This view is the dining room from the living room. These two spaces form the most versatile and welcoming area in the home. This greatroom concept was very unusual in the 1930s, when houses of this size typically had just a dinette off the kitchen.  The double doors to the backyard were added around 1990.  Formerly there was a single door at that location.  The dining room ceiling beams are original and seem to be solid wood.  Later owners added hollow box beams in the living room to mimic the same style.

The living room lies over a shallow crawlspace, now sealed, that Philip Parsons remembers being used to store lumber and other materials behind doors in the 1940s and 50s.  The iron railings are thought to have been handbuilt by an Ames metalsmith.  A classic-modern style house built about this same time at 543 Forest Glen is fitted with a stair railing of very similar construction.

Here is some of the surviving original door hardware.  There are about 9 of the closet door handles (left), 10-12 of the interior glass knobs and bezels, one exterior metal knob with bezel, and the 13th street handle, lock plate, and lock, which were duplicated on the original front door (replaced in the 1980s).  The house was at first going to use 13th Street as the front entrance and mailing address, but could not due to zoning regulations.  The original mail slot remains on the 13th Street entrance.

The kitchen side of the stairs has the original storage cabinets and drawers, with replacement pull handles.

Most of the ceiling fixtures were originally handmade of copper and plexiglas, in keeping with Carters' use of modern materials. The experiment was not a total success as by the 1970s the plexiglas was mostly yellowed and burned in places and the copper oxidized.  This fixture, inside the 13th street entry, is the only original surviving.

Three original, handmade inset light boxes overlook the dining room. These were covered by frosted plexiglas and copper bezels for many years, which were discarded years ago.