheet. Given the size of the bed, this is no easy task, and the corners spring off twice in his haste. To his surprise, Phil begins attempting to help, moving sluggishly, but managing to hold the corners in position.
They work together silently, dressing the pillows and even stuffing the duvet into its cover. By the time it’s done, Dan’s about ready to drop, but he can feel the weight of responsibility on him right now, along with that anvil of guilt Louise heaved on his back earlier. It’s not something he can just shrug off, so despite the fact his shift doesn’t technically start for a few hours, and Phil is supposedly not his problem yet, Dan finds himself going to Phil’s small kitchenette area and finding a glass. It looks a bit smeary, but otherwise fine, so he takes it into the bathroom, rinses it out and fills it, then brings it out to Phil, who is now sat on the edge of his bed, shoulders hunched forwards, face in his hands. He still doesn’t look up to giving the full explanation Dan wants to drag out of him, so it will just have to wait until tomorrow. Not that he’ll be any more forthcoming then - he certainly doesn’t owe Dan any explanations if he doesn’t want to share.
Given that there’s no point in attempting to pry answers out of him at the moment, Dan places the glass on Phil’s bedside table and studies the man in front of him, deciding how best to approach the task of getting him into bed. Probably best to start with removing his uncomfortable outer layers, Dan decides, and reaches for Phil’s suit jacket, which he then begins shoving awkwardly down his arms. As he works the material over Phil’s biceps, Dan vaguely notes Phil’s head lifting, blue eyes squinting at him curiously.
After a moment or two, Phil asks, “um, what are you doing?”
“As fun as it would be to watch you attempt to struggle out of your clothes in your inebriated state, it’ll be a lot quicker if I help,” Dan replies, managing to pull the garment off him.
He turns to fold the jacket carefully over a chair, then spins around to find Phil fighting a smile. Dan ignores it, reaching for Phil’s shirt buttons, some of which are already undone. He works efficiently, keeping his mind focused resolutely on the action of slipping the round discs of plastic through their respective holes, and not anything about the soft, pale skin beneath slowly revealing itself.
“Dan?”
Dan tuts, wishing he’d just shut up and be helped without argument. “What?”
“I’m not drunk,” Phil says.
Dan’s fingers still. Phil’s shirt is almost entirely open, revealing the length of Phil’s lean torso in a long, deep ‘V’. “Yes you are,” Dan says stubbornly.
Phil shakes his head. “Not even slightly.”
“But... you were at that event,” Dan tries, though his stomach is squeezing, and he can already feel the blush creeping into his face.
Belatedly, Dan realises then that he’s got one knee on the mattress beside Phil’s left thigh, and the other nestled between Phil’s legs, almost pushing into his crotch. He’s essentially in Phil’s lap, methodically undressing him. For some reason, this incriminating position doesn’t seem to be anything other than mildly amusing to Phil.
“Yeah, well after about a minute of watching Nikolai schmooze a bunch of CEO’s and their wives, I knew I had to make a break for it at the first opportunity.” He shrugs; one of his hands rests absent-mindedly on Dan’s knee, like he’s not even aware of the action. “Can’t fly drunk, so I avoided the free schnapps.”
“Fly drunk...” Dan tries to process this information, and fails. “You don’t mean- you flew the plane up here?”
The corner of Phil’s mouth twitches. “And here I thought I was running out of ways to impress you.”
Dan stares into Phil’s eyes - they’re bloodshot and drooping, but the pupils are small, the irises bright and clear. He’s not lying, Dan realises. He’s stone cold sober. Too caught up in the embarrassment of having tried to undress and basically straddle a man who was totally capable, the information Phil is feeding him - that he apparently can fly planes, that he’s been trying to impress Dan of all things, that he’d escaped from Nikolai’s side to come back here at 2am - is enough to have Dan totally flummoxed. He attempts to leap backwards, to extricate himself from Phil, but Dan being who he is, trips and stumbles.
Though sluggish and inalert, Phil somehow still manages to catch him before he lands on his ass. He tugs Dan sharply forwards, and he ends up falling front-ways instead, pushing Phil until he’s toppling backwards, both hands coming down to bracket Phil on the bed.
“God, you’re insatiable tonight,” Phil jokes as Dan attempts to scramble off him, mortified. “Relax,” Phil laughs, though it sounds numb and hollow. “I’m not under any impression that you’re actually that unable to resist me.”��
“Sorry, fuck,” Dan says, flushing, having rolled off Phil smartish. “I’m barely awake right now, and I thought you were sloshed and-”
Phil throws him a tired laugh. “Not sloshed, no. Just exhausted. Can barely see straight.”
Dan’s heart is jackhammering, but one look at Phil, sprawled out on his fresh bedclothes, eyes half-shut, tells Dan that this is a lot more than exhaustion. He can joke that watching Nikolai hobnobbing with a load of posh gits is enough to send him running for the door, but if Dan had to guess, he’d say something happened at that party. Something bad enough to have Phil finding the nearest plane and pointing its nose straight back up the mountain he loathes being stranded at the top of.
“Well yeah, I’d imagine,” Dan replies carefully. “Round trip to Milan and back in less than twelve hours?”
Phil doesn’t answer; Dan wonders if he’s fallen asleep. He dithers, shifting, and the mattress bounces Phil up and down.
“Don’t,” Phil mutters.
“Don’t what?”
A pause. Dan’s ears strain to hear the response. When it comes, it’s almost a whisper. “Don’t leave.”
To spare Phil the humiliation of explaining himself given his current state, Dan just nods to the otherwise empty room, and shuffles to the edge of the bed. He gets up to plump the pillows, then pulls back the duvet. He turns to prod Phil in the leg.
“Get in, then.”
When Phil immediately begins moving in accordance with Dan’s instruction, Dan tells himself it’s because he’s so tired that he’d do anything he was told. Once he’s beneath the covers, Phil shuffles around a bit until he’s shucked off his trousers, which he then pulls out in a magician-like reveal, and throws to the ground. Dan picks them up, and folds them across the chair with the jacket. They’re still warm.
“Do you want to talk about it?” Dan asks as he slides in to the other side of the bed.
“No,” Phil says half into the pillow. He sounds seconds away from unconsciousness, which is promising. Then, quietly, he says, “if you’re really gagging to know, I suggest you check the news.”
Given that Dan himself is about five years away from getting any sleep, he reaches into his pyjama pocket for his phone and opens his news app. He doesn’t even need to use the search bar. Right there, on the front page, blares the headline:
‘SIR NIKOLAI’S HUBBY THREATENS DIVORCE IN SHOCKING DISRUPTION AT CHARITY EVENT’
Dan scrolls down, already alarmed. Granted, the newspaper this particular headline belongs to could probably be best described as a tabloid, but he hasn’t the patience to look for a more reputable source of information just yet. He reads quickly, eyes darting along each line like he wants to get it over with all at once.
‘...came as a surprise to us all when Swiss bachelor Sir Nikolai Novokoric announced his marriage to Philip Lester, a Manchester-born student he’d known for less than a year. The two lovebirds married in a secret ceremony in early 2016. After a few months of being snapped canoodling at various parties and events, Sir Nikolai pulled his new man out of the spotlight, and he’s barely been seen since.
Last night at the annual European Young Person’s LGBTQ+ charity event was the first public sighting of Sir Nikolai’s husband in some time. Evidently, due to the shockingly dramatic stunt Philip pulled during his husband's speech, this absence might be the sign of trouble in paradise between the young couple.
“It’s bloody hypocritical!” Philip spat into the microphone once he’d pushed Sir Nikolai aside [see video below]. “He’s getting an award for being this charitable gay icon, but he’s exploiting his own sexuality.”
As you can see in the video, there was little chance for him to finish his impromptu rant, as he was quickly escorted off stage by security. He did however shout, as he was being pulled out of the building, that he intends to file for divorce. We’ve yet to pin down Sir Novokoric for a responding comment.’
Beneath the wall of text is a video, taken on someone’s phone by the looks of things. Dan’s thumb hovers over the play button, heart pounding. Does he really want to see this?
“Go ahead,” Phil says from beside him, making Dan jump. He’d assumed the other man was asleep by now. “The rest of the world’ll have seen it in a few hours. Why not join them.”
Dan hesitates for less than two seconds, then locks his phone, placing it on the bedside table. “I don’t go in for that tabloid bollocks.”
There’s a moment where Dan thinks Phil might smile, but he just rolls over again, fringe falling over his face. “I was dumb,” he sighs. “I shouldn’t have done that.”
“Somebody needed to,” Dan replies sniffily, thinking of Sir Nikolai’s irritating winks. “I mean, if you’re right about the exploitation,” Dan clarifies quickly. There’s no use telling Phil that he has a personal dislike for his husband. “That should be brought to people’s attention, if it’s true.”
“Well of course he’s exploiting himself,” Phil says. “And me. And anyone who identifies as gay or bi. He’s pretending he’s the Ellen Degeneres of the Swiss Royal family, happily married to his true love, when he’s actually in the Bahamas, shagging anything that moves - male or female.”
“Well, if it’s male or female-”
“Don’t,” Phil cuts in, tartly. He sits up, pushing a hand into his hair. “Are you really gonna argue, to me, that just because he’s bi, and he’s up front about it in the media, that he still deserves to be heralded as some admirable icon for the LGBT community? Why is it that just because he fancies blokes as well as girls, everyone can look past the fact he’s married? Don’t the public give a shit about what I might feel? It’s all so creepy, the way everyone pretends he’s some Saint, looking the other way when he’s caught snogging models on beaches. He’s a sociopath if you ask me. He doesn’t fuck people based on real attraction like everyone else - for him it’s all about who can get him the most publicity. Who would look best next to him in the paparazzi photos, or in the leaked sex tape.”
Dan is only able to glean bits and pieces from Phil’s rant at a time; the slew of information is startling, as is the sheer loathing coating each sentence. One thing Dan does catch though, are those last two words. “...you and Nikolai have a sex tape?”
Phil throws him a withering look, but there’s a tinge of amusement tucked into its far corner. “Not the point, Dan.”
