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monitorsscrawlings · 5 years ago

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Jonathan’s Hair-Raising Halloween Adventure Ch. 2

Chapter Two: Monster Mash

With this newest Halloween scheme in the works, he was going to need all the help he could get, and with that in mind his next stop was obvious. After all, who better to help coordinate things then the other half of their dear boys bedroom boogey-monster quartet? Slithering back up the stairs, and ever mindful to cleave to the darkness as he moved, he slunk from broom closet, to the underside of a vase-stand and through the various pools of shadow afforded him by the old manors eclectic mix of wall-sconce mage-lights and only moderately more modern frosted glass chandelier lights. Coupled with the twisty architectural pretensions of the old Victorian manor with only slightly more recent Edwardian-style additions, and there were no end of choice locations for an enterprising monster to lurk or hide away. A monster thrice his size would find no trouble in disguising their movements in the nigh endless series of squeaks, creaks, groans, and thumps the old house produced regularly; while the thick walls and thicker floors muffled the sound of screams and other mischief-making beautifully. This was especially fortunate, as not even he wanted to risk crossing paths with the Sloan families elder matriarch. Now there was a witch with iron in her soul and hoarfrost in her veins! Why, even just the very thought sent a shiver up his spine. And not the fun creepy-crawly, spine-tingling variety either.

With a shake of his shaggy horned head, Grunk briskly brushed aside such thoughts like so many of last years cobwebs, instead returning to the matter at hand as he slipped back inside his humans bedroom. The door softly clicking shut as he eased it closed behind him. Best to focus on more pleasant matters.

Like Halloween, for instance. And spending plenty of extra-special quality time with their human this year. Like all the potential tricks and treats that awaited, the excitement, the scares and surprises…

But before he got too ahead of himself, there was still the matter of getting everyone together and coordinating everything.

Hmmm...the closet was a safe bet, he decided moment later as his eyes scanned the room, noting the lack of any visible signs of anyone else lurking in wait under Jonathan’s bed, hiding inside the child's toy-chest, or clinging to the ceiling. Slinking across the room, careful to avoid stepping on the few stray toys that had been absent-minded left out on the floor, Grunk approached the closet-door with nary a sound, before giving it three firm knocks and easing it open with a twist and pull of his long black claws on the brass doorknob, peering inquisitively in to the gloom.

“Any monsters in here tonight?” Grunk inquired with a droll lilt, before perking his bat-wing-like ears up expectantly, awaiting a reaction from the closets occupants. Total silence was his reply. Not a peep. Not so much as a single poorly smothered giggle, snort, or guffaw from Drool or any of the others. He pushed the door open wider with a slow creak of old hinges, ducking low as he began crawling under the tightly packed curtain of assorted sweaters, jackets, and neatly pressed and assembled school-clothes, diving in to the deep shadowy jungle of assorted forgotten and lost things deeper inside.

“Have you both really fallen asleep in there? Come on you lot, we’re wasting time: I need you all out here on the double!” Grunk called out with a huff, tail lashing impatiently from side to side as his eyes began glowing brighter, bright enough to serve as a pair of ruddy-red spotlights as he swept his head slowly from side to side, trying to spy where Drool and Sly were lurking. Even with night-vision the hidden shadowy depths of Jonathan’s bedroom closet had a murky crowded air to it that made it hard to see very far at all.

Thankfully he didn’t need to search very hard or for very long at all, as his protege burst out from the underbrush of coat-hems to his left, leaping over a small mound of old stuffed-animals, dirty socks, and other miscellaneous trifles, before slowing to a stop by his feet. And there was Drool in all ghoulish glory: A donkey-headed closet-monster with black and white candy-cane stripped hons, four slitted yellow eyes and four long dexterous arms, with his green snake-tail Noose peeking up at him from over their shoulder with a snakey-smile.

“Heheh, sorry! Finished up my scare-exercises early and decided to take a little nap to unwind,” Drool said with an apologetic grin before his ears perked up and he titled his head to the side inquisitively, grin widening with anticipation, “wait, you said you needed us for something?”

“You’re fine Drool, glad to see you’re awake,” Grunk said indulgently. “And yes, I do and it’s important and will mean a big change of plans for all of us, but first: where’s Sly at today, don’t tell me they fell asleep waiting for Jonathan to get out of school too?” He said teasingly. A sibilant hiss of laughter issued forth from the cluttered darkness right by his left ear, before he felt the tell-tale sensation of Sly wrap loop after loop of scaly muscular coils around first his ankles, before rapidly coiling up around his body, all five heads shifting in to view as they gave him a playful squeeze.

“Sssurprissse!” Two of the heads crowed in triumph, necks coiling around each other, while the third head from the right simply gave him a smug look, forked purple tongue flickering out at the air as they let out a sibilant chuckle. “We finally got the drop on you!” All of Sly’s heads chorused with a cheer in varying degrees of enthusiasm and volume.

Grunk snorted in amusement at that, gracefully accepting the snake-monsters customary head-butts in greeting. “So you have, so you have. Good work there, I didn’t even see you coming until it was too late. Horrifically done,” he added with an approving nod.

After a moment to clear his throat with a rumbling growl, he gave Sly and Drool a serious look with a toothy frown, arms crossed and head held high. It was time to get down to business. “But enough goofing around you guys, I’ve got important news to share, so I need you both to listen closely, alright?”

Enthusiastic nods all around at that, as Sly slithered off of him to pool in to a loosely coiled heap next to Drool, who mimed zipping his lips shut and throwing away the key before sitting back on his haunches expectantly, ears perked forward and all four eyes focused on him with interest. Grunk nodded ins satisfaction at that before rolling his shoulders to loosen up and relaxing his posture a hair. “It’s nothing dire, so don’t fret: but Krolli and I were talking earlier, and due to some...events, we’ve decided we’ll be the ones to be taking JonJon out to celebrate Halloween trick and treating this year, along with most of our usual holiday hijinks.”

Grinning, he quickly waved for silence as Sly and Drool both visibly perked up with excitement at that, mouths open to no-doubt bombard him with questions. “Now, we still need to gather everyone together for a meeting and hash out the specifics, which is where you guys come in. I need you both to split up and pass the word along, help us wrangle the others together for a meeting. Tell them to meet us in the sub-basement, behind the red door in approximately—” here Grunk had to peel back a patch of fur on his right arm to peer at his dingy old digital sports-watch before he quickly resumed speaking, “—an hour and forty minutes from now, at one o’clock, sharp. We’ll be starting the meeting regardless of who’s in attendance, so try not to dawdle, alright?”

“Right!” Drool brayed.

“Got it, we’ll do our besssst Grunk!” Sly agreed with a hiss, bobbing several of his heads before raising his rattle-tipped tail inquisitively, giving the rattle a little shake as he said, “but wait: whossss going to tackle which partsss of the manor-houssse?”

Grunk paused, a thoughtful look stealing over his monstrous mug as he took a second to mull it over, rubbing the claws of his right hand over his snout. “That’s a very good question actually,” he admitted with a rueful chuckle after a moments pause, before visibly brightening up, “Hah, thank you for reminding me Sly! So here’s what we’ll do: Krolli said he would be starting in the basement and moving upwards from there, so I’d like you to find and join him, alright? There’s bound to be a lot of ground to cover, so things will go by faster if we divvy things up.” he said before turning his gaze to Drool.

“Drool, you’ll be with me. We’ll start from opposite points of the attic and meet in the middle, before moving downward from there. If we manage to get this done early, let’s all reconvene in the back of the sub-basement where the meeting will take place. Sound good with both of you?”

The enthusiastically hissed and growled chorus of agreements he received in response made him grin from ear to ear. With Sly and Drool in on their plan their quartet was complete once more, and he had a feeling they would all be done gathering everyone together in no time at all, he was sure of it!

