Walking up the stairs to the cluttered porch of Apartment Number One, 1132 Main Street, you will approach a residence affectionately known as MILF Manor. But, a Manor it is certainly is not, and neither Vicky Diedrichs ’11 nor Dylan O’Donoghue ’11 is a mother.
According to Diedrichs, they stumbled on the name by mistake.
“MILF Manor just was an accident,” Diedrichs said. “The house across the street, they were gonna call it Meercat Manor and someone was like, ‘Did you just say MILF Manor?’ And it was really … funny.”
MILF Manor is a cozy house. The warm scent of home-cooked food can be detected in the air, a crooked lampshade bathes the living room in a hazel tint and bags of candy are scattered on the table.
“It’s quaint,” Diedrichs said.
As a duo who have lived in the house for only a little over a month, traditions are slightly difficult to come by.
“We feed the bird,” O’Donoghue said. “Yeah. We cook. And we don’t watch TV but we do have two TVs.”
Other objects that prove to be unconventional include an enormous orange road sign that reads “ROAD CLOSED AHEAD.” The sign, propped against a corner, has been turned into a makeshift closet and houses their cleaning equipment.
“There are no closets in the house,” O’Donoghue said.
“That’s our tradition!” Diedrichs said.
Reminiscing about the College’s dorms, neither resident of the Manor seemed to particularly miss the confinement their previous living space.
“I think it’s weird to walk around in dorms … they feel like dungeons,” O’Donoghue said.
“I like for it to feel weird when I go to the grill and check my mail,” Diedrichs said. “It’s really nice living off-campus. It makes me wonder why I ever lived on campus.”
The house is decorated in a manner atypical of a college residence, mixing eccentricity with a sort of “Grandma’s Home” vibe.Certainly, grandmotherly wallpaper lines the small dining room, and floral patterns are present on the Manor’s comfy brown armchairs. Streamers declaring “Happy Birthday” hang across the walls of the living room and their rooms are covered with Polaroid photos of themselves and their friends.
“I thought maybe it would be a good idea to get some pictures of our moms,” Diedrichs said.
But instead, a bird theme is much more apparent in the house than the MILF theme—a poster bearing the various “Backyard Birds of North America” and several paintings of birds hang prominently in the house’s living room. Since August, Diedrichs and O’Donoghue have also been housing a small bird who has yet to take flight.
“We just call him Bird,” Diedrichs said, as the small creature tumbled across the table and fell headfirst onto the carpet.