“Sorry.” Dan sighs, sinking back into the pillows, mind spinning as it attempts to process everything. Dan doesn’t know the other side of it, has never paid attention to the public’s fawning over Nikolai, so perhaps he’s biased, but everything Phil is saying makes a worrying amount of sense. “Seems like he’s an absolute bellend,” Dan says, succinctly summarising his own responding feelings. He can hear Phil snort with laughter, and it’s nice. “Way I see it,” Dan continues, slowly allowing his words to shape around his developing stance on the matter. “He shows up here after months of nearly no communication, expecting you to play along with his plans, go right back to being the perfect little house-husband. If you ask me, it’s his own fault. Anyone in your position would have been fuming, ready to explode at the drop of a hat.”
“Yeah, but other people would probably have exploded in private,” Phil sighs, picking at the duvet cover. “You don’t get it. I’ve been in this world for a while now. I should’ve known better than to blow my lid on a damn stage like that, in front of all the press. Now the world will be on Nik’s side, and I’ll be the trashy scumbag that Kanye’d his acceptance speech and broke up with him in front of a live audience.”
Dan is silent, contemplating this. Instinctively, he reaches out and places a hand over where he thinks Phil’s knee is. Phil stares at the hand, perplexed, then turns to look Dan in the eye.
“Do you think I’m an idiot?” Phil asks, eyes round.
The bits of Dan that still reverberate with hurt from all his mean comments, and a disgust for the bourgeoise in general, tell him to say yes. Dan thinks he could say yes, if he were crueller, if he didn’t think he’d throw up after watching the glacier-blue eyes in front of him fill with tears. It’s perfectly reasonable to argue that Phil’s been an idiot since the day he put on that bloody ring.
But it’s too late. The pieces of Dan that started, days ago, to warm to Phil, to understand him, to sympathise, now form the majority of Dan’s being. He wonders if it was the same way for Phil, back in the first weeks of knowing Nikolai, as that charming grin and laser-focus on just him began chipping away at his resolve. Dan hasn’t much experience in love, but he’s beginning to suspect that even with every scrap of common sense you have at your disposal, pretty much anyone is in danger of being a complete idiot.
“No,” Dan says truthfully. He remembers Louise’s words from earlier. He made a bad choice, I’d say, but he’s not completely without a brain. She’s a lot wiser than she gets credit for. “A dick-brain, sure. But you’re not stupid.”
“I feel stupid right now.”
Dan lifts a shoulder in a half-shrug, searching for a bright side of this gloomy looking cloud above Phil’s head. “At least he can’t pretend that everything’s fine between you now,” Dan tries. “You announced to the whole world that you’re unhappy. Puts him in an awkward position if he tries to just brush it under the rug.”
Phil cocks his head, looking at Dan as if he’s never seen him before. “I didn’t think about that.” He turns away slowly, eyes unfocused as he settles back down into the pillows. “Maybe there’s a way out.”
“Get some sleep,” Dan advises, noting the exhaustion in Phil’s voice. “It’ll all seem better in the morning.”
“Mmm,” Phil says, eyes already closed.
“Can’t believe you Kanye’d him,” Dan marvels, trying to picture it. He notes the twitch of Phil’s mouth, and laughs softly. “And you weren’t even drunk.”
“They should give me a medal for not chugging a bottle of Greygoose, listening to Nik talk about morality and political change like he has any clue,” Phil says, sighing heavily.
“How’d you resist?” Dan asks affably, hoping to send Phil into dream in a lighter mood.
“Just kept thinking...” Phil mutters, trailing off.
“Thinking what?”
“Thinking that if I just didn’t drink... if I could hold on and hold on...” he breathes a long sigh, mouth falling slack, and whispers, “I could fly back to you.”
(Chapter Twelve!)
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Mountain View House, London
Mountain View House, London Building Extension, Residential Architecture Images
Mountain View House in London
5 Mar 2021
Mountain View House
Design: CAN
Location: London, UK
London-based architecture studio CAN has radically transformed an Edwardian semi-detached house into a colourful family home topped with staged mountain scenery.
Taking cues from theatre sets, geography, a fake Disneyland mountain and an Edwardian bread plate, Mountain View was designed by CAN Director Mat Barnes for his young family.
The unusual idea of the mountain roof came to Barnes after coming across images of the Matterhorn Bobsleds ride at Disneyland during its construction; a surreal mountain top aloft a skeletal frame.
“I loved the idea of elevating this heavy mountain on an unfeasibly thin structure”. Mat Barnes, Director, CAN.
From the street, the two-storey building blends neatly amongst the neighbouring red brick houses, with the distinct design details reserved for the interiors and unique rear extension.
The house opens gradually, moving from dark to light like walking from the shadows of the wings onto the theatre stage. Visitors are greeted by a long hallway and monochromatic, striking blue lounge with Soanian-like architectural fragments arranged as sculptures on the walls. The fireplace is the only fixed item left untouched by the deep blue hue, which covers the walls, ceiling, and floors.
A bright hallway progressively widens and steps down into the East-facing, open kitchen and dining area. Two waist-height kitchen benches made of recycled chopping boards and milk bottle tops anchor the room, designed to accentuate the huge 3.4m ceiling height of the open plan space.
“We alternated the colours of the cabinet doors to keep the eye moving up; we didn’t want the kitchen benches to stretch the space horizontally. We kept the bench height uniform because we didn’t want any high level cabinets encroaching on the space. The height of the room brings us such joy. It feels somewhat grand or cavernous, with the variety of materials bringing texture and an unexpected warmth.” – Mat Barnes, Director, CAN.
The space continues to unfold into the rear extension, with a small step leading through the partially demolished brick wall of the old house into a living area of exposed steel, timber and glass. Beside the dining area is a small window seat-cum-hallway that enjoys views to both the side passage courtyard and large rear garden.
The purposely expressed steel beams above the living area nod to high-tech architecture and the lighting rigs of theatres. Mountain View also draws on geographic and topographical themes. Structural columns are painted to mirror red and white ranging poles and a foamed aluminium mountain cut-out sits atop the new extension. The steel beams, ranging poles, and partially ruined brick wall all add to a sense of the surreal, while the floor to ceiling glazing opens the home into the garden.
CAN have cleverly intersected materials, finishes, shapes and colours throughout to create highly textural and tactile spaces.
“We’re surrounded by so many colours and textures in the outside world that to me it feels natural to bring many different patterns and fabrics inside too”. Mat Barnes, Director, CAN.
Upstairs, CAN added an extra bedroom and bathroom to the floorplan, cleverly remodelling the home to be comfortable for a growing family. In contrast to the vibrant ground floor, the clean white walls lining the pastel staircase begin to relax the occupants as they climb up to bathe or sleep. The bedrooms and hall are intentionally neutral to provide a sense of calm and quiet. The ceiling of the hallway has been left open with structural timber beams painted in pastel blue and pink, allowing plenty of light to filter in.
The bathroom is the only upstairs space where pattern reigns. When demolishing the existing house, the owners found a blue checkerboard tiled hearth at one of the old fireplaces. Not wanting to erase the history of the Edwardian semi entirely, CAN used similar tiles in the bathroom, broken only by a large window, black and white fixtures, and a tangerine ceiling.
“Our back garden faces east, and this lovely dappled light comes all the way up the hall in the mornings. It’s a lovely house to live in, for the kids to play in, and for us to enjoy. It is also great to hear our daughter tell everyone she has a mountain on top of her house!” Mat Barnes, Director, CAN.
What was the project’s biggest challenge? Because we were expecting our second child in June 2020 (10 months after purchasing the house) I had to compress the design process and overlap stages (i.e construction detailing before receiving planning permission) where normally the design and ideas would have time to develop. This meant making a lot of design decisions on site without leaving time to mull them over. I think this resulted in more daring decisions (material and colour wise) because there wasn’t the opportunity to talk ourselves out of it. All of this compression turned out to be futile as the pandemic put pay to us moving in before the baby arrived. It delayed the installation of the glass doors by 4 months.
What was your original brief? Were you already living in the house and just decided to expand? We were offered the chance to buy the house through a private sale. A very lucky occurrence where the house had been inherited by a distant relative of the elderly couple that had owned it, who lived abroad and wanted to offload it as quickly as possible. This meant we got the house at a knockdown price, affording us the opportunity to renovate so we moved in after purchasing it in August 2019 and started pre-construction work immediately. It was in an almost derelict state. All of the walls had rising damp, the windows leaked and there was no heating. The ceiling of the hallway actually collapsed whilst we were living there. Although pretty horrendous to live there with a young child, moving in for a time helped us to see what we wanted from the renovation.
The practical brief: – Create an extra bedroom – Bring light into the upstairs landing – Replace the windows – Insulate – New services throughout – Rationalise the myriad of small rooms downstairs – Create an open plan kitchen and dining space – Create a connection to the garden
The emotional brief: – Making the most of the view of the garden and trees – Visually connecting the front and back of the house (GF) – Bringing light into the heart of the house – Creating spaces with different feelings for different uses (dark/historic living room vs light maximalist kitchen/extension) – Use the project to test out materials and ideas – Instead of a ‘stage set for living’ more ‘living under the stage set’
What are the main materials used? Worktop and kitchen fronts: Recycled chopping boards and milk bottle tops – supplier: Smile Plastics – Made by Harry Lawson and I Survey Point Encaustic Tiles: CDJackfield Terrazzo Floor: Inopera Floor tiles in hallway: Grestec Wall tiles to extension: Grestec Bathroom Tiles: Grestec Dining Table top: Vlaze Dining Table legs : custom rubber rock by CAN Mountain Parapet foamed aluminium: Alusion by Cymat Glass sliding doors: Fineline Aluminium Casement windows: Velfac Paint: Dulux Dining Room wall : Roughcast render
Where did the ‘mountain’ idea come from? The Mountain. Whilst researching another project we came across images of the Matterhorn Bobsleds ride at Disneyland during its construction; a surreal mountain top aloft a skeletal frame. This idea fitted perfectly with what we were trying to achieve at Mountain View; a ‘heavy’ roof to emphasise the fragility/slenderness of the exposed structure below. Unlike Disneyland’s Matterhorn, it felt more fitting to emphasise the fakeness of it all and distort the scale resulting in a flat billboard mountain range. The mountain is made from a super lightweight foamed aluminium which was waterjet cut before being mounted on a steel subframe. Once we had the mountain form, themes of landscape (dining table as lake, dining area/concrete wall as cave) and surveying the landscape (ranging pole columns, survey marker tiles) developed from there.
