New House
Part 2
So now that the real estate transaction was done, it was time to make the place home. I had the Verizon Fios guy scheduled for the 15th, and the movers were scheduled for the 16th. I also had an air mattress delivered to the house, since Elyse would be getting my bed.
Meanwhile, as a matter of cost savings, I was responsible for moving my own wallhangings and electronics. I would take care of both of those prior to the big move. But first, before I touched anything, I wanted to document the apartment as it appeared in its final configuration. Something to remember it by, I suppose.
My bedroom. I was still using my old denim comforter from college, though it was starting to look a little worse for wear at that point.
My bedroom closet. I had some old, obscure things hanging on the wall in the back of my closet. The idea was that I would enjoy them because they had personal significance, but no one else would necessarily appreciate them.
The bathroom. That room had my first LED bulbs in it. Rest assured that I took those bulbs with me when I left.
Hallway between the living room and the back of the apartment, with my ATU poster and a painting that I did in 1996.
The kitchen. The bulletin board ended up in the kitchen when I redecorated in 2014, the microwave changed in 2011, the dishwasher was replaced in January 2014, and the faux-wood floor was installed in February 2016. That wood floor, which was peel-and-stick and applied directly over the old floor, didn’t wear very well, as parts of it were starting to lose their adhesion by late 2017.
The living room. Note the new couch, in service as Elyse’s “nest”. Elyse, meanwhile, didn’t want to move from her nest for the photos, but agreed to let me photograph with her in the shots. Elyse did that pencil drawing of me in 2015. I had originally intended to hang the drawing up somewhere, but standing up on the table ended up being its permanent location. That corner as a dining area, meanwhile, never really lived up to its full potential. I tended to eat in front of my computer, and so it ended up becoming a junk corner.
My desk. The fire alarm that I normally kept next to the printer is missing, as it was already at the new place.
Then, that night after work, was perhaps the most emotionally draining event of the entire process: removing the wallhangings. Even though the final decor was only there for the last three years (of ten), it really defined the place and gave it character. I was surprised about how hard that was to complete, because that, more than anything, represented the dismantling of my home of ten years – even more so than the actual move a few days later. I suppose that it’s because even though the furniture was still in place, everything looked very different afterward.
No more closet decor.
No more mirrors, no more Dinosaur Canyon, no more threatening letter, no more diploma, and no more Power Ranger.
All of the decor from the bedroom piled up in the living room.
The hallway is bare once again.
No more bulletin board.
The mirrors around the kitchen are down.
The pile is a little bit bigger now.
Elyse suited up to join me in removing the wallhangings from the living room. Yes, she really did wear a hard hat and safety glasses.
A very blank wall where the three long frames were once displayed.
Elyse removes a photo of the Washington Monument, creating another bare wall.
No more Mars Cheese Castle, and no more Coke bottles.
One more bare wall, which formerly held photos of the Asbury Park Heating Plant and the Maryland Midland Railway.
The pile.
And then there were two.
Unscrewing the fire alarm from the wall, leaving only the anchors in place.
The Metro map was the last thing to come down. I put that up shortly after moving in, and it was there for the whole ten years. I was surprised to find its outline on the wall after I removed it. I suppose that’s what happens when something’s been hanging in one place for a decade.
It really doesn’t look like home anymore.
I didn’t sleep very well that night. Even though I was sleeping in my own bed, in the same place where I had been sleeping for ten years, it didn’t feel like home with the wallhangings down. It felt more like I was spending the first night in a new place. Then the next morning, we brought all of the wall decor up to the house.
Bringing the big Metro map into the house, along with the other wallhangings, on the morning of November 13.
Elyse had the same feeling of unsettledness as I did, but while I was inclined to just deal with it for a few days, Elyse took matters into her own hands and made some temporary wallhangings while I was at work the next day. I was very surprised to be greeted with new wallhangings in the apartment when I got home from work that night.
“Five black IKEA mirror”.
“Dino”.
My ATU poster is restored, in some form. She really did a killer job on this one.
The Metro map. Unlike the real one, which is from 1996, this one had the Silver Line on it.
The sick copier, which I drew back in 2009. I was especially impressed with this one, because Elyse drew it entirely from memory.
I slept much better that night, with the wallhangings in place. Those temporary wallhangings were definitely the nicest thing that someone could have done for me right about then. We saved the drawings after the move was done, and they’re going to go up somewhere in the house.
On Tuesday, November 14, according to plan, the Internet got disconnected at the apartment. I was surprised that Verizon wouldn’t let me do a direct cutover. I had to disconnect the old service at the apartment on one day and connect the new service at the house on a different day. That night, I dismantled my computer and all of the other various electronics for transport to the house.
Then on November 15, the day before the move, we brought all of the electronics over and waited for the Verizon guy to come and hook us up. That was a very straightforward process. Since the previous owner also had Fios service, all of the equipment was already there. Thus all that they had to do was turn the service back on and verify that it all worked. I jokingly said that now that we had wireless Internet in the house, the place was, at long last, livable.
All of the electronics piled into the back of the Soul, ready to take to Montgomery Village.
Elyse sits in the corner of the living room with a blanket. Since we weren’t living in the house yet, I had the thermostat set at 60 degrees when we weren’t there, and it had not yet warmed up to the regular temperature of 68.
I also realized during this time that I had never taken any photos of the house while it was still empty. The previous owner was still living there during the showing and the inspection, and I had been too busy doing other things post-closing. But with the move’s occurring the following day, it was now or never.
The kitchen and breakfast bar. Note the missing toe board under the sink.
The living room.
The wallhangings from the apartment, sitting on the floor in the living room.
The utility room in the basement, with only the washer and dryer, the water heater, and empty shelves. The previous owner left the shelves, which I had not expected, but which I greatly appreciated.
Elyse’s bathroom in the basement. We were surprised to find that this bathroom had a medicine cabinet (on the left), which we had missed during both the showing and the home inspection.
Elyse’s room, complete with ugly chandelier. Also, yes – that is the Sable’s old grille on the wall in one of the photos.
The backyard.
Looking upstairs from the living room.
The back bedroom.
The master bedroom.
The window at the mezzanine level. You have no idea how much I love having this window.
A near-empty mezzanine, with only a chair mat, a cable box, and a future wallhanging in the room.
Inflating the air mattress for the first time. Since Elyse was getting my bed, I would sleep on this until we got a chance to go to IKEA.
And that was that. With our work at the house done for the day, we headed back to the apartment to enjoy our last night there. The next day would be a very big day for everyone.