“Alright then, you know the plan, let’s get a move on .” He proclaimed happily, letting out a pleased growl as he turned around and promptly slithered and crawled back out of the closet and clawed his way under his humans bed in a trice, Drool following close behind with a slimy chuckle as they both scurried through the Shadow-Ways, taking a quick-short-cut up in to the attic to begin spreading the word. Sly meanwhile snaked their way deeper in to the darkness of the closet, on a mission to find their friend Krolli and begin their own share of the work.

-----------------------

Just as Grunk had hoped, with both Sly and Drools help the four of them managed to cover every boogey-monster hang-out, nest and hidey-hole throughout the entire manor. Certainly no small feat, as the old Sloan-family abode was a fairly big place, and hosted more than its fair share of monsters.

With only thirty minutes to spare before the impromptu meeting was due to start and Krolli and Grunk would take center-stage to make their pitch together, Little JonJon’s four personal boogey-monsters formed a huddle in a corner at the back of the room and put their heads together. The buzz and chatter of the assorted monsters gathering a dull roar at their backs as Drool and Sly were filled in on the story and the other two’s plans.

After all, as any Netherworlder could tell you: four heads were more gruesome—and thus better—than two.

“Right! So what happened was, we were in the middle of talking about our plans for Halloween and what we were both working on, when we both overhear the boys parent talking about something over in the living room. They sound all animated about it, so naturally we had ourselves a listen.” Krolli explained as he sat back on his haunches, one arm wrapped around Drool, and the other around Sly as the three monsters formed a close huddle, Grunk hunched down to face them, their heads close together while his long snake tail wound and curled around the group. “It sounded important, and you never know when you might overhear something interesting or juicy~” Krolli added, long wormy tongue giving a wet theatrical slurp before he chuckled, eyes alight.

Grunk snorted in amusement at that. After a moment to collect himself, he gave his hairy horned head a shake, grimacing in distaste as he rolled his eyes in disgust, taking up the thread of the conversation. “They both talked about Halloween, and taking Jonathan trick ‘n treating like it was just another boring chore they had to tick off their lists. Like...like...like they were discussing how best to clean the storm-drains or detail the grouting in the kitchen. Auugh, it was simply horrible! It pained my black heart to hear such a dreadful lack of holiday spirit, and from the boys own parents to boot.”

“It was a bit bleak, listening to them both talk about Halloween and everything like that,” Krolli added in agreement, before he and Grunk exchanged sly looks, of a mind.

“So we figured...”

“...we’d make this year our year. Make it our turn to celebrate Halloween with the kid in style, all of us, together. Make this years season one the people of this town will be talking about for years to come.”

“So here we are! Now we just have to sell the idea to this lot and we’ll be on our way.” Grunk concluded cheerfully. A glance at his watch showed they had only a few more minutes before they would both have to take center stage.

“Well I’m sold! But how are we gonna do that?” Drool excitedly pipped up with a slurp, eyes aglow with monstrous glee as he shifted anxiously from foot to foot, dribbles of the near-ever-present drooling of yellowish-green slime trickling from his jaws and splattering gently against Grunks hide as the closet-monsters head bobbed to and fro.

Grunk affectionately ruffled his proteges mane, a wry smile twisting his muzzle.”We only thought about this a couple of hours ago, so we’re still figuring that part out, but I’m sure if we all pool our resources and put our heads together we’ll pull it off somehow, no trouble. Heh, but it looks like it’s show time, wish us luck you guys~” He added, unwinding his spade-tipped tail from around his friends and straightening up with a scraping of claws.

“What are you gonna do?” Two of Sly’s heads inquired simultaneously.

“Why, we’re gonna do the best we can, of course!” Krolli said with a shrug and a lazy smile, flashing the others a thumbs up. Shifting back upright on to all four taloned feet he leisurely moved to follow after Grunk as they made their way to take up the rooms makeshift stage: a simple circular clearing set towards the back of the room, the stages boundaries denoted by deep acid-burns and claw-marks gouged into the floor to form a rough rectangular shape, a single wooden podium with an old polished brass megaphone screwed in to the top as the only other conceit to complete the set-up. No fancy raised-stage, no microphone, and no other chairs or tables to be found, not here.

They all needed to be able to maintain a certain level of discretion and deniability, especially if anyone became overcome with curiosity and decided to see what was waiting on the other side of the strange, creepy red door in the sub-basement that was always sticking shut, after all.

They had both decided earlier between themselves that he would take the lead here, with Krolli cutting in if things started to become muddled; he just dearly hoped Krolli wouldn’t leave him to do all of the talking. After clearing his throat with a husky growl and stomping his feet to command quiet, the hubbub died down from a dull roar to a more subdued murmur. Grunk graced the assembled horde of horrible monsters and nightmarish spooks with a toothy grin, claws crooked in welcome as he spread his arms wide, tail lashing with nervous energy as he addressed the assembly.

“Thank you all for coming together on such short notice, your cooperation is appreciated!” He boomed, his toothy grin if anything widening further as his gaze slowly swept over the assembly of creepy-crawlie creatures of all shapes and sizes; some standing, some sitting or lying down to take their ease; while many more clung to the ceiling or the forms of the largest of the monsters present.

Aside from a few potential late-comers or absentee monsters, it looked like nearly everyone was here. Good.

“I assume everyone here has at least an inkling of what this meeting is about?” The overall reaction to that was to the affirmative, with more than a few monsters already looking keenly excited, or amused, “I won’t bother wasting any more time with speeches or slithering around the issue, then. I know that we are all already as busy as can be, preparing for Halloween. But this year I’d like to propose a last minute change of plans: we take our human, Jonathan trick-n-treating with us, and make it a joint affair between all of us!”

The assembled monsters visibly stirred at that, excited murmurs and skeptical whispers breaking out at his statement. At a glance most seemed interested, even excited; while there were a few others in the crowd who seemed more reserved, or even openly skeptical. He and Krolli both had a lot of clout, but neither of them had the authority to make any of the other boogey-monsters drop their own holiday plans in favor of this newest scheme, even if they had wanted to. No, instead they would have to draw them in willingly. Persuade them with sweet reason. The more monsters who joined in to collaborate, the better. Eight heads was better than one, and seventy-five heads or more were better than eight, when you got right down to it.

Krolli and Grunk both gestured for silence, Grunk opening his maw wide to continue speaking, when a new voice cut in from the crowd.

“Chaah bros, sounds like a riot; but what about the rest of us, huh? Why should we all join in on what sounds like more work, when the kids mainly you guy’s human more than ours anyways!” A familiar voice drawled loudly from the front of the crowd, standing up tall to command the rooms attention. Bradly.

Grunk resisted the urge to lick his chops at that. What excellent timing; he had a volunteer to play devils advocate that wasn’t Mimi, Torik, or Pellina.

Bradly was an exceptionally hairy basement-dwelling boogey-monster boasting distinctively bat-hyena-spider-esq traits with a few frog and slug-like qualities thrown in, and a thick, shaggy, messy coat of green-blue fur that was the envy of many a monster. They loomed beautifully thanks to their seven-foot-five height when standing upright, and they regularly moonlighted lurking outside windows at night, since Jonathan or their other few preferred scare-victims rarely had cause to venture down in to creepy basements for a good scare. Five glowing purple eyes mounted on hairy eye-stalks, big triangular leathery ears and an equally big snout that combined elements of hyena and fruit-bat together to create a sniffer that rivaled Krolli’s, with thin black lips and mouth full of triangular red teeth and two pairs of small tusk-like upper and lower fangs peeking out past their lips. They had big elongated hands for grabbing that ended in long spindly fingers like fat spider-legs with clammy grey webbing in between, and a magnificent pair of leathery bat-wings sprouting from their back tipped with a second smaller pair of spidery-hands, while a scaly gargoyle-like tail with a double-arrow-spaded tip snaked a short way behind them. A bit of a slacker and a goof-ball, but otherwise a top-notch boogey-monster.