Is it difficult being your own client, as opposed to designing for an external client? Designing for yourself has the benefit of endless possibility and fewer constraints (except budget), and I had lots of big ideas. In a way my wife served the client role, tempering ideas that were too impractical or downright absurd but we still had to make the final decisions together and that was the hardest part. I find it much harder designing for yourself because you have to live in your decisions (and/or mistakes) and be reminded of them everyday! When designing for a client the final decision of whatever it might be (finish/concept/material/cost) lies with them.
What other Design References? The crumbling walls leading to the extension reference the dealers flat in Trainspotting. There is a central wall in the flat; crumbling and held up by steel props to emphasise the dereliction and decay of the flat and the characters addictions. I thought it was a perfect way to retain a bit of the feeling or memory of the state we found the house in and also retain a memory of its construction. The crumbling walls and steel props give the impression that it may not be finished/is falling apart. The steel columns next to the crumbling walls are actually fake and purely used as a compositional device to better frame the view of the garden and give the impression of weight above.
The Waste Not Want Not inscription on the stairs to the kitchen reference a Breadplate designed by A.W Pugin, the gothic architect who designed the Houses of Parliament. It also happened to be my grandma’s favourite phrase and an obvious reminder of the way we should live today.
The name of the project ‘Mountain View’ somewhat obviously references the Mountain but I liked the idea that usually when a house is called ‘Mountain View’ the house has a view onto some mountains whereas in this case the house is in the Mountain.
What role do colour and pattern play in your architecture? My early education and career was centred around the idea that white walls and almost invisible textures were “good taste” and that’s what architects did. Somehow the white walls and concrete floors of the art gallery had leached into people’s ideas of what a ‘good taste’ home should be. Architecture living in the background etc. But by choosing texture, colour or pattern, architectural elements can possess their own character and bring up feelings and memories in just the same way as art and food can. Why choose a white plastered wall when there are endless more interesting material options that can bring feeling and emotional responses/memories, textures and changes to a space.
Mountain View House Extension in London
Design: London
Project size: 150 sqm Site size: 375 sqm Project Budget: $220000 Completion date: 2020 Building levels: 2
Structural Engineer: Hardman Structural Engineers Main Contractor: Catalin London Ltd.
Photography: Jim Stephenson
Mountain View House, London images / information received 050321
Location: London, England, UK
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i really should not have listened to the adventure zone for six hours straight before going to bed at 4 in the morning.
literally the entire f uckening time i was asleep at least one of the mcelroys was talking in my head. mostly it was griffin for some reason????????? every thing i did he was there. trying to watch the late show???? he was there. going to a con????? he was there. trying to watch patrick stump perform???????? he was there. i was so fucking tired of him by the end. where was justin. where was clint. where was travis. why was it just him.
this went on for six hours.
i finally woke up around ten and decided to go back to sleep and hopefully have more griffin-less dreams. which was successful at least.
it started off pretty normal. i was on vacation with my family and we stopped at an animal adoption place. except it was super tiny and they basically just had a front waiting area and the office/check-in-desk/place where they kept the animals was all the same? and they had these ENORMOUS dogs who were RIDICULOUSLY fluffy that kept jumping on to the desk where they had all of their records and everything and it was such a mess.
we decided to leave because it was so crowded and out back they had a pond where they were keeping a like...coral reef??? except it was also freshwater some how? and we were talking to the maintenance person and they were like “oh yeah we used to have hal the frog but we were doing some maintenance and then he messed up his job in the eco system so we dumped him” (what is this eco-captalism???).
and then my family were talking about going snorkeling in the pond while they were swimming in it???? idk where they changed or had those swim suits. and my mom was against it even though she was literally swimming in the pond??? i think my sister wanted to entire my dad in a drawing for the snorkeling
and i thought i saw dolphins but it was actually a group of tourists doing the snorkeling but they were doing it all in sync somehow??????
then we were in our living room and my mom was trying to convince my sister via a very plain (white background, black arial text) powerpoint to not enter my dad into the drawing, because in order to do so he had to enlist.
apparently my sister had a habit of entering my father into drawings that required that you join the military for such amazing prizes as a free sandwich from quiznos.
naturally my mother did not like this.
he hadn’t hadn’t been called to duty yet, but she was afraid.
then all of the sudden i turned into one of my ocs and i was eating dinner at a college dining hall. i was annoyed though because my mom (my real mom, mind you, not my ocs mom) had packed me cucumber salad to eat, which i absolutely hate. nevermind why my mom was packing me dinners, or how, but i didnt question it.
and then guess who sits next to me.
its morrissey.
and get this: he has his own cucumber salad, which he just happened to make. it was even the same recipe as mine.
we had grown up together in north carolina, apparently (even though he was well into his thirties at this point and we were in college). we went to the same schools. and he had been known for making “morrissey meals”. they were alternatives to the menus that the school cafeterias that you could eat if you didn’t like what they were serving. it was even on the official cafeteria calendars and everything!
he still annoyed me though.
after that i got up to leave and i ran into one of my other ocs, mei, and she was telling me to get ready for a halloween party. i didnt want to go because one of my friends was supposed to be there who id had a fight with recently but i went anyways because she told me too.
it was storming really hard outside too. there wasnt any thunder or lightning but it was raining heavily and the wind was so strong that you could see the rain was slanted.
i went inside to my “dorm” which was really nicely decorated. it looked like the interior of like...hogwarts or cambridge or university of chicago or something like that.
anyways i went in they were holding some sort of ritual initiation for a fraternity or something in the common area (it looked like a dining room??? idk it definitely wasnt a traditional dorm) and they had hoods and dramatic candlelight and everything.
anyways we ignored them and i went into my room to get changed.
and my room was really weird too. it was an l-shaped corner room, and it had three people in it including me. there were two “levels” with the second level just being one step above the other. the divide between the levels was diagonal across from the door, but it was only on the side that had my bed.
here’s the floorplan:
the room was a mess and one of my roommates was there and he was being super annoying. he was trying to convince me to go to the party even though i was alread going.
the whole time the dream kept switching to another scene like a movie. but that scene was just gabe saporta playing d&d with his friends.
and then i woke up. the plot was never resolved. what was gonna happen at the party. how would gabe’s campaign turn out. would my father be drafted. would my mother ever stop giving me that cucumber salad which i hated so much. would morrissey be caught by the health department. would the other mcelroys ever return. ill never know.
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3 Ways to Create a Laundry Room in Your Home
With extra square footage and smart space planning, you can check the washing machine and dryer off on your wish list
Editor’s Note: This post, originally published March 2015, is one of our favorites, demonstrating different ways to incorporate the coveted washing machine into a floorpan—even a small one. City living means prioritizing your square footage similar to Maslow’s hierarchy of needs; wish lists often include a dishwasher, a patch of landscape, and of course, the washer/dryer unit. If you do have space to spare, consider options from scaled-down stackable units, full-size side-by-sides, or a single machine. Before you make your product choice, read on for a few approvals and permits you’ll need to secure first, as well as insight from Sweeten homeowners who went through the process.
Felix created a laundry nook in her foyer
Building management approvals and permits
Space aside, the biggest roadblocks to in-unit laundry are typically the co-op and condo board regulations that ban washers and dryers in many apartment buildings. In some, the electrical grid is not up to meeting the demand that dryers (specifically) place on the system, and in other cases, the existing pipe stacks are not large enough to handle the increase in water and suds flow. Still in many other cases, fears that a washing machine will overflow and dryers will lead to flames have traditionally been enough to block tenant plans for laundry upgrades.
If your building’s management is onboard with your request to install laundry appliances, you may still need to meet certain safety requirements. Many buildings will require that you install a fixture that monitors water flow and shuts off water if any overflow is detected, and some buildings have electrical grid limitations that only allow low-voltage dryers. So, if you’re considering adding laundry appliances to your home, start first with your building’s management and confirm that your planned purchase is allowed.
In addition, NYC requires permits for work that involves “alteration, re-arrangement, relocation, or permanent removal” of any piping, so if your laundry plan requires anything other than a direct swap of an appliance, you need to work with your contractor to arrange for the right plumbing expertise and paperwork. Check your local Department of Buildings for specific local requirements.
Here are three roads to clean-clothes heaven, plus some budget notes.
(Top) Davison and Bernice, (middle) Janna and Jeremy, and (bottom) Lindsay and Tim opted to install a washing machine only or a two-in-one unit
1. Create a laundry cabinet in your kitchen
Ubiquitous in Europe, a combo washer-dryer under your kitchen counter is a super space-efficient way to make room for laundry. A few pros and cons here: the biggest complaint about space and energy-efficient washer-dryers is that they can only manage small loads. Duvets, etc, are a no-go here, making this a tough choice for families or households with multiple residents. The next most common complaint is that these combination machines do a half-hearted job of drying fabric. True, the high-heat steam does leave clothing a little damp when it comes out, but this drying method also tends to be kinder to clothing.
From a budget perspective, if you are already doing a full kitchen renovation, creating a cabinet for laundry appliances is a relatively seamless addition to your project’s total scope. Adding a washing machine and dryer to your kitchen requires access to the water supply, waste outlet, and electricity. Talk to your contractor about whether to build cabinetry around the unit, or enclose it with a custom door, and where to position the appliances for best access. You can expect the cost to account for the price of adding an additional cabinet and the cost for installation will likely be comparable to your contractor’s quote for hooking up your other kitchen appliances.
