Favorite Thing(s) About Your House

[AOEforme]

What are your favorite things about your house?

[Benzgirl]

Are you talking about a Meeting House or a Live-in House?

[Xidelt]

I didn't know AOE chapters had houses. Congrats on your new house!

[BigRedBeta]

I don't know that the things I love about my former house are replicable, but I like the idea of this thread.

• The original part of our house was built in 1926, so it has steam heaters. I really miss it being the middle of winter and 10 degrees outside but having to have my window wide open so I didn't roast to death. I also miss walking past the house in the winter and seeing that everyone else had windows open too.
  
• I miss the smell of the house in late August after no one has lived there for the summer...it's hard to describe, but the accumulated years of living have left an indelible scent that will forever remind me of being 18 and walking through the house during rush for the first time.
  
• I love that we have little traditions and restricted areas. Only initiated brothers are allowed to walk on black floors. I love that our chapter room is limited to initiates, complete with a coded lock on the door (though I know there are a select number of friends and girlfriends who have been snuck into it). I love how pledges aren't allowed to say certain words out of respect to the brothers. These were all things that made initiation that much sweeter.
  
• I love the "classic" library we had off of our living room. It was a great place to have committee meetings or meetings for outside organizations, or simply find a quiet place to sit and get away from distractions. It wasn't big, but it had comfy chairs and a lot of interesting books related to the fraternity or the campus.
  
• I loved that the place felt like home for everyone. After the bars closed or the party let out, there would always be guys hanging out in the formal living room...and sometimes the furniture got moved for impromptu wrestling matches. But the key was that guys felt comfortable enough to do those sorts of things.
  

I guess the bottom line is that you have to make the house a place where memories are made. That's what's going to make it a place that people cherish. Hold your meetings there, have fun there, make a place where people want to live or want to spend time there because it's ground zero for what's going on.

[twinkle555]

The best things about my house is the mural I painted over the summer in the foyer (it is the AOII international logo rose with a quote about sisterhood next to it), the motto of AOII painted in cursive in one of our hallways, and the cube windows on every floor...we put little picture frames or symbols in them. Actually all the greek houses have these...DG has white anchors in theirs, ADPi has purple violets in bud vases..etc.

[blackandgold55]

I love the letters on the front of my house, They are a a classy silver colour (They look almost metal but I am not sure what type of metal that would be) surrounded by a kite I always thought this was cool. I also love our yard, we dont really have much of a backyard but we have a huge front yard with big beautiful trees on it and we have a tire swing hanging from one of them which I remember thinking was adorable during recruitment.

[APhiAnna]

Sometimes little silly things can make all the difference. Try getting a little stuffed animal and giving it a name...we had a little teddy bear that we'd always throw at the TV if a character did something stupid, take prank pictures with after late nights, etc. A little whiteboard in the kitchen or dining room with a quirky quote about sisterhood or womanhood that changes from time to time...a secret stash of popcorn or Diet Coke that everybody raids...a communal box of funny costume items that people can raid before a mixer (or just goofing off during finals week)...sometimes we'd take funny pictures and tape them over people's faces in 80's era composites to see if anybody would notice...we're girls, we love goofy things to look forward to and bond with.

[ForeverRoses]

Originally Posted by AOEforme

Thanks for the suggestions. It's a live-in house that we're just renting. We won't even be hosting chapter there: our chapter will continue to take place in our office. We're really excited and I was just looking for decorating ideas. Plus, I love hearing what other people love about their house. You get some fun stories....

You might want to consider giving members that are not living in a reason to stop by- such as a nice study area. Or maybe have mailboxes for all the members (not just the ones living in the house) that way instead of handing stuff out during chapter, you can just stick it in their mailbox (and it gets them to the house). Then you just announce "formal pictures are in- check your mailbox".