I don’t know how she did it.  As mentioned in the previous post, once the previous owner moved all her stuff out and I was able to get inside and see the place, “warts and all,” as it were, there were several things I noticed immediately that I hadn’t seen before.

My first day in the new space alone, I toured the premises, making notes of repairs that would need to be done.  Even though Lorraine, the previous owner, was in her mid-seventies, she was ecologically-minded and obviously self-sufficient.  However, I discovered that many of the things that she’d done were “MacGuyvered” (I’m just making up new verbs all over the place!).

For instance, the wood shutters in the living room window weren’t screwed into the window frame, but instead velcroed in place.  When I pulled them open, there was a tremendous rrrrrrrrrIPPP and they fell off onto the carpet.  I stood and laughed, because even though they were functional, they had to go.

In the right light, it was obvious that the walls had needed an extra coat of paint, as the previous color shown through in many places (gray? dark blue?) under the ugly pink.  No problem there, as painting was something I was eager to do anyway.

Back Patio

The rose bushes on the patio had not been trimmed in months, and they threatened to take over the place.  Some of the branches had grown to four or five feet past the fence.  You can see in this photo how some of the arms are beginning to lengthen.

Otherwise, the patio was in tremendous shape, with beautiful ceramic tiles carefully placed to extend the cement pad all the way across the back of the condo.

The kitchen is relatively small, with dark wood cabinets directly from the eighties.  I knew I wanted to strip them of their ancient varnish and refinish them, perhaps giving them a nice stain instead of paint to brighten up the space.  Lorraine had purchased new appliances in the recent past, and so those are in excellent shape and very up to date.  None of that olive green or mustard yellow crap.  They are shiny white, and the stove is a flattop instead of coil burners.  Nice!

There’s a strip of “old lady” wallpaper border around the top of the kitchen walls which will have to be stripped away before I can paint in there.  Who invented that, anyway?  And guess what pattern it is?

Pink roses!

I feel like I’ve moved into a place decorated by Mary Kay Cosmetics.

My grandparent’s house always had a particular smell that I came to love.  A combination of moth balls, bacon, and a fire burning in the fireplace.  Even though this condo doesn’t have a fireplace, it still holds that same smell.  Can you buy it in a store somewhere to douse your living quarters with?  I’m sure a week with my two big, smelly dogs, and that old smell will vanish.  I don’t know that the new smell will be any better, but whatcha gonna do?