Set Up

I've spent most of my evenings for the past week unpacking everything from the move, and setting up house. Today, I finished. It still needs to be cleaned, and I'm sure some things will move as I learn what works best, but boxes are emptied and pictures are hung. I'm very pleased.

A few hiccups, though. I tried the fireplace for the first time yesterday, and it was a less than stellar success. It burned great, and gave plenty of heat. It also gave a lot of smoke. Before you ask, yes, I opened the flue beforehand. And the draft from the chimney was excellent. But I still got enough smoke to set off the smoke alarm. And now my living room smells like a campsite. I'd open the windows to air things out, but a) it's pretty cold, and 2) the windows are painted shut. Suggestions are welcomed.

In other news, Jane had her last day of work on Friday. On Thursday, we had a large group go over to Cap City in Shirlington for lunch, and gave her a low-key little send-off. And on Friday I met up with her, Ian, Tracy Kerr, and another former McMullen-er for dinner and drinks at Bungalow Billiards. It was fun, but bittersweet since Jane won't be at work tomorrow. I'm glad she's got an exciting new job, but I feel like work is going to be lonely, since Jane is one of the few people I interact with consistently there.

Anyhow, I took a few shots of the new place with everything set up. Please feel free to tell me how I should have done it to get better Feng Shui, or whatever.

The living room, just inside the front door

Living room from the far end

The master bedroom still looks kind of bare...

...very bare

Bathroom with new shower curtain. At least it was cheap.

The new library is in a small room, so it's difficult to photograph. I can only fit one more shelf, then there is no more wall space. I guess I'll have to build an annex.

The dining room. The green carpet has diagonal hatching, though you can't see it here. The table is lined up with that cross hatching. [/geek]

The kitchen. The disposal is fixed, and the range working properly. The cabinets and countertops are still pretty awful, but it is certainly better than my old kitchen.

Crazy Uncle in the Attic. I've set up the TV and computer in the attic space. I was going to put the guest bed up here in the garrett (not pictured), but the box spring would not fit up the stairs.