In the basement, I had to climb over the musty remnants of decades of discarded household acquisitions: lamps, old winter coats, boxes of books, broken chairs. Upstairs wasn’t much better. The kitchen was ransacked, and the bedrooms looked like a … Continue reading
Yesterday I showed your the wall decorations of a spartan bachelor house. Today, the kitchen. There wasn’t much left in this kitchen. Just those buckets of debris, and this massive old refrigerator. The electricity was off, so I didn’t see … Continue reading
We all have a little something different decorating our walls. Covering the blank spaces around us is a basic human trait that started with cave painting (check here for a history of wall coverings) and today includes posters, paintings, textiles, … Continue reading
Downstairs was a makeshift bedroom that likely was inhabited by a couple of skateboard-loving teens. Upstairs, in what I gathered was the parents’ room, there was little left behind. Just a ladder, a few boxes, a couple of books, and … Continue reading
There was a box in the basement full of old financial records. The picture wasn’t pretty. From the mid-2000s to early 2012, credit card statements grew in balance, one after another, until there seemed to be no way out. I … Continue reading
Finding all the garbage while doing a trashout is not just a matter of opening the front door. You have to look for the attic, outbuildings, and garage rafters. But you can’t forget to look down. This photo is the … Continue reading
They ran a machine-painting business from the office in the basement. Boxes of old receipts and financial records sat in an inch of water, mouldering in the mid-summer stench of stagnancy and abandonment. A married couple appeared as the co-signers … Continue reading
The cabinets and counter were clear, save for these glasses. It almost seemed like the homeowner was hesitant to part with them, instead opting to leave them out for someone else to use. I declined. I can still try to … Continue reading
The basement was a mess. It was the classic Midwestern unfinished affair, with the twist that there were two improvised bedrooms, presumably belonging to teenagers. The first thing that caught my attention, though, was this oddly placed sign. I can … Continue reading
One of my favorite songs on Bob Dylan’s album Desire is “One More Cup of Coffee.” The song tells of a gypsy family in which the father figure must leave. He speaks of unrequited love, and that he must move … Continue reading
