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Home Sweet Home: Our Unusual Tale

Tuesday, August 19, 2008

Okay, okay-- here it is:
So... long story. I live in a Freemason's Lodge... An actively used one. My hubby and I are the caretakers of the entire building, which is about the size of a small courthouse or a LARGE mansion. It is 100 years old and still very true to it's origins-- at least, all the Mason stuff is. Our apartment is on the top floor, up the servant's staircase, and I like to call us the "mice in the attic". Our apartment itself is very average. Old, kinda worn, but with great features like hardwood floors and 12 foot ceilings. Too, the Masons are very allowing with us, so we have painted nearly all the rooms and redone the hardwood floors in a dark walnut.
We've lived here since we got married, nearly 4 years ago, so it has, of course, gotten more crowded and cluttery than I'd like. But being a photographer, I am skilled at showing the "best side" of things, so the photos I'm including are pretty good at masking most of the current areas of shame.
I have loved living here-- the neighborhood is incredible, the rent can't be beat ($0), and it's been the best starter home for our lives together. But I DREAM of the day I can have a home of my very own, with a garden and a yard.... and the excuse to finaly buy a REAL couch and entertainment center (living three floors up, what's the point of buying them now? So we still have my college furniture. Our fabulous bed, my craft hutch, and Noah's crib are really the only cool pieces we own. )

Anyhoo, without further ado, I'll start with the Lodge, then finish with our lil' apartment.

Front door
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side door (our main entrance) (I'm preggy here. I kinda miss being preggy.)
*photo by Kate Benson
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main lobby (Joe's wearing the Southerland kilt, his birthday gift last year. He doesn't NORMALLY wander the Lodge like this. Or DOES he??)
*photo by Kate Benson
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The second floor bannister (Joe again.)
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The second floor staircase
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The entrance to the library/parlour
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In the library/parlour
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Our humble little servant's staircase
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Our dingy introduction to our home... Kinda sad-looking. sad)
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Our small but cheerful kitchen
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Kitchen details...
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Living room pt.1 (kitchen in background)
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Living room part 2 (three coats of red paint. Yeah, it sucked, but the results are always worth it in my opinion.)
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Living room part 3 (bedroom peeking from the background)
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Living room part 4
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bedroom (used to be the living room, but we made the dining room into the LR, the LR into our bedroom, and the only REAL bedroom into the baby's room. It works. Are you lost yet?)
*photo by Kate Benson
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Detail shot of Noah's room
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Another detail shot of Noah's room
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and the clutter is.... in the unshown hallway outside the apt., the two storage rooms, the hidden part of our bedroom, and the hidden part of Noah's room. I'm working on it. blush Questions, anyone?

(entry originally posted on Babycenter, then pasted here on my blog. 7/27/08)

(...then postponed and RE-pasted today. So now the clutter I just mentioned is significantly better. And I like being at home again these days.)

17 comments:

  1. Emily, I think that is really neat...it kind of adds to your charm :) You have got to have some really great stories (is it haunted, have you done crazy stuff there at night, do you get to spy on people???)

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  2. Oooh! I am jealous. Having a home is not all it's cracked up to be. Yardwork, anyone? Ew. I LOVE your apartment! It's very cool.

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  3. That is really neat. I would love to be like an inn keeper. Free rent can't be beat. Seriously, it isa nice lil' place. I am envious! I think if you miss being preggie, now is the time! When rent is cheap and you are already at home, you are in a great time in your life to do it. I know my kids don't care that they don't have all the best stuff and a ton of toys at Christmas, that is why ours are so close, it is more affordable now than later to have kids. Sorry, I will be quiet now. :) I am just an advocate of kids close in age! :)

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  4. i agree about the color red! we have it in our dining room. three coats of primer and three coats of red...i *LOVE* red, but i never want to paint it again...after doing it twice, i will happily pay someone else to do it for us! lol - i love your home!! sooo cute, as are the people who make it up. :)

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  5. I think it must be amazing living there!

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  6. Anonymous7:58 PM

    Wow, how cool are you ?! I love your little apartment in the attic. So cute and super chic!!

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  7. qqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqq

    (the above line was courtesy of Tonks... I guess that's what she has to say about your apartment, though exactly what that is, I can't really say.)

    Anyway, the pictures are great- despite the three-story climb (which I now have to make multiple times a day due to the fact that my classroom is on the third floor), I love how cozy-cute and charming it is (however, that photo of Joe behind bars is a little frightening, if not ominous)

    Maybe someday I'll feel confident enough in the state of our apartment to be willing to show it off...

    :)

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  8. Yeah, maybe I'm just slow, but I never realized the lodge was so BIG! I always thought it was some nice cozy building. It's so COOL!! I'm more jealous than ever!

    Also, I'm with Martina. I painted my office red (because I'm not as brave as you. I wanted to do my living room, but I wimped out) and because I was all "I don't need a primer", it took me 6 coats to get it smooth. I don't think I'll do that again. . .

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  9. Wonderful photos of where you LIVE!

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  10. We need the background story of how you got the place! Also, what is involved in keeping the place? Do you clean it?

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  11. Very cool! What an interesting living situation - and a fun apartment. And while having a little garden is nice, not having yardwork and house maintenance sounds good too.

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  12. Anonymous9:33 PM

    HOw did you find this cool arrangement to live? So cool!

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  13. Anonymous9:34 PM

    How do you bake so much in the ktichen? Is there an oven besides the toaster oven in the photo? Very impressive.

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  14. Your apartment looks so quaint and fun. And the house is amazing! I've always thought that I wanted to live in an older home, but I would need to have it completely remodeled because I like the look of old, but not the functionality. So does anyone else live below? How great that you have no rent, that would be awesome

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  15. Very, very cool!

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  16. Haha, at last the mystery of the Mason Lodge is revealed. When you said that I thought of a family named Mason, never imagined i was actually a Mason lodge. Wonderful, looks like you do tight spaces and mismatched furniture very well, much better than I would. I'm still dying to see more of Noah's nursery though. Those little teaser shots, it's isn't fair :)

    I'm curious about what you have to do to keep it up too...and can you sit in the little library whenever you want? Anyway, fun to see where you live.

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  17. What a fabulous cozy home! I got here from fern's blog. I love your taste!!! FABULOUS!

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