Operation renovation

You know those moments when you think, "Damn life is crazy right now"? That's how I've felt this last month. I moved a few weeks ago....Again! For the first time in my entire life I have my own place. No roommates. This means I cant accuse anyone of eating my ice cream. I have to own my Ben and Jerry's obsession. I finally get to see exactly how much toilet paper and paper towels I consume. (I've always assumed my roommates used too much of each). That mess in my living room is now my mess and I must own it. If my house is dirty its my own fault, cant blame my roommate.

I started out in college with bad roommate experiences until I moved to the ZTA house my junior year. I met Elizabeth and Jeannie who are my best friends today. The next summer we lived together and then when Jeannie left we found a less than par replacement.

When I left Winthrop and moved to Savannah my childhood best friend Katie moved in with me. We had a great apartment on a cobblestone street for 3.5 years. We decided we wanted more space so moved in with our friend Lauren. We all got along great and Katie and I got our own place when Lauren moved in with her beau.

Living with my best friends was always great. Katie and I joked we would have a common law marriage if we stayed together a few more years. We could share groceries, bills, and blame each other for our mess. There was always someone to get sucked into a tv show with and always someone to go out with you or to the chinese super buffet.

The only downside to living with your besties is that sometimes you get sick of seeing that person all the time. I guess this is good preparation for marriage. When Katie left I decided I wanted to live with strangers. I found 2 girls and decided to live with strangers so that I didnt have to be friends with them. All of my friends were married, living with significant others, or enjoyed living alone. It wasnt the worst idea I ever had. We didnt all get along though so we decided to go our separate ways.

Living in a great area of downtown Savannah is expensive. Luckily, I'm a property manager and have access to lots of houses. I manage properties for someone who had a carriage house unit that was in desperate need of a rehab. I worked out a deal and agreed to do all of the work. Here is the before of the living room/kitchen. There was no fridge, the stove was disgusting and a kitchen counter was pretty much non existent.

This is the bedroom before. The little room with white walls would later be my closet. the bathroom was caution cone orange!

Here is the bathroom floor before. We had already removed the sink and paneling at this point and painted the brick white.

Bathroom floor after, my sink is going in today.

We put laminate hardwood over the old parquet peel and stick vinyl. It was a lot of work and my boyfriend and I tested our relationship but in the end we were both very proud of what we accomplished.

The living room after. All new lights, it was just bulbs before. I got rid of the heinous shelving, yellow walls, and finally had counter space.

Thanks to pinterest I had some great ideas for little things. Every house needs a chalkboard wall. My kitchen now has one.

Every girl also needs a chic pink chandelier in her closet also!

And every good little dog needs his own little corner

So thats my new place. I couldnt have done it without the help of my boyfriend. I never knew he was handy. I am very impressed with his skills. We learned so much about each other through this process. I know to keep my mouth shut and let him figure out a problem before I offer my advice. He learned to keep his mouth shut when I get frustrated and just give me space. We are a stronger team thanks to this project. He is so proud of what we have accomplished as am I. He tells everyone we see and wants to show the photos of the rehab. There are still a few things to be done and I will post more photos of the living room and bedroom when they are finished.