Bienvenue!

Welcome to the Project Ragland (aka House of Leaves) blog.

The House of Leaves is an old, decrepit-ish behemoth of a house in Mt. Washington (a 'burb of Cincinnati). It's on a street called Ragland, but House of Leaves fits it much better. (Credit for the name goes to Amy.)

HoL had been in the same family since 1910. They loved it, and the only reason they sold it is because the man who was living there got really sick. So sick, in fact, that he lived in the house for two years without leaving the ground floor. My dad gets along very well with the owner, though, and he's glad to see the house go into the hands of people who will appreciate it.

And we will.

Dad and I have been plotting to undertake a project like this since I was a little girl, so this was the perfect opportunity to start. It then occurred to me that my current roommate, Amy, would be killer in an environment like this. Long story short, after seeing the house, she's onboard.

House basics:
*Basement. Unexciting. Lots of cement. A shower.
*Ground floor. Kitchen, dining room, den, foyer, bare room, bathroom. Okay, not so much a bathroom as a toilet behind a door.
*Second story. Bedroom. Bedroom. Bedroom. Bedroom. Kitchen. Bathroom.
*Attic. Two finished rooms.
*Back yard. Deck, in great shape. Tons of room. Lots of trees.

Points of interest:
*Stained glass windows. Two full-sized, one smaller, one "hidden," and accents on the front door.
*Owner left a LOT of crazy shit. All old, most in good condition. Today we found an old Monopoly set and a ton of science fiction books. Lots of cabinets, dressers, appliances, et cetera were left behind.
*So much of the place is antique already. Light fixtures, doorknobs, light switches, you name it. A lot of stuff is original to the home.

I'm sure Amy can fill you in on a lot of the details that I've forgotten.

Amy, dad, and I went over to HoL today and did some basic cleaning. We took care of the "Greenroom"... when we found it I was in heaven because there was hideously green carpet and greenish wood paneling. Other than that, the room was bare... unless you count the giant tiger mirror. Which I think we'd all just as soon forget.

I kickboxed all the paneling off and vaccuumed while Amy cleaned the window and let some air in. We now have one liveable room.

Also accomplished today: cleaned the stained glass windows! They are shades lighter now, and let in so much more light. Otherwise, we just took care of some basic scrubbing of light fixtures and minor stuff like that. We also kicked and tore a lot of ugly things. Verrrry therapeutic.

The house is fabulous. I've never lived in a place so big--maybe not even half as big. The things the house needs are minor compared to what COULD be wrong with a place a century old. I have no problem cleaning and doing minor maintenance. The goal that all three of us have is to restore this house to the beautiful thing it once was--to bring out some of the old features (the kind that you find behind FAUX WOOD PANELING).

I plan on moving into HoL right after graduation.

Okay, so that was a lengthy first post, but I think I covered the fundamentals of the house. I will try to keep this updated with the progress of Project Ragland--I think it will be fun to look back on, but I also think that it will be entertaining to read as we move along. After all, who knows what we will find when we start pulling up shag carpet.

P.S. Dad says a horse was buried in the back yard. Coooool.