My very own home

                    Here's my cozy little Missouri home
                                                                                                  (As you can see, I love before & after pictures)

Above left is before I bought the place. On the right you can see my new, white, energy efficient windows and newly sealed patio.
It came with ALL appliances and a new shed. All I added was a garbage disposal, a ceiling fan in my bedroom and a clothes line pole
in back where I could see it from the kitchen window. I also had 12" of insulation blown into the attic and plastic spread out over the entire
area beneath the house. Makes the winter warm and cozy and except for food, I'd never have to leave.

I just finished mowing last summer when I took the photo below left. On the right, snowfall we just had and because of it, no garbage
pickup for two weeks. "What a bunch of wimps," says this woman from North Dakota.

Then the front deck before I bought the house and on the right is after I sealed it on 10-07-2010.

I refinished the bench, taking off the yellow finish, cleaning all the metal parts and using an outdoor green paint along with a clear, spray
polyurethane on the seat, about six coats. That wood was VERY dry. Every bolt on it was loose too so everything was tightened. It's like new now.

Below is my "new" swing.   It was untreated wood and covered in green mold. I removed the mold, primed, painted with high gloss white
outdoor enamel and stenciled flowers on each arm with a little design on the back too. Looks much more inviting this way.
I also cleaned and sealed the back deck. (This swing and the front porch bench are both going in my shed for the winter. )

Below left is the back patio when it was for sale, cluttered with stuff left by the former owner. She left a patio table with six chairs, two hoses,
and the swing. None of the wood was sealed against the elements so now everything is, even the posts. I painted the posts next to the swing
white and used the last of the green outside paint too. Below right photo was taken in October. My girlfriend has the patio table and chairs,
everything else stayed. Don't the new white windows I had installed in May look infinitely better then the black ones?

... to my home. Below is the living room looking at the front door, then into the hallway toward all bedrooms.
On the right you can see the new corner protectors.  Also notice the blue arrow pointing to the wireless doorbell I installed a few weeks ago.
It sounds exactly like the bell we had in our home when I was a kid.

Below is the living room and on the right the blue arrows point out my new protectors on each side of my coat closet.

Below left is my kitchen with teapot collection on top of the cabinets. On the right is looking into the kitchen and toward the computer room.

The above photo is my computer area. In the same room looking left are before and after pictures of my new corner protectors in that area.
There's Biscuit coming toward me on the right photo. He's difficult to see because he's the same color as the carpeting.

Above left is my hallway to the bedrooms, the folding doors on the right hide the washer dryer and the ceiling light cover is one I acquired from
my childhood home. I had it for years waiting for the opportunity to someday use it in my own home. On the right is an illustration by my
brother that was used in a children's book titled, "Boogey Man, Oh Please!" and published in the 1980s.

Below left my front bedroom. I plan to put a twin bed in there for me when I have company, they can sleep in MY bedroom. The center
photo is my hobby room with Frank looking at me from his cat bed on top of my sewing machine. On the right is my bedroom but during
the day it's a giant cat bed with its day time residents Nettie and Kenny.

Below are the two bathrooms with before and after pictures.

The bathroom before I bought the house is on the left. After moving in I painted my master bathroom green after I painted the bedroom the same color, then
without the king size bed the former owner had in that bedroom, there was a lot more room with my queen. Also notice my private entrance to the Ministry of
Magic. Of course that's Harry Potter with pictures of all my other Potter things peppered throughout the place and why not? It's my place...

Can't have too much lavender in my main bathroom. On the left is before I bought the house and adding the lavender touch.

You'll see, from "Deathly Hallows, Part 1" that I have my own private passageway into the Ministry of Magic Headquarters
and as Ron stated, and I have to agree, "It's bloody disgusting."

                                           MY OBSESSION BELOW

The picture on the left is the floo powder from Harry Potter's "Chamber of Secrets."

When I finally get connected to the "Floo Network" I'll be ready to go with my very own floo powder
in its container (pictured below) which is next to the fireplace of course, just like the one in The Burrow.

Of course in the muggle world, the flue powder container (spelled floo in the books) was sold on eBay as a "wall vase" and my powder
is a mixture of wood ash and green glitter, but it doesn't matter, it's floo powder to me and when I get connected to the network, I'm ready to go.
The wand came with "Deathly Hallows, Part 1" DVD and is a ballpoint pen when the handle is pulled off. Hedwig was purchased in Florida at
the Wizarding World of Harry Potter theme park and the time turner was another ebay purchase.

On the right is a display on one of the shelves on either side of my kitchen window. In the back is a box that once contained a chocolate frog,
YUM. The box comes with a collectible card of a famous witch or wizard (holograph), mine was Rowena Ravenclaw, the founding witch of
the House of Ravenclaw which is one of the four Hogwarts houses.

In the window display, the little statue in front is Hagrid holding a magical creature with Fang, his boarhound, sitting next to him. In the middle
is Dobby, the freed house elf, holding Harry's sock that was hidden in a book given to him by Lucious Malfoy, Dobby's owner. That presentation
of a sock effectively freed Dobby, my favorite character in the series. The little statue was given to me by my brother Modern.

My Weasley clock on the kitchen wall below along with the Golden Snitch that got itself stuck in
my kitchen window while fluttering through my home, are just a few things around the house.