Since our mothers have been clamoring to see where we live for some time now, I figured I might as well break out the digital camera and document the “lay of the land” here at Rannoch Road. A few warnings: this is the house of four 20-something computer people. It’s actually much, much messier than it looks in these photos. (Especially my room, which my mom would instantly guess anyway.) I took the pictures on different days and in different lighting conditions, so they’re going to be a bit inconsistent. And for any would-be thieves – it’s going to become painfully obvious that we have nothing of worth, so I wouldn’t bother if I were you.

Welcome to our house! Step right in. There’s a coat rack to your left behind the front door. We generally just kick our shoes off right there too. The shelf at the bottom of the stairs is usually overflowing with mail, most of which was for the previous tenants. (We think they skipped town.)

Now that we’ve got the door shut, you can see you’re in the main hallway. The stairs lead upstairs to the bedrooms (we’ll head up there eventually). At the very far end of the hallway is the kitchen. First, though, we’re going to turn right through the door into the living room.

We actually have a “double lounge”, so what you’re seeing here is to your right once you go through the door. Those windows look out the front of the house. The fireplace is fake; the bottom is filled with pinecones and potpourri (not our idea). This is where the four of us can often be found, lolling about on the couches and watching telly.

Facing the other direction, you can see the back half of the lounge. We’ve got two more armchairs we can pull up around the television, and in the back corner resides Alex’s stereo. There are a couple nice glass cabinets on the wall that we use to house our videos and our liquor. And yes, that’s an iron on the mantelpiece. (Snookums likes to iron his shirts in the morning while watching “The Big Breakfast.”)

Speak of the devil. Here’s Snookums picking out a CD to play while eating his Weetabix.

At the end of the lounge is a glass door that leads into the kitchen. Step right through to get a better view and to check out our sweet back garden. If you look up, you can see that the ceiling is glassed in, which means we get lots of sunlight here in the summer. It’s a nice place to sit…

The big kitchen table was the clincher for our decision to rent the house. We made sure that it came with the furnishings. It’s generally cluttered with newspapers and wine bottles and boxes and mail. We love it. In the corner is the clothes dryer I bought from the dodgy man up the street. It’s got Barbie-Dress-Up magnets on it that Snookums’s mom sent us. On top is a peace lily plant that Alex and Nick “liberated” from the flower seller down the street. (They claim she gave it to them, but as they were on their way home from a session at the pub, it’s anyone’s guess.) *grin*

Here’s our nice little back garden. We have no idea what any of the plants are. We don’t mess with ’em.

Under all the ivy in the corner is a little shed. We’ve never even been in it. Snookums looked in the window when we moved in and reported that it was infested with big spiders. He’s got big plans, though, to get rid of the beasties and turn it into a sauna. Uh-huh.

Stepping back into the kitchen, you can see where we prepare all our nutritious meals. (Or in reality, where we empty the curry tins onto plates.) There’s a dishwasher there on the right, and a microwave I bought in the back corner. To the left of the stove is Snookums’s pride and joy, his espresso machine.

With your back to the sink, here’s the view back down the hallway towards the front door. The fridge is built into the cabinet just past the oven door. The next little area is the laundry room.

See ma? We wear clean clothes. We’re not total heathens on our own. *grin*

Heh. Here’s the little toilet under the stairs. (I scootched the large pile of PC magazines on the floor out of the shot.)

We’ve exhausted the possibilities downstairs… Shall we head up to the first floor? (Note for Americans: the English have a “ground floor”, and then the first floor is above that. Yes, it’s confusing.)

The first thing you come to at the top of the stairs is the main bathroom. This is the one that I share with Snookums and Alex. It used to have really horrid wall stenciling, but we got the landlord to paint over it.

See? Isn’t it pretty? Of course, this is the only shot you get, because the rest of it is pretty messy.

Leaving the bathroom, this is the upstairs hallway. There are two doors on the left that lead to Snookums’s room and my room, and the one at the end is Alex’s.

Here’s Rodd’s room. Yeah, it’s dark. But it was also messy, so deal with it.

Stepping a little farther into Snookums’s room, you can see his computer area by the window and his wardrobe to the left. On the top of his bookshelves is the Boba Fett mask I got him last year for this birthday.

This is the view outside Snookums’s window, looking over the kitchen roof and into the back garden.

Moving along the hall, we come to my room. I had to leave the curtains pulled on my big front windows or the shot would’ve been overexposed. You can see my computer desk with my iMac, Boudicca (that’s her name), and the scanner up above. I’m a big fan of those big wardrobe cabinets.

A closeup of the stuff on my dresser. You can see Interactive Yoda on the left, along with Fleecy (the Beanie Baby) and Talking Pooh (wearing the Minnie Mouse ears and pirate eyepatch). In front of my toiletries bag is my Army of Darkness “Ash” action figure.

Here’s the other side of my room. More closet space, my bulletin board, and my towel rack. Excitement, I know. You should’ve seen it immediately following the Australia trip though. *grin*

In the interest of Alex’s and Nick’s privacy, I’ve omitted their rooms from the tour. (Nick lives up on the top floor.) If you wanna see their accomodation for yourself, you’ll have to catch them in the pub and wrangle an invitation…

Let’s head downstairs and out the front door. Here’s what it looks like from the front.

There’s the big front window that you could see from the living room. Most of the houses on our street look pretty much identical, but English people really go to town on their front gardens to differentiate. We pretty much just leave ours alone though.

Here’s the whole house as seen from across the street. That’s my window above the living room, and Alex’s little one is to the left of that. You can see the skylights above Nick’s loft in the roof. That’s Alex’s little car in front, too.

This is the view down Rannoch Road. It already looks different in the week since I took this. The trees are all flowering and green things are starting to poke out of windowboxes. It’s a nice street.

We’re only a block away from Fulham Palace Road, which is one of Hammersmith’s main thoroughfares. Here you can see the Sainsbury’s Local where we buy our groceries, and down from that is the Post Office and the video store. And that’s it! I hope you liked the tour!