Blaise and Kristin built out a wall and added doors in their laundry renovation
2. Build walls and a door
If space is not the primary limitation in your home, you may want to repurpose square footage in a room or hallway to create a separate laundry room. Your contractor’s estimate will probably account for the cost of putting up or extending walls, installing doors, adding or relocating lighting, and cosmetic paint and trim steps. More work may be required here to run hot and cold water from the building’s stack and to connect waste lines, if these valves are not located within a few inches of your new appliances. Note that most urban buildings have strict requirements about keeping “wet” areas aligned throughout each floor, so you may not have free reign to run water lines down halls if your home is above other homes.
Brad’s laundry room renovation
3. Move walls to carve out a laundry room
Prospect Heights homeowner Brad walked us through the full process of creating a laundry room for his family’s three-bedroom, three-bath condo. After Brad posted his project on Sweeten, we introduced him to this Sweeten contractor to remove an un-used shower from one of the apartment’s baths and rework wall placement, creating a full-sized laundry room. Brad set an overall budget of about $20,000 for labor, materials and appliances—a helpful guide for other homeowners preparing for a laundry room renovation—and was able to keep the project on time and within budget.
Materials and placement
Brad and his wife wanted front-loading appliances that were both generously-sized and durable. Kenmore Elite appliances with 5.2 cubic foot capacity fit the bill. In discussing ways to deal with water flow, the contractor steered him away from installing a floor pan that would catch overflow water and instead selected a preventative automatic sensor that scans for the presence of water on the floor and immediately shuts off the water if it detects any. Brad also hired an electrician to assess the building’s electrical capacity and clear the appliances they planned to purchase.
Initially planning to stack the washing machine and dryer, he was encouraged to install them side-by-side because of two factors behind the walls: the location of the water pipes in the wall as well as the wall’s support structure grid of metal beams made it easier to hook up appliances if they were positioned side-by-side. Once demolition of the original wall occurred, it became clear that stacked appliances would be more difficult, so Brad embraced the plan to place both units on the floor and go with Elfa shelving from the Container Store. Brad also contemplated building in enclosed cabinetry, but input from his contractor suggested he consider the simpler open shelving approach. To finish off the room, a ceramic floor tile from Home Depot was installed which coordinated with other bath finishes in the condo. A folding table and ironing board are possible features to add to the space.
Demolition and build
The project took a total of 2-3 weeks. Brad reported that the demolition of the original drywall was fairly simple: the wall was not load-bearing and didn’t contain any critical support beams. The contractor’s team was careful to protect the family’s hallways and living areas and contain the dust that resulted from the demolition. Brad suggested the pocket door replace the original hinged door to minimize the door’s footprint and keep access to the room as open as possible. Pocket doors can be prohibitively expensive if you are tunneling into a brick or concrete wall, but in this case, the wall structure easily allowed for the alteration.
We are so grateful to—and very inspired by—each of these families for sharing how to make room for laundry in NYC homes. For more ideas, these fellow apartment dwellers also incorporated units into their floorplan. And the washing machine comes with more options than you may realize, which you can read here.
Sweeten, a free renovation service, handpicks the best general contractors to match each project’s location, budget, and scope, helping until project completion. Follow the blog for renovation ideas and inspiration and when you’re ready to renovate, start your renovation on Sweeten.
A post from originally from Sweeten
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To Rig Or Not To Rig Your AV, Should That Be A Question?
Have you ever watched your team setup the audio-visual (AV) equipment for your events? If you’re an event or meeting planner, my guess is your answer is a big ‘ole NO because you’re too busy while it’s going on. It’s a dance, and every department, including those who rig, takes their turn!
Hopefully you have a team you trust to get it done well every time. There seems to be confusion about what rigging is and why you might floor support your AV equipment instead of rigging it, so I’ve laid it out for you!
Setting it Up
What is rigging, exactly? Let’s start there for those who’ve heard the word in reference to your AV set-up, but might not understand. Ceilings in expo halls and ballrooms are built with points that are strong enough from which to hold truss, cabling, speakers, projection, and lighting.
Defining the gear
Rigging points – specific places in the ceiling from which you’re able to hang things within a venue. These are regulated and maintained by the venue to ensure the weight limits (and therefore, safety) are appropriate.
Rig plot – this is the diagram created by the venue that shows where the rigging points are — where you can hang from the ceiling throughout the room. As you can see from the photo below, it can get tricky when ballrooms have over-sized lighting / chandeliers!
Truss – the metal framing pictured to the right. Motors are connected to the rigging points, and the truss. The lighting, projectors, speakers (and the associated cabling) are then attached to the truss. The size of the truss will depend on the space and, in part, the weight restrictions for the points.
Cabling – endless amounts of cable are what gives all of the equipment power. It’s typically carefully run in accordance with the truss for overhead equipment (and on the floor for everything else).
Motors – these small machines are attached to the rigging point and the truss. This enables techs to lower the truss to attach the equipment, and then raise it after it is all attached.
Genie Scissor Lift – this vehicle-like machine is driven around, and can be used to lift 1-3 people (depending on size) as high as need be (sometimes 20 to 30 feet in the air). A scissor lift is used by the rigger to get up to the points in the room, and then by technicians to make adjustments to the equipment. Safety is obviously a big issue with this lift!
Deciding whether to rig or not
A couple of decisions come in when deciding whether or not to rig your lighting, sound, and projection. Mainly the question comes up based on A. whether there are no (or few) rigging points in the room or B. if there are budget constraints.
Sometimes, unfortunately, hotels and convention centers don’t have rigging points in their ballrooms. This is absolutely something you should ask about and consider before signing venue contracts for your meetings and events.
This is also where having a trusted AV / production company that travels with you comes in handy. Get them involved when sourcing venues, and they can help you make decisions based on production needs. If yours is a meeting or event where you’re typically hanging lighting, sound, and projection from the ceiling, find out if they charge for rigging points, and what their rules are on requiring you to use them exclusively for rigging services (so you can either negotiate or include those items in your budgeting).
Cost and safety
As mentioned, there are typically venue costs associated with using the rigging points, but the bigger cost comes in with the labor it takes to get the equipment hung from them. “Riggers” must be certified–no ordinary AV tech can handle the rigging for your events. Safety is a big issue, so part of the fees they’re charging include insurance costs; this is also what often drives venues to make the rigging a required in-house service (even if you bring in your own outside AV company). The venues are more familiar with the weight restrictions as well.
Once you’ve signed the venue contract, your AV / production company should retain the rigging plot from the venue. This plot will help when designing the room, and deciding how to set your lighting, audio, and projection.
Not sure if you need rigging? Well, it’s not always your choice
What happens when venues / ballrooms are built without rigging points (no builder worth their salt should be doing that these days, but it still happens!), or perhaps there’s a small weight allowance to allow you to hang from the airwall tracks? This means you must floor support most (or all) of the equipment.
I had a client once who booked her conference at a convention center that did not have rigging points available in the main ballroom. We learned this on the site visit, after the budget had already been established. Naturally, adjustments had to be made, having to make the choice to floor support the speakers and most of the lighting.
The ballroom did have the capacity to hang some lighting from the airwall tracks (not ideal), but otherwise the rest of it had to be floor supported using genie towers.
Over-communicate between planner, venue, & AV company
The same client mentioned above didn’t fully understand what “rigging” was or why things needed to be adjusted, but she rolled with it. She rolled with it until the show was over and she accused us of floor-supporting the equipment so we could charge her more. The convention services manager also misrepresented her space post-show saying there were actually rigging points.
In hindsight, we should’ve all sat down together one last time before the show started to talk through everything. This might have prevented this miscommunication! No AV or production company would choose to floor support given an alternative to rig, and it certainly isn’t more expensive. And, of course, over-communicating is always better than the alternative as we can see with this example!
Feeling supportive
It isn’t pretty, but it works. As I said, if you aren’t able to rig your equipment, the other option is to use genie towers that sit on the ground and raise up the equipment. Towers can support both lighting fixtures and speakers from the ground, rather than rigging them. Because the towers are top-heavy, however, the base of the towers extends out farther than what’s ideal. Typically the base of these towers are then covered with black cloth to make them more presentable, and to keep people from tripping on the legs.
Projectors are typically placed on scaffolding with a platform, but where they’re located depends on whether you’re using front- or rear-projected screens. The type of projector used will also vary whether they’re in the back of the room (long-throw lenses are needed) or in “video village” behind the screen.
Budget vs. floorplan considerations
Of course, there are still costs associated with the equipment and labor to set it all floor supporting, but it’s considerably less expensive. However, the footprint needed also must be considered when creating the floorplan for the room because the towers take up some space.
While it depends on the size of the room, and how many attendees you have, consider that you could need towers in the front, and delays for the rest of the room.
Floor supporting your lighting, sound, and projection is a reasonable solution to budgetary issues, but the look and feel, and floor space needed should also be taken into consideration.
AV setup / load-in is a dance
As you can see by this photo, truss must be connected to motors that are connected to the rig points in the ceiling.
The equipment then must be attached to the truss before the motors raise them up again. Each department takes their turn, with lighting and projection then needing to get up on a lift to focus and make adjustments once the truss is raised again.
Rigging videos
A line array is a stack of speakers that you’ll typically see at concerts, and they’re also used for conferences with large audiences. This video shows how a line-array would be setup on a floor-supported genie tower. Notice the footprint on the floor, and how the technician is careful to step over the legs.
youtube
Ground supported truss towers are also used most often in outdoor venues. This brief video shows how it’s done. Of course, they make it look easy, as professionals tend to do!
youtube
This video shows a crew rigging up a truss with lighting fixtures in a small space. Notice the motor being attached to the truss, and it raising it up and down. Boy, do they work fast!
youtube
Breaking it down
Moral of the story… When given the choice to rig the AV equipment for your meeting or event? Do it! It’s a cleaner look, will allow for more floor space, and will enable you to get more variety in your lighting throughout the room.
Key questions to discuss with your venues prior to signing contracts:
Does the ballroom have rigging points? If no, find out what other options there are such as airwall track hooks, and the weight limits.
Do you charge for the points? If so, how much per point?