“We might both be his bedroom monsters and primary scariers, but you’re also one of the kids monsters too Bradly.” Krolli pointed out reasonably, looking more nonchalant than anything, before he gave the basement-haunter a cheeky smirk, fingers steepled together. “Unless...this is your way of saying you don’t want to be the kids monster anymore?”

“W-what!? Krolli-dude, my amigo-o, n-no-no you got me all wrong-g I—!” Bradly squeaked indignantly as all five of their eyes narrowed at Krolli’s blatant jape, before Grunk cut any further chatter off with a loud thump of his tail smashing against the floor with a thunderous thud, claws scrapping loudly against the podiums already abused and scarred wood, before he snorted in warning, sending steam whistling from his nostrils a second later. The sudden dip in the chatter made him smile faintly, eyes glowing as he let out a low husky chuckle before seizing his chance; pitching his voice to a low sinister, gravelly hissing-growl he hunched down, claws curled, back up, tail crooked and teeth bared, leaning over the podium.

“Just think about about it for a moment here: what could possibly be a better way to spend time with our human and celebrate Halloween than taking the boy trick-n-treating with all of us? Imagine going on a spooking and scaring spree from sunset til sunrise, forming a monster jamboree as we do as we please, terrorize to our hearts content, and guzzle as much candy as we can stomach while we show off to our human and celebrate Halloween with gusto! We could make this a Halloween season the people of this town will be talking about years to come!”

Krolli licked his chops and struck a mock thinking-pose, leering as he chimed in with a low wet growl, “and perhaps even the demons and spirits of the holiday would take notice and confer their favor on to us and the boy too, hmmm? Such an undertaking would no doubt please them greatly.”

The hubbub from their audience redoubled, the air rent with the noise: murmurs of approval, growls of excitement, even a little scattered applause and a few hoots or howls of monstrous cheer drowning everything else out. Including any hope of a follow-up, or whatever Bradly had intended to say to that, judging from the way his mouth was hanging open to speak.

Grunk found himself grinning from ear to ear himself as he gestured for quiet, before a new voice smoothly cut in just as the noise started to die down again. “That all sounds like an absolutely deliciously dreadful idea; but if I may interject?” A familiar figure rose up and out from the section of the crowd they had been lurking in—quite literally, shape-shifting their limbs to lengthen out until they resembled nothing so much as a quartet of furry stilts—to speak, their myriad eyes gleaming with mischief. Naturally it was the one monster he had both expected and dreaded chiming in most: Pellina.

Pellina divided her time between acting in the field, and working behind the desks, gathering information on clientele and helping construct scare-files for use in the field. She was well-known for being unsettlingly insightful and well-informed, aggravatingly smug, secretive and cheekily contrary at the best of times. An excellent scarier, a champion of order and sanity when it came time to update and refile scare-files and other important paperwork; and a respected colleague. But still a gleefully persistent pain in his rump.

She possessed a sinuously muscular and agile build with boxy features and an impressive number of eyes and mouths: twelve mismatched glittering blue and green eyes of varying sizes set in a face like a cross between a tiger and a sphinx, with long tufted ears, a boxy snout with whimsically crooked janky whiskers, and a mouth persistently stretched in to an alarmingly wide and exceedingly toothy smile of gleaming white fangs. A smile that was matched by the equally toothy second maw that split her throat, and the third set in to her stomach. Six bandy legs jutted out from her body and flowed to sink into drooling feline maws set just above her double-jointed knees, which likewise flowed down into twisted articulated mitts with swollen joints and long wickedly sharp black claws. Her fur was short, velvety gray and decorated with stripes that formed whirls and loops of subdued violet and forest green that wove their way from her head all the way down to her two long, luxurious furry tails.

“Of course Pellina, the floor is yours.” Grunk said, resisting the urge to sigh.

“Well, what about Little JonJon’s parent’s? Don’t tell me you’ve somehow managed to finagle their permission for this little Halloween romp through town you’re proposing?” She practically purred, tilting her head to the side inquiringly even as she leaned in, her toothy grin taking on a coyly crooked twist.

Grunk found himself snorting in amusement at the very idea of it, before slowly shaking his head in denial. “No, of course not.”

“No? Then how do you intend to steal the boy away without causing a panic? And how do you even know Little JonJon will even want to go with the likes of all of us anyhow? What happens if you lose him, or his parents figure out something is amiss?” She continued idly, tails twinning and swishing back and forth as she made a show of examining the claws on one hand.

“Well those are actually very good questions, I—“ Grunk acknowledged, considering his response, before Bradly cut him off.

“Oh come off it Pell, I saw you cheering along with everyone else not five seconds ago! I call ‘sour grapes’! You’re just peeved because you didn’t think of it first. Sour grapes dudette, totally called it!” He hooted with a raucous laugh, a call that was taken up by several others in the crowd.

Pellina’s attention whipped around to focus on Bradly, followed by the rest of her as she leaned down towards him with a wide predatory smile. “Care to say that again Brad-dear? You’re such a fuzz-ball I almost mistook you for a cat-toy just then, and it’s oh-so-hard to make you out under all of that adorable fluff!”

“Everyone, settle down, please.” Grunk growled, even as the chatter, jeering, and assorted other noises from the assembled monsters rose in volume, drowning out whatever Bradly had to say in response. Though judging from the basement-haunters cocky grin, it was another call of ‘sour grapes’.

“Everyone—! Please be—! I need every one to—!” Krolli and Grunk both tried to roar out, gesturing furiously for quiet. It was no use, everyone was being too loud, too excitable, they could barely hear themselves over the dreadful clatter.

Grunk backed away from the podium with a low gravelly growl of annoyance, legs braced, tail stiff, and head jutting out pugnaciously as he took a deep, deep breath; neck and chest swelling as he greedily vacuumed in air, shifting from his standard eight feet height to loom at a respectable fifteen feet with a nasty grin. His blood boiling as his eyes blazed a terrible bloody red, pupils narrowed to slits. He could feel his insides churning, thin trails of noxious-looking green smoke wafting from between his teeth and hissing from his nostrils. After a few seconds the smoke began whistling out from his nostrils and ear-holes with a keen shriek; the only warning anyone was going to get before the fun began. Shoulders squared, back up and tail flexed to jut out behind him, Grunk let loose with a terrible, fearsome roar. A roar to put all previous snarls, growls and roars to shame as he hunched forward, claws hooked and mouth spread open wide in a hideous grinning snarl, a thick jet of purple flames racing out from deep inside him to explode up and out into the air with an unholy shriek as he tilted his head upward at an angle to avoid scorching the crowd. The sound seemed to go on forever, drowning everything else out.

When Grunk’s roar abated a minute later the room was almost completely silent; aside from the faint gurgle and sizzling noises that followed as Grunk proceeded to fountain several well-aimed jets of bubbling green ooze up in to the rafters to deal with the smoldering support-beams and weak tongues of fire chewing through the cobwebs that had been kicked up by his...demonstration. Krolli cautiously removed his hands from his ears, straightening up from where he had been crouched to Grunks left as the stunned silence deepened.

“Hah! Now then, perhaps we could all get back to the matter at hand and wrap this up?” Grunk boomed out inquiringly with a sarcastic smile as he hulked over the podium, idly wiping away a trickle of slime from his muzzle with his left forearm as his eyes swept over the crowd. Hearing no further objections or grumblings from the monsters present, he thumped his tail loudly against floor and allowed himself a pleased grin. “Good. Now then...” he drawled, gesturing towards Pellina, who was looking more amused and expectant than anything, though he still detected a worrying gleam in her eyes. “I’ll admit, you’ve raised some good points, so allow me to answer your questions: we’re still working on it—which is why I would like more monsters to join us in this—though I’m sure a humunculi or a disguised stand-in would suffice.”

He paused, letting out a husky laugh and snorting in amusement as he considered her second and third questions, before he resumed speaking. “I frankly can’t imagine why the boy wouldn’t; we’re his monsters after all! But...we’ll ask him, and if he doesn’t than he doesn't; we can always try for next year. And finally: can you really imagine anywhere he would be safer, better seen to and more protected than with us?”

