Moving: A Photo Essay


The Huge Mess
The Huge Mess

Danielle and I bought our first home near the end of February.  We’ve moved many times before – between semesters at Cornell, from Cornell to Tampa, and from Tampa to Baltimore.  Now we were finally moving into our own home.  And so, for the first time, I decided to thoroughly document our move.  I was partly inspired by photo blogs I’ve been reading recently, such as Jeffry Friedl’s blog.  I decided to put together a photo essay.  So I whipped out my cameras and started shooting.

We first started packing mid-April, knowing we’d be moving into the house at the beginning of May.  We had a huge mess in the hosue for a few weeks, as you can see above.  The rest of the story is told through the photos and captions.

Boxes in the Closet 1
Christmas Boxes and Books filled up most of our hallway closet.
Frames that used to be on the TV Unit
The Newspaper Method of Packing Valuables
Some of the fragile boxes
The Packing Peanuts Method for Valuables.
It's all empty now.
It was so odd to see this TV unit bare. It was previously covered in family photos. We didn’t take it with us to the new hosue as it didn’t fit in the new living room.
How many shades of white are there?
How many shades of white are there? When you’re choosing the color for your new house, way too many!
Day Twelve: Waiting to Get the House
After waiting from February until the end of April I was impatient about getting the keys.
Day Thirteen:  Caulking
There were so many holes to plug up on the walls, but at least I had my podcasts to listen to.
Danielle's Car on the First Day of Moving Small Stuff
We decided the best thing to do would be to move all of the small stuff to the new house so we would have a lot less to move on moving day. Danielle’s Honda Element was perfect for this.

My Trunk on the First Day of Moving Small Stuff
My Car was a little less useful for the task.
My Backseat on the First Day of Moving Small Stuff
But at least the back seat can be lowered.
Little Giant Ladder
My Little Giant Ladder was VERY helpful.
Having Lunch
Danielle’s parents taking a lunch break from helping us paint. That was the craziest weekend of the whole moving situation. Neither of the four of us had painted before so it was a lot of “on the job” training.
Getting more Primer
Danielle’s father was in charge of putting the primer coat on the rooms where the colour was changing dramatically.
My father-in-law applying primer
Applying Primer
Day Sixteen:  Today I Painted.
As the weekend wore on, everyone found their niche. Eventually I did less painting and more prep work.
Painting the Sliding Door Frame
Danielle, on the other hand, was awesome at touch up and small detail work.
The Edging Technique
Danielle’s mom forgot this technique until we were nearly done painting. It would have saved a lot of agony with the painter’s tape.
Day Eightteen:  The Aftermath
I was wearing some jeans with a very small hole in them. Over the course of the weekend the hole got bigger and bigger.
Day Nineteen:  Almost Done Packing
I only had a little left to pack at this point.
The Living Room - Ready to Go
Moving day had finally arrived and we were ready!
The Guest Room
Daniell’s mom made some covers for the beds so they wouldn’t get dirty on the moving truck. Unfortunately, they were made of spandex and made handling the beds nearly impossible.
Duc Keeping an Eye on the Chairs
Danielle’s father wasn’t able to carry heavy things because he used to do deliveries for his company and hurt his back very badly. So he was outside guarding the items from theft. When I saw this photo, I just had to snap it. It has become one of the favorites in the family.
The Moving Truck
At this point we were nearly done filling up the truck, but still had about 1/4 a truck full of stuff.
Ian and Dan moving the couch
Dan brought Ian, shown here as Shadow-Man, to help us move.
Min Pretending to Help with the Couch
Min also helped us move. Or at least gave the impression of helping.
Two Plants and a Tree
Bizarre symmetry that happened on its own.


This is a little video I accidentally shot because I thought my camera was in photo mode.

Everything Unloaded into the Living Room
The living room was full of all the items we had to take up stairs.
Assorted Moving Stuff
These were mostly items for the garage, but the garage was full of items that belonged in the living room.
Day Twenty-Four:  Moving Day
Tired during moving day.
Dinner without a Table
We didn’t have our nook table yet, so we improvised with a box.
Day Twenty-Eight: Too Much Dust
All the dust from moving and from the cat hairs in the basement were driving my allergies crazy.
Dad moves on to Row Three
My father helped us install flooring because he had done in on a bunch of rooms in his own house. He lay the flooring and I cut the planks.
It takes until Five to get this far...
It took us a work day’s worth of time just to get this far.
Completed in the 2000 hour
At the end of the day we still had another room to go.
Planks Completed; Quarter-Round Needed.
Now that all the planks had been laid, it was time to put the quarter round.
Danielle Applies the Finishing Touches to the floor
Danielle placed putty on the border between the two floors.
Quarter-Round
The quarter round was hard to place around the bay windows.
Floor is Finished - Time for Furniture
Now we need to move the furniture in.
T Molding Interface with Kitchen
The interface between the dining room and kitchen.
Dining Room
The dining room is furnished, but not complete. It is still missing books for the book shelves.
Living Room
The living room is still missing some plants and other items.
The New Thermostat
The electric thermostat replaced an old analog one that used mercury.
The Dining Room is Complete
Now the dining room is complete. A key missing item was the table runner. We spent three days looking for it. Eventually we found out it wasn’t in a box, but had been in our master closet all along.
We're DONE!
Finally on Monday, 26 May, we were finished! It was a lot of work. Not because the previous owners had neglected the house; they gave it to us in good shape. But we wanted to replace the carpet on the foor floor with the laminate flooring. And we didn’t like the same paint colours they had chosen. But now we had made it our own.

3 responses to “Moving: A Photo Essay”

  1. Ian actually had a supporting role in the 1990 NES epic, Mega Man 3 as Shadow Man. Very few people recognize him from those days, good catch.

    Min did a lot of “attempting” to help, that’s true. Just kidding, we were all invaluable to the work effort. INVALUABLE!

  2. I hope all is well in your new home. May this be the start of many new and wonderful memories for you both! Congratulations!