What is your exclusivity requirement for rigging?
Is there availability for x# hours prior to the start of the event? You must ensure up-front that you have enough setup time.
Is there availability for x# hours after the conclusion of the event? Require enough time after the event to strike the equipment with the amount of crew your budget will allow (or you could get encroached upon by the next group coming in).
Be sure to discuss all the answers to these questions with your AV / production company as you engage them for a quote, or bring them with you on site visits if you already have a relationship.
Rigging of AV equipment is an essential piece of the puzzle. It should always be front of mind when determining the selection of your venue, and the design of your production setup.
Remember – over-communication is super important on this part of your planning! It will save you heartache in the long run!
https://js.hscta.net/cta/current.js hbspt.cta.load(430132, ‘c58faa6f-08b1-4553-ad1b-c73d27edc5bb’, {});
from Endless Events http://helloendless.com/rig-not-rig-av-question/
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When I was as kid, I ate copious amounts of the cereal, "Just Right." Because I was a weird kid, I called it, "Just Aardvark." Not to say that I was imagining I was eating aardvark, per se. I just thought it was a better name for a cereal. Or, maybe I just wanted to turn into one. Either way, I've always had a thing for these odd beasties.
Aardvarks eat ants, but they're not "anteaters." They look like kangaroo-pig-rabbits, but their closest relatives include elephants, hyraxes, and elephant shrews. They look lumbering, but they can swim and sprint. They have teeth, but no enamel. They don't use these teeth to chew ants and termites; instead, their stomach acts as a gizzard to grind them up. They're full of mystery, aardvarks. (For a hypothesis of why they have teeth at all, see the illustration!*)
Aardvarks are found all over Africa, yet they are particular about where they create their homes (which can be 40 odd feet long and which they frequently change the floorplans of). Since they are burrowers, you won’t find an aardvark in a swamp, where the murk would quickly close the entrance. They also stay away from rocky outcrops. While an aardvark can easily tunnel through the hardest of dirt, rock is a no go. Which means, it is also dangerous if a predator appears. (Speaking of which, some aardvarks have been seen lying supine, flailing their vicious claws at predators if they can’t dig an escape route quickly enough.)
Aardvarks are nocturnal, and use their super sensitive and flexible noses to sniff out both predator and prey, while large ears swivel. Because they are creatures of the night, their eyes only have rods-- which means they can see great in low light, but no color. To catch their prey-- termites and ants-- aardvarks use 12" long, insanely sticky tongues. A ring of salivary glands embedded in their necks constantly replenish the stickiness. In addition, they can seal their fur-lined nostrils when they dig, and the hairs help filter dirt before it reaches their respiratory systems.
One interesting habit of the aardvark is that they're resource savvy. If they visit a termite mound or two and eat 50,000 insects in a night (possible for an aardvark!), they will not go back to that same area until those mounds have had time to recover. Another fascinating thing? Like crocodiles, aardvarks haven't changed much in millennia, making them one of the most ancient and best adapted species on the planet.
*(Fun note: According to my copy of “The Ghosts Of Evolution: Nonsensical Fruit, Missing Partners, and Other Ecological Anachronisms” by Connie Barlow, aardvark cucumber fruits start their growth process ABOVE the ground, on stalks. At some point in their development, the plants drag their fruiting bodies underground where only aardvarks can find them! The fruit aren’t always subterranean like, say, legumes or tubers! How the plant manages this, I have no idea. If anyone can provide me with an explanation-- you get a cookie!)
#aardvark#nocturnal#notananteater#rods#termites#cucumber#mutualism#mutualsymbiosis#ancientspecies#aardvarkcucumber#subterranean#underground fruit#weird biology#keystone species
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Houses For Sale in Minden, NE
508 N Garber Ave, Minden, NE
Price: $159900
CHARMING and full of character! From wood floors to french and pocket doors, a fireplace, plus a covered front porch to enjoy! Many many updatesthroughout including the lovely nearly new kitchen with a walk-in pantry, newer windows, siding, roof, lighting, doors, and some new carpet and paint too!You won’t want to miss out on this opportunity—MOVE IN READY!
220 Lincoln Ave, Minden, NE
Price: $8800
Are you looking for a lot for your new home? This residential lot is 74×120, has beautiful trees and sits on the west side of Minden across from Bethany Home and close to the schools. There is an older garage located on the property.
1208 Evergreen St, Minden, NE
Price: $210000
NEW CONSTRUCTION! This 3 bedroom 2 bath will be ready for it’s first owner in January. Open concept living room, dining room and kitchen. Large bedrooms. Master bedroom has a walk in closet and a master bathroom. Call today to learn more about 1208 Evergreen in Minden! MaKensey Harris 308-293-6263
308 Western Ave, Minden, NE
Price: $114900
This home features 2 + 2 bedrooms and 1.75 baths. Original wood floors in living, dining and main floor bedroom. Some rooms have been freshly painted. Love the walk up to the attic for more possible living area or use for your storage area. This home has potential for lower level rental. Large fenced in backyard with alley access. The roof approx. in 2012, A/C approx. 2013, water heater approx. 2013. The 15 round and 4 deep hard frame pool and accessories can stay with the property. Blinds stay. Curtains and rods in Living Room, Family Room and Master Bedroom will not stay. This home wa s originally built in 1891. However, it is believed to be moved into Minden in the 40s or 50s and set on a half basement. Also had some remodeling in the 70s. This information is reliable but not guaranteed. 48 Hours notice to show, please.
723 N Nebraska Ave, Minden, NE
Price: $34900
Older home in Minden, 2 bedroom, 2 bath, close to grocery shopping and convenience stores. New furnace in 2014. Being sold AS-IS condition,
511 N Nebraska Ave, Minden, NE
Price: $93500
Cute little gem of a home features 3 bedrooms on the main, and 1 non-conforming in the basement. The basement has a 18×10 laundry room, 10×8 and 10×10 storage room. Plus family area. Packed with updates which include: Brand new windows with transferrable warranty (10/16). Remodeled bath with jetted tub. Original wood floors refinished in 2 bedrooms and living room. Brand new kitchen, all appliances are included, cupboards and kitchen faucet. New plumbing, wiring and new panel box (10/16). 2 rooms in basement with brand new carpet, freshly painted, oversized 20×20 garage with garage acce ss. Washer and dryer and swing set shall stay with the property. Dont let this gem slip away.
1031 R Rd, Minden, NE
Price: $359900
Country living on 20 acres!! Located between Kearney and Minden, In the Minden School District. One owner home built in 2002 has been well maintained. Solid surface countertops throughout. The Home boasts an open floorplan with quality Hickory cabinets. The Master bedroom has a large walk-in closet with a luxurious whirlpool/airpool bath and a separate shower. The main floor office could easliy be converted to an additional bedroom. You will enjoy a propane fireplace on the main floor and a propane cast iron heating stove in the basement. The walkout basement has two large bedrooms and one small non conforming bedroom that works well as a toy room! A large living area in the basement works great for entertaing friends complete with a wet bar. The area under the porch has been utlized as a fully finished storm shelter, complete with cabinets and countertops! A 30X40 outbuilding has been plumbed on it’s own septic system so you could easily add a working kitchen and bath in the “man cave”! Act quickly, this house is a must see!!!
439 W 3rd St, Minden, NE
Price: $35000
Great home for an investor or first-time buyer! This home has so much potential, and is in an excellent location close to new high school. Finish out the inside of the home as you like! One bedroom with plenty of room to add more in the unfinished downstairs area. 1 ¾ baths! New steel exterior doors; roof is less than 5 years old. Large back yard is partially fenced with a 12’ x 28’ shed. Must see this home in person to appreciate what it has to offer!
Tbd Hull, Minden, NE
Price: $8000
This residential lot is located in the southeast side of Minden at the corner of Holland & Hull. Would make a nice little home site!
554 Webster St, Minden, NE
Price: $169000
Ranch Style Home – main level features 3 bedrooms, 1.5 baths, large laundry room, eat in kitchen w/patio door to deck, and living room. Basement features 1 non conforming bedroom, large family room, large storage room w/garage access. The home is on a large lot w/underground sprinklers. 2 car garage & large work shop attached! With a few updates this home could be the perfect home for you!
779 Lincoln Ave, Minden, NE
Price: $225000
Updated , well maintained ranch style home in a great neighborhood in Minden . Home has many updates done. 26×30 Detached garage , heated and insulated. Also has attached garage on house , heated also. Nice landscaping with underground sprinklers. Fenced in back yard with covered patio. Appliances would be included ( new microwave, dishwasher , and two newer fridges.) Features main floor laundry in ½ bath. Home is situated on a spacious corner lot. Feel free to call anytime !!
335 S Hull Ave, Minden, NE
Price: $220000
This 4,085 Sqft home is loaded with updates! Most rooms feature priceless original wood floors and are freshly painted, spacious living room and formal dining room. Kitchen has new counter tops, flooring and all (3 yr. old) stainless steel appliances shall stay. Love the Library/Den loaded with shelves and cabinets. There is a main floor Bedroom/office, plus another bedroom, a main floor Bath. Step upstairs where you will find 3 Bedrooms with walk-in lighted closets, Bath with new vanity and tiled floors AND a Master Bedroom with bath, walk-in lighted closet. All which have original flo ors. Stroll to the finished basement, where you will love the Bonus room with pellet/corn stove, and 2 extra rooms currently being used as bedrooms that have walk-in closets, remodeled full bath with dual sinks, and even a storage room! There is a large tiled breezeway. There are 2 entry ways to the basement, and a 3 car deep garage with a workshop. The home has newer windows, and extra blown-in insulation, and a privacy fence. It is located on a very low traffic street with a country view. The home has hard board siding and the garage has steel siding. Deep freeze and refrigerator in basement stay. There also is an above ground pool that will stay.