Grunk allowed that to sink in, clawed mitts folded on top of the podium before he continued, saving the best for last. “And as for the boys parents...well: Krolli and I both overheard them talking earlier today, and they’ve both expressed almost complete disinterest in Halloween, and barely any interest in taking Jonathan out trick-n-treating to celebrate, as far as we could tell,” he said matter-of-factly with a wry ‘well-there-you-have-it’ grin and an elaborate shrug as Krolli nodded and grunted in agreement.

The low hum of chatter and background noise that had been dying down jumped right back up at that, but Pellina’s voice carried clear over it all. “I see, I see. Well in that case, I have nothing further to ask.” She said with a lazy drawl, though their was a certain tautness to her grin as she promptly began to shrink down and retreat back in to the crowd. He thought he heard her sniff in annoyance and grumble something along the lines of ‘well, you could have started by telling us that from the beginning!’ but payed it no mind. Straightening up with a shake of his head and a lash of his tail Grunk paused to regard the crowd, claws idly scraping against the podiums sides as he spoke, voice booming out to reach everyone. “Once again, we thank you all for coming together on such short notice, but I think that’s more than enough time spent on this matter. Make no mistake, we’ll be going forward with this with or without your support or approval! But...if you want to join us, than meet us tonight in Jonathan’s bedroom. Say around...an hour before midnight tonight. We’ll break the news to the boy then, and discuss things further with any monster participating. We hope to see you all there, and hope that as many of you as possible will join us. Meeting adjourned, as you all were!”

And that as they say, was that. The various creepy-crawly boogey-monsters proceeded to shuffle out the same way they came: slithering, oozing, scuttling, hopping, scampering, fluttering, stomping, creeping and crawling in a hurry, everyone eager to return to what they had been doing before the gathering, and many still visibly excited.

Grunk mimed wiping sweat from his brow with the back of one mitt while letting out a deep huff in mingled relief and exasperation as he stomped off the stage. Krolli meanwhile simply snickered and said nothing as they playfully thumped Grunk on the back, both of them moving to rejoin Sly and Drool at a more sedate pace. The pair still patiently waiting for them in the same spot they had staked prior to the meeting, avoiding the press of the vacating horde of monsters.

“That was so awesome the way you roared like that, that’s got to be the biggest, loudest roar I’ve heard yet! And I didn’t know you could make your flames different colors too! And the way you fired out those streams of slime like that, so wicked, so cool!” Drool cheered, braying with laughter, all four arms wind-milling and pumping as the closet-monster performed a little celebratory jig before scampering up Grunk’s back to crouch low atop his his thick neck and hunched upper-back. Sly promptly joined Drool atop his head, slithering in scaly loops up and along Grunks legs and around his body, until they they were soon making themselves comfortable as well, their tail and lower body hanging in loop after loop around his neck, while Sly’s upper body and heads twined along both his horns and Drool too.

“That went sssurprsingly well don’t you think?” One head hissed lazily.

“Ooh yesss indeed,” another of Sly’s head agreed, before letting ot a sibilant laugh as they draped themselves over Grunks snout, “asss if there wasss any doubt?”

“Sss sss sss, good thing you let loose with that roar when you did, I thought we were gonna have a real rumpusss on our clawsss just then for sssure.” A third head chortled, looking wickedly delighted at the very prospect of a little afternoon mayham.

The second head simply let out a lazy tongue-flicker of amusement,”doubtful, no way anyone would want to get on Grunksss bad ssside, they had it handled.”

Grunk let out a pleased growl at that, the corners of his muzzle turning up into a smile as the praise made his ears flap and his face flush faintly purple. “Glad you all enjoyed the show, but I don’t think I’m in any hurry for an encore. Hrrmm...as for what happens next? We carry on as normal until tonight.”

He paused, before playfully bumping shoulders with Krolli and flashing him a cheeky grin. “Hey Krolli, you wanna hitch a ride too?” He said with a poorly suppressed snicker.

Krolli made a show of considering it, slowly looking his friend up and down before leaning in conspiratorially to loudly mock-whisper, “Gee-wiz mate, I dunno, I think you’re gonna need to install a side-car up there first.”

They all had a good laugh at that, snickering and huffing with amusement as they ambled out of the room together. They slunk out of the sub-basement and up in to the house in companionable silence; the group splitting up for the time being once they reached the first floor. Krolli went to return to the cupboard under the stairs with Drool in tow in readyment to give their human a jolly welcome-home scare. Grunk was sure the lad would be home soon, and Krolli was eager and ready as ever.

Wishing their friends well, good fun and good scaring, Grunk and Sly were both content to simply slink back upstairs and under the boys bed for some well-earned rest, and to bide their time until night fell. They ha a lot of work ahead of them; but he was sure of one thing: this years Halloween would be one to remember.

Grunk licked his chops and closed his eyes with a deeply contented, bed-shuddering growl, snugly wrapped in Sly’s coils as they lurked in the shadows deep under the bed. He could hardly wait.

--------------------------------------------------

Authors Notes: Rough draft for chapter two. Things are starting to finally move forward, but while I haven’t finished writing this story I don’t think we’re going to be getting in to the real meat of things until chapters four onward. Still thank you for reading! Feel free to drop some C&C in my inbox or in the comments section if you’re in the mood.

I’m afraid I won’t commence with rewriting and editing (no matter how much I want to) until I’ve completely written up a rough of the story from start to finish, as I don’t want to bleed off too much forward momentum. So thanks for the patience~!

#Jonathan's Hair-Raising Halloween Adventure #JHRHA: Ch. 2 #Kooks & Spooks #Grunk von Hurst #Marlo 'Drool' Shalts #Krolli Modber #Sly #Halloween #Monster #Monsters

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imjustthemechanic · 6 years ago

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The French Mistake

Part 1/? - A Visitor Part 2/? - The Kulturhistorisk Museum Heist Part 3/? - Cutscene Part 4/? - The Marvel Cinematic Universe Part 5/? - Breathless Part 6/? - Escape at Last Part 7/? - Fox in Socks Part 8/? - Things Go Wrong Part 9/? - Downey and Out Part 10/? - Road Trip Part 11/? - Temptation Part 12/? - An Awful Reunion Part 13/? - Unreality Intrudes Part 14/? - A Call for Help Part 15/? - Loki’s Guests Part 16/? - Stan Lee Cameo Part 17/? - Reassessment Part 18/? - Midnight Invasion Part 19/? - Elevator Fight Part 20/? - Courage Part 21/? - Unwelcome Back Part 22/? - Darkest Hour Part 23/? - They Are Here Part 24/? - The Jet Propulsion Laboratory Part 25/? - Word of God Part 26/? - Avengers Assembled Part 27/? - The Houston Underground Part 28/? - Houston has a Problem Part 29/? - Onward and Upward Part 30/? - The Chi’Tauri Queen Part 31/? - Through the Wormhole Part 32/? - Prisoners Part 33/? - Arm’s Length Part 34/? - A Moment’s Respite Part 35/? - Ravagers to the Rescue Part 36/? - What Happened to Hiddleston Part 37/? - Haven Part 38/? - Steve Has a Terrible Idea Part 39/? - Can’t Be Choosers Part 40/? - Stan Lee Cameo Redux

The gang meets a familiar face, and gets some hints that something bigger is coming.

A couple hundred more yards around the inner ring brought them to another attic door, which Musa identified as the one that led to the Blue Giant. When they dropped the ladder to climb down, Steve found they were being watched not by guards this time, but by half a dozen women of various sizes and colours but all in their underwear, who were passing around what looked like a vape. They watched the intruders enter, but none commented or came closer.

There were more women, or at least, female creatures, wandering around on the lower levels as they made their way down. Steve decided to believe that the upstairs of the Blue Giant was some kind of female-only hotel, or a women’s shelter or something. Definitely not a brothel, no matter how many of the inhabitants waved and winked at the party as they went by.

