Judgement Day

The above photos are of our smallest bedroom currently serving as my office. Although it has two desks (and 3 large bookcases and a large chest of drawers), Steve prefers his own space, which is the dining room. The room is decorated with old maps. A paper store sells them as a wrapping paper for about $3 a sheet and then I frame them.  The Italian map must date before WWI as the area we visited, the Alto Adige (aka Sud Tirol) is show as part of Austria. The pen and ink drawings matted with black are scenes from York, England. The crazy clock is from IKEA. Over my computer is a shadow box saying Love in Hebrew. This is Shanna's but she did not want it back. It is next to a metal print of Steve and me under the Brooklyn Bridge from last spring As you can see, the room is chock full of stuff though I did clean up all the files that were on the floor, several boxes worth, so it does look neater.

When it was Shanna's room, roughly 1991-1997, it had mauve and blue wallpaper, a mauve rug and a loft bed that was suspended from the bookcase to the chest of drawers. The desk sat beneath the bed. We looked forever for a nice set. This was all oak. We took down the wallpaper and painted it bright yellow after she left for college. When she returned briefly to live with us, she stayed downstairs in our 'bedroom suite' designed for Josh and his ex-wife.

The realtor wants all the office stuff gone thinking if we are selling a 4 bedroom house, it should look like it has 4 bedrooms. The visit wasn't as bad as I anticipated. She managed not to grimace as we went from room to room and focused on the positives: good flow, lots of light, nice oak floors, nice trim. She even liked the kitchen as it has lots of cupboards and counter space. The highlight of our great room is the cathedral ceilings, large windows and the skylight. She was not impressed with the orange and blue wallpaper. The worst aspect of our house? Ageing windows. Half should be replaced. Also the outside should be painted. She prefers us to sell the house empty (so much for my taste in furniture) Unfortunately we have lots of little issues too. I find it all overwhelming. She was much more positive than the realtor that we fired: he thought we'd have to gut the place.

When we moved in almost 32 years ago, the house was in mint condition. Now it just looks sad.

I worked steadily for 5 hours before she came. I guess running to and fro will be my exercise for today. Outside it is 7 degrees and windy though it does seem like the bike path is cleared but I am going to be lazy. I can run inside (when it will be colder!!!!) tomorrow at the Y.