How Messy is She?

Clare is so messy that she dropped the spready tool thingy (I believe that is the technical term) full of drywall mud not once, not twice, but three times from the top of the ladder. OK so I am a mess. I spill things. Not sure this is what one looks for in renovator. And you should have seen me with the fire rated spray foam. That stuff is sticky...and orange! I had gloves on and still managed to get it all over my hands (and Peter's sweatshirt I was wearing).

I would say my greatest skill is in demolition. I like demolition. There isn't too much you can mess up there. Messing things up is the point. Right up my alley. My mother used to think it would embarrass me to have people see my messy room...not so much. There is a picture of me in high school sitting on the floor of my room surrounded by clothes, overturned laundry baskets, papers and books. I look as happy as a clam sitting amongst my mess. But with renovation you have to clean up the mess. You also have to be sure you don't create a new project...like sticky orange foam removal.

The Move to Maine

So why Maine? I lived in Washington, D.C. for 20 years. I love D.C. but in Washington I would always be a renter. We couldn't afford to buy in a decent neighborhood. And what we could afford would have been tiny! When we started searching for the commercial property we could call home, it was the buildings in Maine that spoke to us. What were they saying? Two things, "I can be something if someone would just take care of me" and "I am reasonably priced." It was an excellent combination.

Now, we thought that we would buy the building and within six months have someone renting our second floor office space. Almost two years later and we have no one in the second floor and I still haven't opened a gallery. We do have a sprinkler system. I've removed drop ceilings, painted, etc... so now we are close. And we better be! Because and income preoperty with no income is just a money pit. We have some more money to spend before we can call the 1st floor space a gallery. Not sure where that money is coming from but my new mantra is "we will get there."

Big Dreams

For several years, Peter and I wandered around Washington, D.C. talking about our dreams. Some were fairly simple, like finding a place to live large enough for his kids to spend time with us in the summer (one visit was all we needed to realize four of us in a one bedroom apartment wasn't going to cut it). Other dreams were a bit larger and more complicated to figure out, like how to get Peter to work less and enjoy life more. During our wanderings we hit on one thing we both were keen on- buying and living in a commercial building. Not everyone's dream, I know, but surprisingly a dream we wanted to share.

In the summer of 2008, we bought our building. The very building we had tracked online for two years. When the price dropped, we jumped (a bit faster than we were prepared to). And now we own, what his kids call "Dad's disaster house."