By the time they got to the third floor, they could hear thumping music. Musa opened a door that led onto a balcony over the dance floor, and the music was suddenly loud enough to rattle Steve’s teeth as he stepped through to survey what was there. It didn’t look all that unlike a pub on Earth, he thought… there were people talking, drinking, dancing, and conducting shady-looking business deals, under the light of a set of drifting holographic orbs that did indeed look much like planets such as Neptune or Uranus. It was kind of nice, he thought, to know that human nature apparently covered all roughly human-shaped sentient creatures… it gave them all some common ground. At the same time, when he considered some of the things human nature included, it was also terrifying.

“Let me see,” said Musa, scanning the crowd for familiar faces or approximations thereof. Steve looked too, not expecting to recognize anybody… but then suddenly, he did. In one corner, surrounded by women and petting some kind of animal, was a very familiar face indeed. Steve had noticed it in the brig on the Chi’Tauri mothership, but he remembered it from before that, too. It was the guy who looked like Stan Lee.

“There,” he pointed. “We know that guy.”

“You do?” Musa frowned. “That’s funny. I don’t.”

“Trust me, we do,” said Steve, and started down the steps to the main level. Natasha went with him, and Steve was confident that she’d come to the same conclusion he had – this was what Stan Lee on Earth had meant when he’d told them they would see him again. He’d been surprised when they phoned him from JPL, so he hadn’t been thinking of that when he’d spoken to them in the hotel. Instead, he had somehow known that they would end up here and run into what must be his alternate self. How he’d known it was not important… maybe it was because he was the guy writing the story, but Steve wasn’t going to think about that too hard.

The man was sitting at a corner table. A robotic woman, like a much newer and cleaner version of Miss Alpha-Eleven-Three, was pouring him a drink. Another being, this one resembling a cross between a woman and a blue gorilla, was massaging his shoulders. A third, chalk-white with glittering blue scales and spines protruding from her cheeks and forehead, was sitting next to him hanging on every word he was saying. In his lap a furry creature that looked kind of like a very small leopard and kind of like a six-legged armadillo was curled up, enjoying being petted. As Steve and Natasha approached, the man who looked like Stan Lee lowered his head so he could peer over his tinted visor at them.

“Do I owe you people money?” he guessed.

“No. We need your help,” said Steve.

“I don’t do help,” the man replied. He accepted a glass of something fizzy and electric pink from the robot woman. “Thank you, darling.”

“You helped us before, in another universe,” Steve reminded him.

The man downed his drink and shook his head. “Couldn’t have been me,” he said. “I don’t interfere, I just watch. Right, ladies?” He smiled at his companions.

“We like it when you watch,” the blue gorilla purred.

Steve was a little surprised – for some reason he’d assumed that this man would remember meeting them before… as if Stan Lee were a creature that existed across all realities at the same time. Evidently he was not, and that left Steve a little unsure how to proceed. He glanced up at the balcony where the others were watching. Musa was clinging to Evans from behind, and whispered something in his ear that made his eyes go huge.

Then Steve looked at Natasha, which she interpreted as a cue to take charge. “You owe us a favour for saving your life,” she said.

“Captain Schist said we did you enough favours in return for that,” the man said.

Nat grabbed him by one of a set of bandoliers he was wearing across his shoulders. Steve grabbed him by the other. The women and the armadillo-kitty got out of the way as they dragged him to his feet.

“I’m about to save your life again,” Steve said.

“From what?” the man asked, startled.

“From her,” said Steve, nodding towards Natasha. “Hear that? You’re not allowed to kill him.”

“Aw,” said Nat. “And here I was looking forward to it!”

They escorted him gently, but firmly enough to show that they meant it, back towards the stairs. The others came down to meet them, and Hemsworth and Hiddleston took hold of the man by the arms, to keep him from bolting. He certainly looked frightened enough to try it.

The three women and the cat thing, however, had followed them. “Hey, you can’t just drag him away!” protested the white and silver one. “He’s the best tipper in the place!” She reached out and grabbed Hiddleston’s right wrist.

Frost immediately formed on the cuff of his sleeve. Her flesh was icy cold. He looked at it, then shut his eyes and concentrated. His hand turned ice-blue, and the silver woman gasped and pulled her hand back as if his touch had burned it. For a moment his eyes flashed red, then he shook his head hard and returned to normal.

The silver woman tapped her hand against the railing, and it made a thunk noise. She was cold, but Loki’s Jotun-derived body was colder, and had frozen her stiff.

“That’s not what the bar’s name means,” she said, shrinking back. The others retreated with her.

Loki fixed Hiddleston with a glare. “Never do that in public again,” he hissed.

“Give me my own body back and I won’t,” said Hiddleston, giving his own hand a shake. “That was weird.”

“Where do we go now?” Steve asked Musa. “Back up, or back out to the street? Where’s the harbour?” he asked. He knew it was somewhere in the outer ring, but didn’t know where in relation to where they were now.

“All around the outside,” she replied. “We’ve passed where your ship is and we’ll have to double back. It’ll be easier to do it from the outer ring, although if Aarflot’s noticed you’re gone he’ll have people looking for you.”

“Then let’s go by the street,” said Steve.

They started around the edge of the dance floor. There was a man with six arms, arranged radially around his torso, dancing with four women and two other men at the same time. It was quite something, and Nat had to give Steve’s arm a tug to keep him from stopping to stare.

They were almost at the front entrance when another creature stepped into their way. This one was seven feet tall and almost as wide, with a bronze carapace covered in stiff hairs and several sets of mandibles that clicked ominously as it loomed over them. The whole party stopped short, looking up at it unsure what to do, especially as this threatening beast was wearing a tropical-print shirt.

“Did you pay the cover charge?” it asked.

Musa ducked under Steve’s arm to stand between them and the creature, but then she smiled and reached up to pat it on the face. “Nukk!” she said. “Don’t worry, they’re with me!”

The beast’s posture immediately softened. “Musa!” it said. “All right, then, sorry folks. Have a nice day!” It moved aside, and they were able to descend the steps to the street.

“Who are you?” Evans asked Musa.

“Nobody in particular,” she replied cheerfully, “but Nukk and I go way back.”

Steve half-expected to be mobbed again as soon as they reached the street, but in this part of the station people were keeping their heads down, not wanting to be seen or to see others. They hung in corners and under eaves, and more than once a pair – or more – of glowing eyes blinked at them before vanishing into the shadows. This was the seediest part of a very seedy town.

“Where are you taking me?” asked the man who looked like Stan Lee.

“Back to our ship,” said Steve. He and Natasha were in the lead now, with him between them and Musa just behind, clinging to Evan’s arm. Hopefully having the aliens in front would help the group, now ten strong, blend into this weird place.

“To the Leviathan?” the man squeaked. “Why? Are you gonna use me as a hostage to make Schist leave it alone, because I can tell you now that’s not gonna work.”

“No,” said Steve. “We want you to send a message to the Chi’Tauri telling them where we are, and saying you want to sell your prisoners back to them.”

“Are you insane?” the man asked. “They’ll come here and blast the whole station out of the sky!”

“And you’ll have to fight them,” Steve agreed, “so while they’re distracted doing that, we can get back on board their ship.” As Natasha had said, it was a terrible idea, but it was the best they could do with the resources they had.

“You know that won’t help you! There’ll only be one or two queens per ship, but there are thousands more spread across the galaxy,” the man said. “You won’t even make a dent in their dominions. Are you going to let us all die for that?”

For a moment he did seem to have a point… then Steve reminded himself that the people on this planet and orbiting station were hardly innocent bystanders. “You’re a bunch of pirates and slavers,” he pointed out.

“Not all of us!” said the man. “Even if we were, who are you to be judge, jury, and executioner for the lot of us?”

Musa held up a hand. “I would like to say that this is the first I’ve heard of this plan. Did you know about this, Christine?” she asked Evans.

