This section is a little different to most of the others I’ve written up, simply because I’ve got an “unofficial” source. Stephenie Meyer drew me plans of the inside of the Cullen house, which aren’t for posting. You’ll have to take my word for the contents of some of this, although some of her answer is archived in PC8.
The location of the Cullen house is out beyond Forks itself, over “the bridge at the Calawah River,” from which point the road winds northwards. There is an “unpaved road. It was unmarked, barely visible amongst the ferns,” (TW15) that Edward takes to get to the house, and he drives through thick forest for “a few miles” (TW15) before the house becomes visible.
From the outside, there is a lawn or meadow, with “six primordial cedars that shaded an entire acre with their vast sweep of branches” (TW15) that ensure that shade stretches right up to the house.
The house itself is “painted a soft, faded white, three stories tall, rectangular and well proportioned” and it has a “deep porch that wrapped around the first story.” (TW15) Bella estimates it at around a hundred years old and describes it as “timeless, graceful.” (TW15) We are also told in the same chapter that the river can be heard close by.
The front door of the house opens onto a huge space which “must have originally been several rooms,” before walls were removed to make it all one large room. The south-facing wall is “entirely replaced with glass” (TW15), from which you can see down to the river. This also accounts for the bright airiness of the room, as does the colour of the decoration: “The walls, the high beamed ceiling, the wooden floors and the thick carpets were all varying shades of white.” (TW15) However, as a security measure, there is an “inconspicuous keypad on the wall” that activates “huge metal shutters” (TW19) to seal up the glass wall.
Just to the left of the door is “a raised portion of the floor” with “a spectacular grand piano” (TW15) on it. Behind the platform with the piano on it is the door into the kitchen, which in turn opens onto the dining room. The dining room actually isn’t a separate room: it is separated from the living room by a long wall that curves around it, a little like a screen. On this wall are a large flat-screen television and a couple of computers nearby. A seating area is grouped near the television (as you walk in through the door, you can see this diagonally to your left rather than the piano which is immediately to your left). Other groups of chairs fill the rest of the enormous space in the living room.
Also on this floor are the C.E.E. Inc. Offices, and a bathroom. These are both to the right of the front door, and behind the sweep of the staircase.
On the west of the room, there is a “massive curving staircase” which is also described elsewhere as “wide.” (TW15) The banister is a “satin smooth rail” (TW15). From the living area below, it is possible to see people at the top of this staircase, as Alice and Jasper appear there shortly after Bella has arrived at the Cullens’ house for the first time.
Upstairs, there is a “long hall” paneled with a honey-colored wood, the same as the floorboards (TW15) with a cross at the very far end. Edward explains that on this floor are Rosalie and Emmett’s room, Alice’s room and Carlisle’s office.
It’s actually a little more complicated than that! Carlisle has two rooms on this floor: his office (which is immediately above the dining room on the west side of the house), and his library, which adjoins to his office, on the north-west corner of the house. Esme has a small study as well, which is accessed through Carlisle’s office. His study is described as a: “high-ceilinged room with tall, west-facing windows. The walls were paneled again, in a darker wood…where they were visible. Most of the wall space was taken up by towering bookshelves that reached high above my head and held more books than I’d ever seen outside a library.” (TW16) and there is also a “huge mahogany desk” a leather chair”. The wall by the door into the hallway is covered with pictures, some of which tell the tale of Carlisle’s younger days.
Rosalie and Emmett share a large “white” (SMW) “L” shaped room, with a bathroom at one end, and a similarly enormous closet at the other. They are above the living room, and share the glass wall, which runs up the entire south side of the house.
Alice’s room is shared with Jasper, but Stephenie Meyer explains that: “since Alice’s personality is stamped all over that room, and Jasper has his study, everyone thinks of it as Alice’s” (PC8) “ especially as they don’t physically sleep anyway. Jasper has an adjoining office of his own, but the two of them share the connected space. His office also backs on to Rosalie and Emmet’s closet, but there is no connecting door. Their room is above the front door and the piano part of the living room, with their bathroom and closet space being above the kitchen. In the Extended Prom Remix, Alice’s bathroom is described as “bedroom-sized.” (SMW)
On the very top floor, there is another “paneled hallway,” (TW16) just like the floor below. The bulk of the space on this floor is taken up with what they refer to as “the library”. Stephenie Meyer explains this as: “This is where they do things that are technically illegal–like document forgery and computer hackery and all kinds of other shady stuff.” (PC8)
Edward’s room is the “last door in the hall” (TW16) and is facing south, directly above Rosalie and Emmett’s room, but his space is rectangular. Again, he has “a wall-sized window like the great room below,” with a fantastic view: “down on the winding Sol Duc River, across the untouched forest to the Olympic Mountain range.” (TW16) His closet and bathroom are at the furthest end of his room to the door. The west wall of his bedroom is “completely covered with shelf after shelf of cds,” with a “sophisticated-looking sound system” in the corner. (TW16) Unlike the rest of the house, Edward’s room isn’t decorated in shades of white. There is no bed but a “black leather sofa” (TW16), a “thick golden carpet, and the walls were hung with heavy fabric in a slightly darker shade.” (TW16)
Nearer to the stairs is Carlisle’s and Esme’s bedroom. This is partially above Rosalie and Emmett’s closet, and also over Jasper’s office. This room also has a closet and a bathroom at the furthest end from the door.
In addition, “there’s also a basement where they keep illicit things. It’s hard to get to, if you’re not a vampire.” (PC8)
For the movies, the Hoke House served as the Cullen house. The home is beautiful, but does not resemble the house described in the book at all. Below are images of the Hoke House.
Follow Us!