111 S Minden Ave, Minden, NE
Price: $137900
Lovely home full of character and charm. Main floor features mostly hard wood floors. Den which could become a 4th bedroom, full bath, remodeled kitchen, stunning dining room. Upper level features a large master bedroom with bath and 4 closets, additional 2 bedrooms 1 with a bath. A landscapers dream with perennial flowers and plants from Spring until Fall. Updated features include : 95% drywall with rolled-in insulation, all new vinyl windows, new gutters, water heater, central air, wood burning stove, new exterior doors, added mud room. Electrical and plumbing updated, tech porch, new sidewalks throughout property, 25×28 garage with vinyl siding (2011) 18×12 shed, new smaller shed, There is a super clean 200ft basement. Appliances plus washer and dryer stay. Some ornaments do not stay, blinds only stay. Make your appointment today!
222 Nance Ave, Minden, NE
Price: $122000
The advantages of home ownership are yours with this 3-bedroom/2-bath home that sits on a large 112×120 lot! Features include a graceful dining room, cozy family room, casual living room with carpeting, sunny kitchen with breakfast area, appliances and washer and dryer shall stay with home. Freshly painted and new main floor carpet in 2016. Bathroom has a new counter top, a new gas line into the home and a totally fenced in back yard with a neat covered patio, not to mention the side yard with a newly planted willow tree, sunburst locust, oak sprout. Established purple maple in front. M any windows have been replaced. An easy walk to Middle and High School and shopping area. The lawn was reseeded and there is an underground sprinkler system. High efficient furnace, roof estimated 7 years old. All blinds shall stay. Play set in backyard will stay. Also includes parcel #0004934.00 No showings from noon, 12:00pm-3:00 or 5:00-6:00pm.
534 S Colorado Ave, Minden, NE
Price: $109900
All Brick Home. Large Fenced Yard. Deep Lot with Alley Access. Detached Building. Stone Patio w/Fire-Pit. Updated Lennox Pulse Furnace. Main Floor and Basement have Stone Fireplace Surrounds. Located across the Street from a Ball Field.
131 N Nebraska Ave, Minden, NE
Price: $220000
This is a ranch style, spacious, brick home. 3 bedroom, 2 bath & laundry on the main floor, Fireplace, lots of storage, 12×12 shed outdoor, large backyard with alley access, close to school and downtown. Come take a look..
537 West Ave, Minden, NE
Price: $180000
This home features 3 bedrooms on the main and 1 full bath. Main floor laundry and mud room, and a well laid out floor plan. Extra wide stairway to the basement with a 4th non-conforming bedroom, bath, extra large family room and an area with plumbing to build a nice bar or have a game room area. There is a heated 20×30 detached garage with a 9′ overhead door. Well manicured lawn with sprinkler system, landscape loaded with perennial plants and flowers, large garden area and still plenty of lawn. There is an alley that separates the rest of the parcel. A kids play land area or let your i magination go wild with endless possibilities. This home is just 2 blocks from Middle School, New High School and Outdoor classroom. It has been recently cleaned and move-in ready.
325 N Nebraska Ave, Minden, NE
Price: $159900
YOU WILL BE CHARMED! Beautiful oak throughout brings out the beauty of this gem of a home which features: 2 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, gracious living room with built-in bookcases, master suite with 9.7 x 10.8 walk-in closet with built-ins. Remarkable kitchen hosts stainless steel appliances and a lavish pantry. The partial basement features an impressive rustic look which would make a classic office. There is an excessive amount of storage. This home has updated wiring, drywall, insulation and windows. Shelter yourself from the elements as you relax on the covered patio with a hot tub over looking your private back yard which also has an extra area for garden or playground. Or, watch the morning sunrise in your screened in front porch with new top- of -the- line all weather window. Recent improvements: new sump pump, new shower, flooring in basement, radon mitigation system installed, newer main floor carpet. Also included is the hot tub, riding lawn mower, BBQ grill, water softener, 65″ flat screen to watch those Husker games plus a kitchen and Master bedroom TV. Be the lucky on that gets to call this YOUR home!
139 Park Ave, Minden, NE
Price: $85000
This 4 bedroom, 2 bath home features a main floor bedroom and office with closet. Upstairs features 3 bedrooms with wood floors and an insulated attic for storage. One side of basement can be used for large family room and the other side has plenty of room for storage. Fenced backyard. Brand new hot water heater and 2 year old furnace. This home is located on west side of Minden close to the schools.
237 S Hubbard Ave, Minden, NE
Price: $125000
Spacious 1808 sq ft on the main floor, features 3 Bedrooms, 1 full Bath and a Master Bath. It has a large living room and a family room with a fireplace. New laminate flooring will be installed in the living room and kitchen. New master bedroom carpet, new vanity and sink, kitchen sink and front door. The windows are new throughout. There is a nice breezeway between the 2 car garage and house. This home has a deck, a sprinkler system and a privacy fence in backyard. There is an unfinished 1352 sq. ft. poured basement, that has loads of cupboards for storage. There is a bid for quality v inyl siding, and the Seller is willing to install with negotiated offer.
from Houses For Sale – The OC Home Search http://www.theochomesearch.com/houses-for-sale-in-minden-ne/ from OC Home Search https://theochomesearch.tumblr.com/post/158125800640
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I DIED LAST NIGHT
i saw my man kai last night, which was great, but it was a horrible night
i am NEVER, EVER, going to stand in the mosh pit again in my entire life. Before I go on my rant session, keep in mind that I’m 5′4 (which is average-tall height for girls in Hong Kong) and I weigh 103 pounds.
The concert starts at 7pm, but I got to the venue at around 2:00 as the queueing for the standing area starts at 3pm and the doors open at approximately 5pm.
Once I got there, I was in a great mood. My period just ended, I just had amazing bibimbap, and I was ready to buy some merch. I came with 3 other girls and we went to other concerts before (got7, seventeen) and we had a great time. I walked around to buy merch, but the security guards were kind of strict, so they kept shoo-ing off the people who were selling things outside of the venue (maybe it’s illegal because it was practically right next to the bus stop and it was very crowded) So when we got there, there weren’t many things open, and if there was, it was for fanmade cards that were free (but had ridiculously long lines for). So after an hour of looking around, we had to line up to get in.
Thankfully we were like the first 20 people in line for the DOOR to the queueing area (we were #463-466 out of like 1000 from our block, but the lines go by 100s, so 400-500). Because we were so early, we were the first one in our area. Two of us sat down to keep our spots, while another girl and i went out to look for things to buy again. The two girls that stayed behind because they already had light sticks (and they were going tomorrow as well) , but I didn’t get one yet.
It took an unbelievably long amount of time to even find a person that was selling a real lightstick. I had to download this app to verify that it was real, but my bluetooth wasn’t working properly, so we had to find a girl who previously purchased it from the same woman to test it out on her phone. (TLDR; buying for stuff was a mess, but I ended up buying quite a few things (I spent approximately $600 HKD). There were several selling areas for merch (two in indoor arenas that were as big as our concert hall, and one outdoors) so it took a while to navigate around all three areas and buy things.
It didn’t feel like 1.5 hours, but 1.5 hours passed already, and by the time we went back to our line to meet up with the other girls it was already 4:30. (At that point we didnt know that the doors would open at 5:00) so I was panicking as I still had quite a lot of things to do before I went in. Having an anxiety attack during this time didn’t help either. I had to gulp down my kimbap (dinner at 4:30 is not very easy to digest either), run to the bathroom, and run up 4 flights of stairs and quite a long distance to buy a locker to store all the merch we bought. Thankfully, I’m not that unathletic, so the running was easy to do. I ended up not going to the bathroom because I didn’t have time. We were finally released from our area and could line up to go into the arena.
I sprinted inside and me and my friends split in in pairs (me and 1 friend stayed in the middle, and the other two went off to the right, as our biases were mostly in those regions for the show). There was still 2 hours until the concert could start, but we all had to stand during that time period, and people were already pushing and screaming at each other. Many girls were wearing down jackets and thick-ass sweaters, and because our bodies were practically stuck to each other, heat generated quickly. I wore a T-Shirt (one of the best decisions I made) and I wasn’t that hot, but I’m VERY sensitive to heat so I was already a little sweaty.
We were all so close to each other, that when one person moved, the entire crowd of 1000 people would move, and therefore many waves were formed. I tried to move my backpack from the back to the front to get my kimbap, phone charger, and lip balm out, and a few girls behind me seemed irritated at that. I’m claustrophobic, and it was hard to breathe, so before the concert even started I already was not in the best condition.
After standing for two hours, attempting to eat my oily af kimbap, and unsuccessfully watching Netflix inside the arena, the concert was about to start. I was so close to this girl, I felt like I was grinding her (I didn’t want to do that, but the people behind me was pushing a lot). I’m not sure exactly how many rows there ended up being, but I was on the 4th or 5th row at the beginning of the concert.
These two Chinese girls behind us were trying to communicate with this girl from Japan and trying to tell her not to push and to step back. The japanese girl replied in Korean, and spoke minimal english as well, while the Chinese girls spoke Korean, and EXTREMELY minimal english. They expressed that they didn’t know how to say “DONT PUSH” in english, which is ridiculous, because english is taught in ALL schools in Hong Kong (BOTH public & private). So I had to mediate between them and speak in a mixture of all four languages just to help them talk.
[Okay, before I start ranting about the concert I need to clarify that I’m usually a really positive person- but crowds are just not my thing. Also, why the HECK do people freak out and try to take PICTUREs of VCRs???? All of the VCRs are online, and it’s literally a video of them. We can all rewatch VCRs as many times as we want and it would be the same at home or in the arena...]
The concert started and people were screaming. I screamed too, but I wanted to save my voice, and I was too excited and happy to even make a sound. I couldnt raise both my arms up, unlike what I wanted to do (one hand- phone, other hand- lightstick) because there was not enough space, so I had to switch in between each hand.
If you haven’t seen the floorplan of the exo’rdium in hong kong, feel free to look at it now to get a better grasp of what i’m trying to say later. As I said, I was in block C, so it was the absolutely FARTHEst away section from where EXO comes and begins their songs, and it’s not until the 4th song (White Noise) in which they even move remotely closer to us.
