Entering the house, I was stunned by the view. That was my first impression. Then the layout touched me – horizontal, rather than straight through like a railroad car as many of these development houses tend to be. So, could I ignore the horrendous brick colored wall hiding the dark walnut grained kitchen? The 12″ x 12″ white-ish ceramic tile floor that may or may not have had a few cracked tiles? The ridiculously old fashioned furniture? The plastic flowers throughout the house? The heavily pop-corned ceiling? The different colored walls in every room (the bedroom was lilac and turquoise with a light blue master bath). The room off the kitchen that housed two enormous dark brown vinyl Barcaloungers (each one more like a command center than a chair); a massive TV suspended from the wall and a huge refrigerator (“That’s for our beer”) – could I just not see all that?
Something told me to go for it. So my agent and I schmoozed that night on the phone and I told her to go for it – make an offer. A small amount of haggling later, the house was mine. Yikes!
That’s when the simple “Oh, I’ll just paint it”, became a massive renovation, unintentionally. Four months and 18 pounds later (you try living in a house while it’s undergoing a renovation, when your kitchen has been demolished, your fridge is in the sun room and the only food you can manage is pizza (of course treating the workers as well) and Haagen Dazs. I must say I was thrilled with the results – but it took another year before I undertook the Master Bathroom renovation.
And then the garden.
Whew. I’m done!
Before