“Yeah,” he said awkwardly. “It’s sort of…”

“It’s the only idea we’ve got right now,” said Natasha. “We need to get our friends back to their own reality, and the only way we know of to do that is with the tesseract.”

The man who looked like Stan Lee stopped dead, leading Steve and Nat to stumble on either side of them and Evans and Musa behind them to have to move aside so as not to run into him. “The… the tesseract?” he asked. “The Chi’Tauri have an infinity stone?”

“Yeah,” said Steve. “That’s kind of our fault.” He looked at Loki, wondering if he should say that it was specifically his fault. Loki, in turn, looked at Thor, still blaming him for breaking the rune stone.

Their captive licked his lips. “Okay, look,” he said. “I’m not supposed to intervene, really. I’m supposed to observe while destiny takes its course.”

Thor pushed between Steve and Musa to stare at him. “You?” he said. “You are… of course you are!” And he laughed. “You are one of the Watchers!”

“Yeah,” the man said, as if admitting something shameful. “Nobody’s supposed to know, but I’ve been watching you. Each and every one of you.”

“Then our destinies must be great indeed,” Thor said. “The Watchers take an interest in those who have some role to play on the grandest scales of the cosmos.”

This pronouncement was terrifying on multiple levels, but the worst of all was that when Steve looked at his companions, he saw that the actors were nodding. Evans and Hemsworth, Johansson and Hiddleston, all looked as if they thought this made perfect sense. They knew the future, sort of, he reminded himself. Downey had talked about spoilers. They were about to get a big one, weren’t they?

“I’ll be your messenger, then,” said the Watcher, and cracked a bit of a smile. “You’re forcing me to do it, after all – wouldn’t want Black Widow to break my neck! The inevitable will happen one way or another, but maybe we can put it off a little longer.”

#fanfic #steve rogers #natasha romanov

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endlessarchite · 6 years ago

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#124: One Small Space And Three Options (HELP!)

Today we’re talking about a small space that’s stumping us at the duplex and we’d love to hear what your family would like to rent most. You’ll also hear how an unexpected Christmas request from our daughter sent us on quite the hunt for a house-related gift – and how we stumbled across a new 4-in-1 tool that’s extra handy to have in your junk drawer. Plus we’re asking the hard-hitting questions, like can your astrological sign really help you decorate your home?

You can download this episode from Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, TuneIn Radio, and Spotify – or listen to it below! Note: If you’re reading in a feed reader, you may have to click through to the post to see the player.

What’s New

That’s the dollhouse we built back in 2012 for our daughter (when she was 2!). Here’s the tutorial on constructing the dollhouse and a follow-up on finishing/decorating it.

As you can see in this post, it lived in our daughter’s closet until last year when she was 7 (it had a good run!) when we swapped it out for the desk she requested instead.

The intricate old dollhouses that we got are still hiding in the attic until Christmas morning, but here’s a photo Sherry snuck up there to take so you can see one of them. This is the smaller of the two (facepalm) and it’s definitely a fixer upper, but still a great score for $20! Check out those arched windows, roof shingles, and the staircase that we can’t wait to fix up with our girl. Also on the agenda: working lights and a frosted pantry door.

We also promised some old episodes for you to check out if you need something to listen to in our time off.

Episode #12: Rapping with Flipping Out’s Jenni Pulos

Episode #14: What Quitting Our Blog Taught Us

Episode #36: Reflections on Rejection with Joy Cho of Oh Joy!

Episode #39: House Cleaning Hacks From A Pro

Episode #60: Organization Tips From The Home Edit

Episode #87: Lessons From The Set Of Hoarders

And here’s Domino’s article about “How To Design Your Home Based On Your Astrological Sign.” Let us know how accurate you think yours is…

And Sherry mentioned that she’d link to that older episode where she shares her love of rocks & crystals – so here you go.

Duplex Bed Nook Dilemma

That room above is the small “bed nook” room that we were discussing (that’s the left side shown above). Both are about 7.5′ x 7.5′ and the doorway I’m taking the photo from is centered on that wall, with a pocket door (so we don’t have to worry about door-swing clearance).

Again, we primarily envision it as a kids’ space (much like the bunk bed room at the pink house) but ideally it would be comfortable for adults to sleep in as well (hence not doing bunk beds again).

Option 1: Side-by-Side Twin Beds

image source

The image above was our original inspiration for the room. Two twin XL mattresses would fit with about a 10″ aisle down the middle, and we would build a platform like this to raise them off the ground a bit. This is the option we would choose for our family.

Option 2: Twin Bed With Trundle

left image source – right source unknown

We probably wouldn’t do something quite as built-in as the photos above (we’d just put a twin bed with a trundle underneath) against the back wall – but this gives you an idea of another option. It would leave more floor space when the trundle is pushed in, but with it pulled out one sleeper would basically have to crawl over the other one to get into bed – or to go to the bathroom (which also feels less conducive to an adult couple sleeping in there).

Option 3: A Large Wall-to-Wall Mattress

sources unknown

This is like Option 1 kicked up a notch. Instead of twins with a center aisle, we’d get a mattress that goes nearly wall-to-wall (maybe even a king?). It would work great for adults and for kids who do well sleeping in the same bed, but might be more challenging for cleaning and changing the bedding each week. Plus if you have kids like ours who don’t share a bed very well, it could be a deterrent.

What do you think?

There’s more explanation and rationale in the episode (do we do something fun and special – like Option 1 or 3? Or something more straightforward like Option 2) so be sure to listen to the episode first for more clarification before voting please :)

Ok but if you’ve already listened, what option would work best for you? (Keep in mind there will be 2 additional bedrooms, both with queen beds)

Note: There is a poll embedded within this post, please visit the site to participate in this post's poll.

We’re Digging

That’s the 4-in-1 Patch Plus Primer that Sherry recently tried on our nail-hole-dappled living room wall. It totally did the trick for small holes and was extra convenient since it’s everything you need in one item.

Again, you probably want to stick with the more traditional spackle tub + putty knife for larger jobs, but we’re considering it $7 well spent!

Also, here’s the latest creepy murder book I’m reading (actually just finished last night!) which has become the latest addition to our Book Club page. It’s Paula Hawkin’s follow-up to The Girl On The Train and I was pleasantly surprised by it!

And as Sherry mentioned, I recently made our Book Club page visual, so you can check out all the books we have been digging over the years (murder-y and otherwise).

If you’re looking for something we’ve dug in a past episode, but don’t remember which show notes to click into, here’s a master list of everything we’ve been digging from all of our past episodes.

And lastly, a big thank you to The Citizenry for sponsoring this episode. You can see their beautiful goods from artisans all over the globe at CitizenryPodcast.com/YHL and use the code YHL to get $50 towards your first purchase of $200 or more!

Thanks for listening, guys!

*This post contains affiliate links*

The post #124: One Small Space And Three Options (HELP!) appeared first on Young House Love.

#124: One Small Space And Three Options (HELP!) published first on https://bakerskitchenslimited.tumblr.com/

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billydmacklin · 6 years ago

Text

#124: One Small Space And Three Options (HELP!)

What’s New

That’s the dollhouse we built back in 2012 for our daughter (when she was 2!). Here’s the tutorial on constructing the dollhouse and a follow-up on finishing/decorating it.

As you can see in this post, it lived in our daughter’s closet until last year when she was 7 (it had a good run!) when we swapped it out for the desk she requested instead.

We also promised some old episodes for you to check out if you need something to listen to in our time off.

Episode #12: Rapping with Flipping Out’s Jenni Pulos

Episode #14: What Quitting Our Blog Taught Us

Episode #36: Reflections on Rejection with Joy Cho of Oh Joy!

Episode #39: House Cleaning Hacks From A Pro

Episode #60: Organization Tips From The Home Edit

Episode #87: Lessons From The Set Of Hoarders

And here’s Domino’s article about “How To Design Your Home Based On Your Astrological Sign.” Let us know how accurate you think yours is…

And Sherry mentioned that she’d link to that older episode where she shares her love of rocks & crystals – so here you go.