If I counted a number of minutes I actually saw them with my own eyes, it would probably be less than 5 minutes. As I previously stated, I’m a little above the average height, but EVERYONE probably wore heels that day because I felt short AF and I could barely see anything. Hands were in my way, and other people’s hair was all over my face. People were yanking on my hair so many times, my feet were being trampled on, and some girl even tried to crawl on TOP of me to get closer to them. I moved around so many times- there was a point where I was on the 8th row, and another where I was on the 2nd. I felt like I was being punched several times in the gut when Chanyeol was near (he’s the most popular in HK).
Whenever Kai came over, I tried to scream his name and get his attention, but he just so happened to always merely glance over my area and I was always being pushed down RIGHT at the moment that Kai would look at me. I got a LOT of footage, so I’ll upload it sometime later and link it back onto this post. During the concert, I reached a sudden moment of realization, and I felt so depressed. I realized that out there, there are so many other girls in the world, who feel the same way about these boys, whom I have idolized and prioritized over so many things in life that are more important. I suddenly felt like I lost all hope and that I should give up on my dreams of ever trying to even get physically closer to them. But then I suddenly saw Kai dancing impromptu to Drop That. All of the boys looked like they were having the time of their lives, and I could sense that they felt energized by us, regardless of the fact that they were probably extremely tired from jumping around and dancing during the performance. After seeing that, I was so happy, and I remembered all of the time I spent devoted to these boys and how just one movement of them made me so happy. It also really helped that during the ment, they tried to dab and whip and do all these ridiculous moves. It made my heart feel so much lighter.
The friend that I was with was super nice. She was taller than me, so she stood behind me for a portion of the concert to block people that was pushing me. She’s like an older sister of mine (even though we’re only 2 months apart), and she kept asking if I was okay, because she knew I was claustrophobic. She helped me take things in and out of my bag, held my hand, and always smiled at me. If she wasn’t there to sing along to the songs with and FREAK out whenever one of them came close, I think I would have left the arena.
THIS GIRL behind me KEPT saying unnecessary things and was complaining about everything (losing her backup camera battery, when people behind her pushed her, and even when someone from another section would be fighting) it annoyed me so much, and I swore many times in my head (I don't swear often).
I’m not sure if it's the post-concert/ during-concert depression, but after feeling so abused by the mob of fellow teenage fangirls, I’ve only had negative feelings towards my experience. I only felt happy when I was watching back the footage that I took last night, which I didn’t even get to see with my own eyes (I held up my arms really high just to take it, and my arms are still so sore). My entire body aches in places that I didn’t even know could ache. I came back home with bloody toes as people were stepping on them. EXO is ALREADY leaving tonight, and I don’t know when the next time I will see them will be. I’m going to college to September, so I’m praying that they will come to LA.
I went to exo’luXion on august 2015 and I sat in row Y. Even though it was far, and I went with my sister, who barely knows exo, I could easily say that I had a better time back then (even though they didn’t perform my favorite song that time, and performed it this time- thunder).
LESSON LEARNED: I am NEVER buying a standing ticket for a K-pop concert again.
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Beach House Style Inspiration http://ift.tt/2iG1DSC
We’re nothing if not house optimists, so even as our our beach house comes apart (literally, we have mold and termite damage and bad wiring and no HVAC and a failing foundation and pretty much all of the other not-ideal things that necessitate carefully rebuilding a lot of it) we’ve learned that sometimes you just gotta focus on the fun exciting home-reno aspects to make it through the highly unglamorous and grimace-inducing ones. We’ll update you on our rebuilding progress soon (it’s pretty slow-going), but today we’re swinging open our brains and sharing the much-more-fun-to-think-about beach house style ideas that are bouncing around in there. Because even if there seem to be a million steps between now and the whole decorating thing, it’s totally keeping our house-reno mojo up right now. So without further ado, welcome to my brain:
Before we dive into the pics, you may want to refresh yourself on our floorplan and preliminary renovation plans in this post. There’s a full house tour video there too, and we’ve included the floor plan below for quick reference. Note: Our only significant change since originally creating it is that we plan to move the downstairs bathroom door into the mudroom, rather than having access from the dining area.
Our general inspiration for the inside can be summarized as: relaxed, uncomplicated, comfortable, and old-meets-new. We want to resist the urge to overfill or overdecorate the house, since it’s meant to feel easy and light (not meticulously organized or over-styled). Plus, it’s an old home, which is one of our favorite things about it – so we are embracing that full-on (keeping all the old doors and knobs and refinishing the old heart pine floors, and keeping our beloved curved wall and the original back staircase – we even uncovered an old brick chimney that we’re going to chip out and expose).
Of course we’ll be adding some updated touches factoring in guest comfort, mostly in the form of new things like fresh mattresses and bedding and curtains (as opposed to filling it with antiques until it feels like a set from a period film). And I realized after uploading all of these pics that they’re feeling very white. Which, don’t get me wrong, we’re definitely going for light and airy – but my guess is that we’ll end up making the space feel a bit more colorful than some of these inspiration images might suggest.
Let’s start with the bedrooms, since they pretty much epitomize our goal of relaxed and uncomplicated…
Bedroom Inspiration:
image sources, clockwise from top left: 1 / 2 / 3
A bedroom – especially one meant for guests or renters – doesn’t need much in it, which is good because the bedrooms in this house aren’t huge. So our main goal is to create a bed that looks crazy comfortable and not too fussy. Maybe a simple nightstand, some fun artwork above it, and a cool light or two (maybe our $90 sconces in one of the rooms?). I love that these images all demonstrate that you can still make a simple, uncomplicated bedroom look welcoming and calming, as opposed to stark and bare.
Bunk Room Inspiration:
image sources, clockwise from left: 1 / 2 / 3
In addition to the three main bedrooms, we’re carving out a bonus sleeping zone for kids. It’s going to be tight (pretty much wall to wall with a ladder or something in front) and we’ll probably go white with the beds to keep the small space feeling bigger (that wood one is an Ikea hack!) but we’re aiming for something a little less formal and tailored than that bottom right pic (how cool is that rope ladder though?!). Dibs on the top bunk!
Bathroom Inspiration:
image sources, clockwise from left: 1 / 2 / 3
We have a tub in our master bathroom just like the one above – JUST LIKE IT! Same claw feet and everything! Well, except ours is scratched and rusted and it isn’t painted that cool color on the outside. YET! But I smell potential. Can’t wait too get it reglazed. And back into the bathroom, since it’s currently in a bedroom because the bathroom was literally falling off the house (did I mention we have ALL the not-ideal things going on?). Quick, let’s look at more pretty things! We’d love to inject some natural tones and/or colorful accents via the vanities or floor tiles, and John especially loves the classic hex pattern in that bottom right pic, just maybe a medium gray instead of black so it’s not as dark.
Mudroom Inspiration:
image sources, clockwise from top left: 1 / 2 / 3
The mudroom space will essentially be for corralling sandy beach stuff, while also giving access to the full bathroom downstairs (so people can shower straight from the beach) and toss sandy towels right into the washer and dryer, which will be housed within the mudroom. We’ll probably incorporate some closed storage for beach toys and towels, but otherwise some simple (and affordable!) shelves and hooks are probably more than enough, since this isn’t your everyday coat & backpack-filled mudroom.
Kitchen Inspiration:
image sources, clockwise from top left: 1 / 2 / 3 / 4
Since the beach house will just need to have a few cooking and serving staples, we’re not going to fill it to the brim with gadgets and gizmos aplenty (shout out to Ariel). So we like the idea of some unfussy base cabinets, maybe some open shelves, and perhaps a little color on the lowers. We want to do it relatively affordably and we don’t mind if it feels a bit old or rustic (versus feeling top of the line or super sleek). We’re thinking butcher block counters – maybe on the island – plus a few other hits of wood, like stools. And a freestanding piece like the cabinet in the top left picture would be all that and a bag of chips. Can we bring that phrase back? Please?
Dining Inspiration:
image sources, clockwise from left: 1 / 2 / 3
“Dining room” is probably too formal of a term for what will likely end up as a casual eating area, so we love the vibe of these pictures above. I’m especially loving the black round pedestal table + bench seating + coppery chairs + peach pillows equation (seriously, it’s giving me all the warm fuzzies). We’re digging the coziness of the bottom picture too, with that natural table and the woven light above it. Although sheepskin covered chairs in a rental house is probably not the smartest choice…
Door Inspiration:
image sources, clockwise from left: 1 / 2 / 3
My love for the old wood and chippy-painted doors in this house borders on unnatural. We have a veritable smorgasboard of original doors. A doorgasboard, if you will. So we’re planning to reuse all of them (even though our contractor has warned us three times about the challenges of making old, crooked doors function properly). Assuming we can get them all back to being functional (which we’ll do if it nearly kills us! I’m a dog with a bone!), we know they’ll give this old house character for days. Bring it on, doors. Let’s do this. After we deal with the mold and the termites.
Living Room Inspiration:
image sources, clockwise from left: 1 / 2 / 3
The living room isn’t very large and we’ll have a cool but layout-challenging curved wall to contend with. We’re not picturing a lot of furniture in there – maybe a couch, chair, coffee table, and TV? – so we want them to be interesting, especially since it’s the first room you’ll see. We LOVE the clean lines of the wooden coffee table in the big pic (maybe we could build something like that?) and those blue ottomans got us thinking that a colorful sofa or chair could be a fun option too. Just gotta find something dark enough to wear well.
Bookcase Inspiration:
image sources, clockwise from top left: 1 / 2 / 3
I know it may seem weird to make a separate category for bookcases, but as much as we’re trying to keep this house simple and uncluttered, we still want at least one or two book-filled spots that feel lived in and homey (a bookshelf packed with books, magazines, and games makes those rainy days spent cooped up at a beach house SO MUCH BETTER). So we’re including these to remind us of the range of bookcases we could potentially consider. We’re not sure if we’ll have enough books to emulate the top left pic, but maybe a more casual wood rack like the one under it (perhaps in the bunk room with some colorful kids books on it?).
