How does the narrator describe house at beginning of The Yellow Wallpaper?

At first, the narrator of "The Yellow Wallpaper" describes the house with a sense of novelty and beauty. She sees the house as a place of potential comfort and inspiration for her husband's recovery. The house is described as "a colonial mansion, a hereditary estate," and the narrator notes the "dizzy antiquity" and "quaintness of it all." She is enchanted by the wallpaper and finds the house to have a "strange, fascinating power."

However, as the story progresses and her mental state deteriorates, the narrator's description of the house changes. She begins to feel oppressed by the wallpaper and the house itself. She sees the house as a prison, and the wallpaper becomes a symbol of her confinement and mental anguish. The house takes on a sinister and threatening aspect, and the narrator becomes increasingly obsessed with the wallpaper and the secrets it seems to hold.