Saturday, January 26, 2008
HOLY BAD WALLPAPER
my buddy pete, some of you know him, some of you don't, bought a house in miramar recently. it is walking distance from where we work which is brilliant. today, nigel, pete and myself were the moving crew. pete had mentioned the house was a sight for sore eyes but i took that news with a grain of salt as you do. i mean, from the outside and the few times we've driven by, the house looks tidy and well kept so i didn't think much about it ... but that was the outside.
never before has the phrase 'don't judge a book by it's cover' been more apt. when i walked into this house, what lay before me put me in a mild state of shock. not so much shock that pete actually bought a house in this dilapidated condition (although that crossed my mind too) but shock that the people who moved out had actually lived like that for probably the last 25 years or so. never have i uttered the word "WOW" so many times in such a short span of time.
we're talking thread bare carpet covered up with other various bits of carpet. we're talking a bathroom that has a tub on end in a crate and a second vanity which is just sitting there doing nothing. we're talking shoddy (in the worst imaginable way) construction or lack thereof. the picture above is a shot of part of the wall in front of the bathroom where there was no wall and at times just a door propped up in front of some shelves and held in place with a piece of twine tied in a loop attached to a nail. truely shocking to see. the house just flat out needs a serious dose of T.L.C. and it'll be cool.
on the upside, i wasn't sure if this was an ill fated move by pete or a genius move by pete. i'm swaying toward genius move because if he digs in and renovates this house to the level where he can be proud to have friends over, he'll have learned so much in the process that he'll be set up to do this again and again and again as he realizes his goal of purchasing properties and doing them up. the lessons to be learned on this house are many and i'm looking forward to lending a hand or two in the process.
go hard pete!! congrats on the purchase...the first of i'm sure what will become many.
my buddy pete, some of you know him, some of you don't, bought a house in miramar recently. it is walking distance from where we work which is brilliant. today, nigel, pete and myself were the moving crew. pete had mentioned the house was a sight for sore eyes but i took that news with a grain of salt as you do. i mean, from the outside and the few times we've driven by, the house looks tidy and well kept so i didn't think much about it ... but that was the outside.
never before has the phrase 'don't judge a book by it's cover' been more apt. when i walked into this house, what lay before me put me in a mild state of shock. not so much shock that pete actually bought a house in this dilapidated condition (although that crossed my mind too) but shock that the people who moved out had actually lived like that for probably the last 25 years or so. never have i uttered the word "WOW" so many times in such a short span of time.
we're talking thread bare carpet covered up with other various bits of carpet. we're talking a bathroom that has a tub on end in a crate and a second vanity which is just sitting there doing nothing. we're talking shoddy (in the worst imaginable way) construction or lack thereof. the picture above is a shot of part of the wall in front of the bathroom where there was no wall and at times just a door propped up in front of some shelves and held in place with a piece of twine tied in a loop attached to a nail. truely shocking to see. the house just flat out needs a serious dose of T.L.C. and it'll be cool.
on the upside, i wasn't sure if this was an ill fated move by pete or a genius move by pete. i'm swaying toward genius move because if he digs in and renovates this house to the level where he can be proud to have friends over, he'll have learned so much in the process that he'll be set up to do this again and again and again as he realizes his goal of purchasing properties and doing them up. the lessons to be learned on this house are many and i'm looking forward to lending a hand or two in the process.
go hard pete!! congrats on the purchase...the first of i'm sure what will become many.