Frat House

Hi, everyone: The Hubby and I just came back from tucking The Boy into college for his sophomore year. This time, he's living at a Frat House! (Cue the ominous music that goes nuh-nuh-nuhhhhhh.....)

It's actually a handsome old house that's seen better days. I'm guessing it was built in the 1910s. (19-teens? Not sure how you say that.)

Anyhow, before the lovely place was utterly choked with cardboard boxes from IKEA and BB&B, before the hearty handshakes and backslaps and joyous shouts of "Bro!" rang up and down the hallways, I was able to skulk around and take some pictures of this faded beauty.

Come with me, and I'll take you on a tour.

The vestibule has an interior wood door with 24 glass panes and a faceted glass handle. Beyond, you can see the front door, which is incredibly thick and has massive brass hardware (not visible, here):

 
A closeup of the inner door:

Just inside on the left, a narrow staircase behind a discreet door leads from the kitchen to the upper floor (this staircase was designed for the help to take). A larger, wider staircase leads off to the right, for guests and family members to take, to access the bedrooms on the upper floor:

The handsomely worn newel post on the main staircase. What people, what events, has it seen in its lifetime?:

The entry has a huge living room on the left. It features hardwood floors, a large bay window, and a fireplace located in the center of the long wall.

At the far end of the living room, you can see what used to be windows with a door between them. That was once a covered porch. This year, it's where The Boy and The Roommate live. The room has no closets--natch! It used to be a porch!--but they discovered it catches a lovely breeze, if you open the doors that flank the room. Because--yeah--it used to be a porch:

The living room fireplace still has what I suspect is its original wood molding:

The dining room has high wainscoting, triple windows (you see 2/3 of the windows, on the right, below), and more hardwood floors. Now, alas, it is also a double room:

This window, below, is the source of much merriment and puzzlement on the part of the boys. Originally, the window allowed folks in the dining room to look out onto the enclosed porch and the garden beyond. Now, it is in the wall between two double rooms, and the boys are hatching plans for all sorts of hijinks involving this unwanted peek into each others' rooms:

This stole my heart. It's what's left of the butler's pantry, between the kitchen and the dining room. High, original wood cabinetry, with its original hardware latches and many old, wavy-glass panes:

Inexplicably, somebody took the time and trouble to strip many layers of paint off the cabinets, and they absolutely glow in the afternoon sun.

*Sigh.* I spent a lot of time standing in front of these cabinets, dreaming of filling them with white china, vintage tablecloths, and softly patina'd old silver:

A closeup of the original latches on the cabinets:

Not much is left of the original kitchen, alas, except for two huge windows that face west. They have deep sills and sashes, and they still look out on lush green trees in the late afternoon:

As you enter the house, the large living room is to the left. A sweet little study with built-in bookcases and a fireplace is to the right:

These bookcases wrap all around the room, interrupted only by the fireplace and two windows. I daydreamed about filling those shelves with all my favorite books, adding a rug and a cozy chair or two in front of the fireplace, and whiling away many a winter afternoon in front of a small fire:

This is the back of the house. You can see two square-shaped dormers on the attic level (inexplicably off limits to the boys, which annoys them to no end). The wide-hipped house has a deep overhanging roof and an attached garage (just visible jutting out on the left side of the photograph). The large amount of concrete and the bike rack are unfortunate modernizations to accommodate the house's job as a place to house two dozen or so college undergrads...

...who have already begun to decorate in their own inimitable style. 

Beer Pong. All part of a day's work, when you're a gorgeous old house in a college town.