Stair Inspiration:
image sources, clockwise from left: 1 / 2 / 3
The front/main stairs of the house will remain wood (although the risers and spindles of ours are white), so the large pic on the left is making me super excited for getting them back to their former glory. And we’re pretty excited to have a bonus back staircase (some folks have asked why we’re keeping that since the layout would be easier without it – and the short answer is that WE FREAKING LOVE IT and all of the original character it adds. Many of our neighbors told us theirs was already gone when they moved in and they were so sad to have lost it, so we’re downright giddy to get to keep ours!). It’s definitely in rougher shape than the front steps (the risers are also already painted white), so we’re thinking that might be a cool spot to inject some color. Maybe the whole shebang like the top right pic if we can’t salvage the worn wood treads? Or just by adding a hit of minty green to the already-painted risers inspired by that bottom photo?
Side note: I just learned baskets like the one on the floor in the top right pic are called Belly Baskets and I LOVE THIS ONE.
And so ends the in-my-dreams-the-beach-house-will-be-this-fabulous tour that’s going on in my head. I’m sure there will be a lot of twists and turns as we get closer to a finished house that we can actually paint and furnish and decorate, but it’s really fun to toss out all of our inspiration to see what sticks. One thing’s for sure: there will be built-ins! And blue-green! And old doors! And light walls! And peach pillows! And lots of wood! Viva la beach house! Ok, back to dealing with that highly unglamorous bathroom’s-falling-off-the-house sitch. Thanks for daydreaming with me.
*This post contains affiliate links*
The post Beach House Style Inspiration appeared first on Young House Love.
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Beach House Style Inspiration
We’re nothing if not house optimists, so even as our our beach house comes apart (literally, we have mold and termite damage and bad wiring and no HVAC and a failing foundation and pretty much all of the other not-ideal things that necessitate carefully rebuilding a lot of it) we’ve learned that sometimes you just gotta focus on the fun exciting home-reno aspects to make it through the highly unglamorous and grimace-inducing ones. We’ll update you on our rebuilding progress soon (it’s pretty slow-going), but today we’re swinging open our brains and sharing the much-more-fun-to-think-about beach house style ideas that are bouncing around in there. Because even if there seem to be a million steps between now and the whole decorating thing, it’s totally keeping our house-reno mojo up right now. So without further ado, welcome to my brain:
Before we dive into the pics, you may want to refresh yourself on our floorplan and preliminary renovation plans in this post. There’s a full house tour video there too, and we’ve included the floor plan below for quick reference. Note: Our only significant change since originally creating it is that we plan to move the downstairs bathroom door into the mudroom, rather than having access from the dining area.
Our general inspiration for the inside can be summarized as: relaxed, uncomplicated, comfortable, and old-meets-new. We want to resist the urge to overfill or overdecorate the house, since it’s meant to feel easy and light (not meticulously organized or over-styled). Plus, it’s an old home, which is one of our favorite things about it – so we are embracing that full-on (keeping all the old doors and knobs and refinishing the old heart pine floors, and keeping our beloved curved wall and the original back staircase – we even uncovered an old brick chimney that we’re going to chip out and expose).
Of course we’ll be adding some updated touches factoring in guest comfort, mostly in the form of new things like fresh mattresses and bedding and curtains (as opposed to filling it with antiques until it feels like a set from a period film). And I realized after uploading all of these pics that they’re feeling very white. Which, don’t get me wrong, we’re definitely going for light and airy – but my guess is that we’ll end up making the space feel a bit more colorful than some of these inspiration images might suggest.
Let’s start with the bedrooms, since they pretty much epitomize our goal of relaxed and uncomplicated…
Bedroom Inspiration:
image sources, clockwise from top left: 1 / 2 / 3
A bedroom – especially one meant for guests or renters – doesn’t need much in it, which is good because the bedrooms in this house aren’t huge. So our main goal is to create a bed that looks crazy comfortable and not too fussy. Maybe a simple nightstand, some fun artwork above it, and a cool light or two (maybe our $90 sconces in one of the rooms?). I love that these images all demonstrate that you can still make a simple, uncomplicated bedroom look welcoming and calming, as opposed to stark and bare.
Bunk Room Inspiration:
image sources, clockwise from left: 1 / 2 / 3
In addition to the three main bedrooms, we’re carving out a bonus sleeping zone for kids. It’s going to be tight (pretty much wall to wall with a ladder or something in front) and we’ll probably go white with the beds to keep the small space feeling bigger (that wood one is an Ikea hack!) but we’re aiming for something a little less formal and tailored than that bottom right pic (how cool is that rope ladder though?!). Dibs on the top bunk!
Bathroom Inspiration:
image sources, clockwise from left: 1 / 2 / 3
We have a tub in our master bathroom just like the one above – JUST LIKE IT! Same claw feet and everything! Well, except ours is scratched and rusted and it isn’t painted that cool color on the outside. YET! But I smell potential. Can’t wait too get it reglazed. And back into the bathroom, since it’s currently in a bedroom because the bathroom was literally falling off the house (did I mention we have ALL the not-ideal things going on?). Quick, let’s look at more pretty things! We’d love to inject some natural tones and/or colorful accents via the vanities or floor tiles, and John especially loves the classic hex pattern in that bottom right pic, just maybe a medium gray instead of black so it’s not as dark.
Mudroom Inspiration:
image sources, clockwise from top left: 1 / 2 / 3
The mudroom space will essentially be for corralling sandy beach stuff, while also giving access to the full bathroom downstairs (so people can shower straight from the beach) and toss sandy towels right into the washer and dryer, which will be housed within the mudroom. We’ll probably incorporate some closed storage for beach toys and towels, but otherwise some simple (and affordable!) shelves and hooks are probably more than enough, since this isn’t your everyday coat & backpack-filled mudroom.
Kitchen Inspiration:
image sources, clockwise from top left: 1 / 2 / 3 / 4
Since the beach house will just need to have a few cooking and serving staples, we’re not going to fill it to the brim with gadgets and gizmos aplenty (shout out to Ariel). So we like the idea of some unfussy base cabinets, maybe some open shelves, and perhaps a little color on the lowers. We want to do it relatively affordably and we don’t mind if it feels a bit old or rustic (versus feeling top of the line or super sleek). We’re thinking butcher block counters – maybe on the island – plus a few other hits of wood, like stools. And a freestanding piece like the cabinet in the top left picture would be all that and a bag of chips. Can we bring that phrase back? Please?
Dining Inspiration:
image sources, clockwise from left: 1 / 2 / 3
“Dining room” is probably too formal of a term for what will likely end up as a casual eating area, so we love the vibe of these pictures above. I’m especially loving the black round pedestal table + bench seating + coppery chairs + peach pillows equation (seriously, it’s giving me all the warm fuzzies). We’re digging the coziness of the bottom picture too, with that natural table and the woven light above it. Although sheepskin covered chairs in a rental house is probably not the smartest choice…
Door Inspiration:
image sources, clockwise from left: 1 / 2 / 3
My love for the old wood and chippy-painted doors in this house borders on unnatural. We have a veritable smorgasboard of original doors. A doorgasboard, if you will. So we’re planning to reuse all of them (even though our contractor has warned us three times about the challenges of making old, crooked doors function properly). Assuming we can get them all back to being functional (which we’ll do if it nearly kills us! I’m a dog with a bone!), we know they’ll give this old house character for days. Bring it on, doors. Let’s do this. After we deal with the mold and the termites.
Living Room Inspiration:
image sources, clockwise from left: 1 / 2 / 3
The living room isn’t very large and we’ll have a cool but layout-challenging curved wall to contend with. We’re not picturing a lot of furniture in there – maybe a couch, chair, coffee table, and TV? – so we want them to be interesting, especially since it’s the first room you’ll see. We LOVE the clean lines of the wooden coffee table in the big pic (maybe we could build something like that?) and those blue ottomans got us thinking that a colorful sofa or chair could be a fun option too. Just gotta find something dark enough to wear well.
Bookcase Inspiration:
image sources, clockwise from top left: 1 / 2 / 3
I know it may seem weird to make a separate category for bookcases, but as much as we’re trying to keep this house simple and uncluttered, we still want at least one or two book-filled spots that feel lived in and homey (a bookshelf packed with books, magazines, and games makes those rainy days spent cooped up at a beach house SO MUCH BETTER). So we’re including these to remind us of the range of bookcases we could potentially consider. We’re not sure if we’ll have enough books to emulate the top left pic, but maybe a more casual wood rack like the one under it (perhaps in the bunk room with some colorful kids books on it?).
Stair Inspiration:
image sources, clockwise from left: 1 / 2 / 3
The front/main stairs of the house will remain wood (although the risers and spindles of ours are white), so the large pic on the left is making me super excited for getting them back to their former glory. And we’re pretty excited to have a bonus back staircase (some folks have asked why we’re keeping that since the layout would be easier without it – and the short answer is that WE FREAKING LOVE IT and all of the original character it adds. Many of our neighbors told us theirs was already gone when they moved in and they were so sad to have lost it, so we’re downright giddy to get to keep ours!). It’s definitely in rougher shape than the front steps (the risers are also already painted white), so we’re thinking that might be a cool spot to inject some color. Maybe the whole shebang like the top right pic if we can’t salvage the worn wood treads? Or just by adding a hit of minty green to the already-painted risers inspired by that bottom photo?
Side note: I just learned baskets like the one on the floor in the top right pic are called Belly Baskets and I LOVE THIS ONE.
And so ends the in-my-dreams-the-beach-house-will-be-this-fabulous tour that’s going on in my head. I’m sure there will be a lot of twists and turns as we get closer to a finished house that we can actually paint and furnish and decorate, but it’s really fun to toss out all of our inspiration to see what sticks. One thing’s for sure: there will be built-ins! And blue-green! And old doors! And light walls! And peach pillows! And lots of wood! Viva la beach house! Ok, back to dealing with that highly unglamorous bathroom’s-falling-off-the-house sitch. Thanks for daydreaming with me.
*This post contains affiliate links*
The post Beach House Style Inspiration appeared first on Young House Love.
0 notes