We Took a Crack at the Shack

Did you know that springtime is absolutely lovely in California? Me either. Mostly because I spent the bulk of my free time working on a tri-plex -- a building which I felt lukewarm (at best) about anyhow.

When we bought the place last fall, RP had to talk me off a ledge (or rather out of tears) every time I entered the apartment I was about to call home. Despite being a cool 200 feet from the beach, the apartment we RP decided we'd move into was old, dingy, and by the looks of it, inhabited by no one but 20 and 30-something single males for four or five decades. 

Behold: 

It was pretty tragic to say the least.

It also demanded just about all of our free time to devote to cleaning, repairing, cleaning, interviewing contractors, cleaning, purging, cleaning, etc. In fact, for about six weeks, my home looked something like this: 

I'm now happy to report, however, that I now actually enjoy coming home. In fact, I kind of love our little beach shack. It's amazing what new carpet, wood floors, new paint, two completely renovated bathrooms, new baseboards, new doors, new fixtures, and new kitchen cabinets will do for a place.

Not to mention a whole lot of credit card charges labeled "One Kings Lane."

Note the absence of Bedroom 2, as it currently empty aside from an air mattress and a few orphan boxes. 

A weekend in San Clemente, anyone?