Duplex Bed Nook Dilemma

Option 1: Side-by-Side Twin Beds

image source

Option 2: Twin Bed With Trundle

left image source – right source unknown

Option 3: A Large Wall-to-Wall Mattress

sources unknown

What do you think?

Ok but if you’ve already listened, what option would work best for you? (Keep in mind there will be 2 additional bedrooms, both with queen beds)

Note: There is a poll embedded within this post, please visit the site to participate in this post's poll.

We’re Digging

Again, you probably want to stick with the more traditional spackle tub + putty knife for larger jobs, but we’re considering it $7 well spent!

And as Sherry mentioned, I recently made our Book Club page visual, so you can check out all the books we have been digging over the years (murder-y and otherwise).

Thanks for listening, guys!

*This post contains affiliate links*

The post #124: One Small Space And Three Options (HELP!) appeared first on Young House Love.

#124: One Small Space And Three Options (HELP!) published first on https://carpetgurus.tumblr.com/

0 notes

interiorstarweb · 6 years ago

Text

#124: One Small Space And Three Options (HELP!)

What’s New

That’s the dollhouse we built back in 2012 for our daughter (when she was 2!). Here’s the tutorial on constructing the dollhouse and a follow-up on finishing/decorating it.

As you can see in this post, it lived in our daughter’s closet until last year when she was 7 (it had a good run!) when we swapped it out for the desk she requested instead.

We also promised some old episodes for you to check out if you need something to listen to in our time off.

Episode #12: Rapping with Flipping Out’s Jenni Pulos

Episode #14: What Quitting Our Blog Taught Us

Episode #36: Reflections on Rejection with Joy Cho of Oh Joy!

Episode #39: House Cleaning Hacks From A Pro

Episode #60: Organization Tips From The Home Edit

Episode #87: Lessons From The Set Of Hoarders

And here’s Domino’s article about “How To Design Your Home Based On Your Astrological Sign.” Let us know how accurate you think yours is…

And Sherry mentioned that she’d link to that older episode where she shares her love of rocks & crystals – so here you go.

Duplex Bed Nook Dilemma

Option 1: Side-by-Side Twin Beds

image source

Option 2: Twin Bed With Trundle

left image source – right source unknown

Option 3: A Large Wall-to-Wall Mattress

sources unknown

What do you think?

Ok but if you’ve already listened, what option would work best for you? (Keep in mind there will be 2 additional bedrooms, both with queen beds)

Note: There is a poll embedded within this post, please visit the site to participate in this post's poll.

We’re Digging

Again, you probably want to stick with the more traditional spackle tub + putty knife for larger jobs, but we’re considering it $7 well spent!

And as Sherry mentioned, I recently made our Book Club page visual, so you can check out all the books we have been digging over the years (murder-y and otherwise).

Thanks for listening, guys!

*This post contains affiliate links*

The post #124: One Small Space And Three Options (HELP!) appeared first on Young House Love.

#124: One Small Space And Three Options (HELP!) published first on https://novaformmattressreview.tumblr.com/

0 notes

vincentbnaughton · 6 years ago

Text

#124: One Small Space And Three Options (HELP!)

What’s New

That’s the dollhouse we built back in 2012 for our daughter (when she was 2!). Here’s the tutorial on constructing the dollhouse and a follow-up on finishing/decorating it.

As you can see in this post, it lived in our daughter’s closet until last year when she was 7 (it had a good run!) when we swapped it out for the desk she requested instead.

We also promised some old episodes for you to check out if you need something to listen to in our time off.

Episode #12: Rapping with Flipping Out’s Jenni Pulos

Episode #14: What Quitting Our Blog Taught Us

Episode #36: Reflections on Rejection with Joy Cho of Oh Joy!

Episode #39: House Cleaning Hacks From A Pro

Episode #60: Organization Tips From The Home Edit

Episode #87: Lessons From The Set Of Hoarders

And here’s Domino’s article about “How To Design Your Home Based On Your Astrological Sign.” Let us know how accurate you think yours is…

And Sherry mentioned that she’d link to that older episode where she shares her love of rocks & crystals – so here you go.

Duplex Bed Nook Dilemma

Option 1: Side-by-Side Twin Beds

image source

Option 2: Twin Bed With Trundle

left image source – right source unknown

Option 3: A Large Wall-to-Wall Mattress

sources unknown

What do you think?

Ok but if you’ve already listened, what option would work best for you? (Keep in mind there will be 2 additional bedrooms, both with queen beds)

Note: There is a poll embedded within this post, please visit the site to participate in this post’s poll.

We’re Digging

Again, you probably want to stick with the more traditional spackle tub + putty knife for larger jobs, but we’re considering it $7 well spent!

And as Sherry mentioned, I recently made our Book Club page visual, so you can check out all the books we have been digging over the years (murder-y and otherwise).

Thanks for listening, guys!

*This post contains affiliate links*

The post #124: One Small Space And Three Options (HELP!) appeared first on Young House Love.

0 notes

statusreview · 6 years ago

Text

#124: One Small Space And Three Options (HELP!)

What’s New

That’s the dollhouse we built back in 2012 for our daughter (when she was 2!). Here’s the tutorial on constructing the dollhouse and a follow-up on finishing/decorating it.

As you can see in this post, it lived in our daughter’s closet until last year when she was 7 (it had a good run!) when we swapped it out for the desk she requested instead.

We also promised some old episodes for you to check out if you need something to listen to in our time off.

Episode #12: Rapping with Flipping Out’s Jenni Pulos

Episode #14: What Quitting Our Blog Taught Us

Episode #36: Reflections on Rejection with Joy Cho of Oh Joy!

Episode #39: House Cleaning Hacks From A Pro

Episode #60: Organization Tips From The Home Edit

Episode #87: Lessons From The Set Of Hoarders

And here’s Domino’s article about “How To Design Your Home Based On Your Astrological Sign.” Let us know how accurate you think yours is…

And Sherry mentioned that she’d link to that older episode where she shares her love of rocks & crystals – so here you go.

Duplex Bed Nook Dilemma

Option 1: Side-by-Side Twin Beds

image source

Option 2: Twin Bed With Trundle

left image source – right source unknown

Option 3: A Large Wall-to-Wall Mattress

sources unknown

What do you think?

Ok but if you’ve already listened, what option would work best for you? (Keep in mind there will be 2 additional bedrooms, both with queen beds)

Note: There is a poll embedded within this post, please visit the site to participate in this post's poll.

We’re Digging

Again, you probably want to stick with the more traditional spackle tub + putty knife for larger jobs, but we’re considering it $7 well spent!

And as Sherry mentioned, I recently made our Book Club page visual, so you can check out all the books we have been digging over the years (murder-y and otherwise).

Thanks for listening, guys!

*This post contains affiliate links*

The post #124: One Small Space And Three Options (HELP!) appeared first on Young House Love.

#124: One Small Space And Three Options (HELP!) published first on https://ssmattress.tumblr.com/

0 notes

truereviewpage · 6 years ago

Text

House Crashing: A Jaw-Dropping Old House Transformation

It goes without saying that we’ve always been suckers for a good before & after (show me someone who isn’t and I’ll show you someone who hates fun). But thanks to our adventures in 100-year-old-beach-house-renovations over the past few years, we’re especially fond of seeing people bringing old houses back to their glory. Oh the things you’ll find behind the walls! So when Mandy shared photos of she and her husband Joe’s project in nearby Charlottesville, VA, we were basically cooing over them like two pigeons discovering an old pizza crust on a New York City subway platform.

Even without furniture (they fixed it up and then sold it before even needing to furnish it) the transformation is stunning. They also named the house “Blanche” (you know I’ve never met an inanimate object I didn’t want to name) since she is a classic old beauty – built in 1901 on a great street. Blanche had great bones, but was suffering from years of neglect. So let’s tell Blanche’s story and share a whole bunch of eye-bulging before and afters, shall we?

