1257 Lansing Street
Alma lives in a Detroit Bungalow with her niece. The small front yard has native landscaping friendly to insects and birds. Front steps lead up to a large covered porch supported by four columns with bases wrapped in bricks. Planters line the porch railing. There is a wooden porch swing with a small outdoor table.
Contents
Main Area
The small foyer has a rack for coats and shoes. To the right is the master bedroom. What used to be a wall to a corner office off to the left has been replaced with a sturdy ledge holding up a massive aquarium.
The foyer opens up in to an open living room. Family photos, candles, and memorabilia cover the mantel of a fireplace edged in native stone. The wall has built in shelving, filled with books. You can see the kitchen and dining area towards the back, with a mudroom out to a backyard.
The wall to the corner office has been taken out, leaving a square arch lined in wood trim with a crucifix over the transom. The office is now a cozy reading nook with a chaise lounge. Natural lighting comes in through the front windows.
Backyard
The backyard is a xeriscaping work in progress. There's a patio area with patio furniture. There is a rain garden where someone has been planting things that will have very deep roots. Someone is trying to design an artificial snag out of natural things to fill the nich of natural snags that animals and plants use for nests and things.
There is still some lawn, but the yard is slowly being replanted to have pollinator friendly plants, native flora, and some brambly bushes that give birds places to perch without being in danger from cats and other small predators. An old plaid flannel shirt is hanging from one of the brambly branches and is slowly fading and fraying. It is a home for whatever finds its way there.
There are bird feeders and bird houses. There is a big bird bath.
Guestroom
This was once the master bedroom, but after her brother died Alma has taken residence. The bed that was meant for two people is pushed off to one wall to make more room for a worktable and bench. A rolling toolbox doubles as a nightstand. There are various works in progress. Some of them are more obviously utilitarian than others. One of the transom windows has been fiddled with enough so that a crow can manage to open or close it. The windows here have planters with gravel and rocks along with growing things.
Loft
The door to the loft has a sign with different lettering styles. Text in a gothic style reads, "ABANDON ALL HOPE YE WHO ARE NOT" and then in a whimisical style "a thing with feathers". The sign is slightly warped and crumpled and it has been flattened out. The artist has worked with these defects to shade in stones to a gateway. Above the 'ABANDON ALL HOPE' phrase is a newer lettering 'The Gate to HELLo'.
Not all of the defects are part of a stone gate to HELLo. Some of these stones turn in to dark clouds fraying out in to lightning. Some of them slowly turn in to the warped and open bars to a bird cage and then turn in to lightning forking in to the surrounding edges.
In the corner of the sign someone has drawn a picture of an elf holding up a sign that says "Mellon". The darkening wash recedes towards this section in to lightening shades of blue and then aqua.