Here’s Blanche as she looked when they bought her:

The house was essentially a full gut job – including tearing off a wobbly deck, hacking through an overgrown yard, and accumulating three dumpsters-worth of rubble across several weekends. Oh, and a few weeks into demo Mandy and her husband found out they were expecting a baby… meaning their house project deadlines were soon up against a pregnancy deadline. Gulp!

But fret not, here’s Blanche now. TOTAL STUNNER, amIright? Actually she’s all landscaped with grass now, so she’s even cuter, but Mandy didn’t even get a chance to photograph that since a buyer swooped in and grabbed it before they got to that stage.

They reused or brought back as many historic elements as they could: baseboards, trim, mantles, doors, etc. The many dated layers of wallpaper, however, didn’t make the cut. Although creativity points for this use of a border along the stairway by someone years ago (this is a before shot):

Here’s that same view during demo, which gives us serious flashbacks to this stage of things at the pink house and this stage of things at the duplex!

The finished foyer, like much of the house, now sports classic colors (gray, brown, white), along with matte finishes and warm woods. I love how your eyes travel to that charming wooden back door with that giant pane of glass. And the cool sliding door on the left (with a double transom window on top) makes me want to scream HUBBA HUBBA! #zerochill Also she scored that gorgeous light on craigslist!

There’s lots to be envious of in this foyer, but the original millwork that survived on the side of the steps is one of my favorite details (so rare when rot spares the perfect thing – it reminds us of this miracle at our pink house). Also, check out the amazing light that comes in through that front door situation. Gimme allllll the glass.

Speaking of getting to save gorgeous original details, the hardwood floors, stairs, and handrail were all refinished to enhance the lovely old pine throughout the entire house. (And you know we love old pine floors…).

Let’s move on to the dining room. Here’s a before shot for ya:

And here’s an after. LOVE the mantel they added in front of the original chimney, and the built-ins with glass doors and marble tops (along with that marble fireplace) are so classic and pretty. Actually those upper cabinets with the glass doors were found at a salvage place called Caravati’s here in Richmond. Also, I see you transom windows! Looking fyyyyyneeee.

The kitchen is one of the coolest updates that they tackled. They stole space from the attic to bump the kitchen ceiling into an arch and then covered it with reclaimed wood boards that they saved from the house during demo. It ended up being Mandy’s favorite project in the house. I mean, I can see why.

Here’s one more shot because I can’t get enough. The antique light fixtures came from an old barn here in Virginia (purchased through a salvage shop). That wood ceiling + the stone floors + marble tops = FIRE.

And remember that wood door you could see in the background of the foyer shot? Well, they turned it into a super functional mudroom in the back of the house. This is that space before…

Here’s the same spot during demo…

And here’s the after! Mandy incorporated salvaged items from other buildings if they were missing or damaged in the house. The mudroom’s tin ceiling was from a restaurant in Alabama (purchased on eBay). The light fixtures were old salvage finds too.

LOVE how much they reused and how many other old items were looped into this home’s history – via ebay, salvage, and beyond! Here’s a demo shot of the upstairs hall:

And here’s an after shot of the same space. They doubled the light and added that amazing built-in bench underneath the giant panes of glass. IT’S BASICALLY HEAVEN IN A HALLWAY.

Here’s one of the bedrooms during demo:

And here’s the after. They discovered a part of the ceiling could be lofted and reused all of the original trim. The little rosettes in the corners of the windows KILL ME. I’m typing this from the grave.

We have the same original rosettes and trim downstairs in the pink house (we were able to save just enough to do that level but had to use new molding upstairs).

And now for a bathroom before. I know what you’re thinking. “How thorough of them to wallpaper the bottom half of that pipe.”

And here’s the very same bathroom after they worked their magic. One of the coolest things about this renovation is that all of the sinks were purchased on Criagslist (from old homes in Richmond or Stony Point). And amazingly, all the faucets and hardware were original and in working condition!

How charming is that old frosted window they hooked in front of the exterior window for flair? LOVE.

So a huge thank you to Mandy for sharing such inspiring and exciting before and afters! I know it might seem really far fetched to imagine yourself fixing up one of these older homes, but I’m telling you, just three or four years ago I probably would have said “that’s cool but way too hardcore for me!” – and yet here we are, doing it with not one but two houses on the Eastern Shore of Virginia.

I think just like they say “when you know, you know” about meeting The One, well… there are house soul mates too. And when you walk in (or even drive by) sometimes you get that feeling… and lookout! You might just end up walking through with a contractor “just to get an idea about the extent of a project like that” and then you’ll blink your eyes, and find yourself knee deep in your very own old-house renovation project. HA! It happened not once, but twice for us. One house apart on the same street! Here are all the posts about the pink house if you wanna catch up, and here’s everything about the duplex.

My biggest tip would be to get estimates from tons of experts even before you buy a house, just to be sure you can afford to fix it up, and to assemble the very best team that you can (we asked nearly two dozen people who their favorite people to work with in Cape Charles were, and very quickly noticed a trend as the same contractor and flooring people and other experts’ names kept coming up again and again). The right team, even if it takes longer to assemble, can make ALL THE DIFFERENCE!

Happy house-rescuing to you and yours!

(Photos by Kristen Finn)

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yesterdaysdreams · 6 years ago

Text

House Crashing: A Jaw-Dropping Old House Transformation

Here’s Blanche as she looked when they bought her:

Here’s that same view during demo, which gives us serious flashbacks to this stage of things at the pink house and this stage of things at the duplex!

Let’s move on to the dining room. Here’s a before shot for ya:

And remember that wood door you could see in the background of the foyer shot? Well, they turned it into a super functional mudroom in the back of the house. This is that space before…

Here’s the same spot during demo…

LOVE how much they reused and how many other old items were looped into this home’s history – via ebay, salvage, and beyond! Here’s a demo shot of the upstairs hall:

And here’s an after shot of the same space. They doubled the light and added that amazing built-in bench underneath the giant panes of glass. IT’S BASICALLY HEAVEN IN A HALLWAY.

Here’s one of the bedrooms during demo:

We have the same original rosettes and trim downstairs in the pink house (we were able to save just enough to do that level but had to use new molding upstairs).

And now for a bathroom before. I know what you’re thinking. “How thorough of them to wallpaper the bottom half of that pipe.”

How charming is that old frosted window they hooked in front of the exterior window for flair? LOVE.

Happy house-rescuing to you and yours!

(Photos by Kristen Finn)

The post House Crashing: A Jaw-Dropping Old House Transformation appeared first on Young House Love.

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lukerhill · 6 years ago

Text

House Crashing: A Jaw-Dropping Old House Transformation

Here’s Blanche as she looked when they bought her:

Here’s that same view during demo, which gives us serious flashbacks to this stage of things at the pink house and this stage of things at the duplex!

Let’s move on to the dining room. Here’s a before shot for ya:

And remember that wood door you could see in the background of the foyer shot? Well, they turned it into a super functional mudroom in the back of the house. This is that space before…

Here’s the same spot during demo…

LOVE how much they reused and how many other old items were looped into this home’s history – via ebay, salvage, and beyond! Here’s a demo shot of the upstairs hall:

And here’s an after shot of the same space. They doubled the light and added that amazing built-in bench underneath the giant panes of glass. IT’S BASICALLY HEAVEN IN A HALLWAY.

Here’s one of the bedrooms during demo:

We have the same original rosettes and trim downstairs in the pink house (we were able to save just enough to do that level but had to use new molding upstairs).

And now for a bathroom before. I know what you’re thinking. “How thorough of them to wallpaper the bottom half of that pipe.”

How charming is that old frosted window they hooked in front of the exterior window for flair? LOVE.

Happy house-rescuing to you and yours!

(Photos by Kristen Finn)

The post House Crashing: A Jaw-Dropping Old House Transformation appeared first on Young House Love.

0 notes