=: WITH THE cost of a new home going up, many people
-- settle for a more affordable version of their dream home.

«“My husband and I were one
“couple who bought a home that
needed our attention. —

It was a. tired Victorian with
potential, ome that would be

* - transformed into House Beautiful

with a little bit of work.
’. Those few weeks between the

.sparchase and sale and passing of
' papers-were our heme improve-
“. ment honeymoon. .Armed with
back issues of decorating maga-
‘-. gines, we enthusiastically dreamed
~~ of lounging under cathedral ceil-
_., ings and Velux skylights.

2 Once we moved in and donned
’ our ‘painters’ pants, however, we
‘ discovered that that: little bite of
work would -miore ‘realistically
stretch into the five-year plan:

: The: honeymoon was over, not
only with the house, but between
me and my, husband as well.

_Any ‘coupie. decorating a home
. quickly realizes: that every. .
unresolved issue in: their: marriage

is. going to crawl out of the un--

at painted . woodwork io take a star-
ing role in the renovation.
she: a, slow-but-steady-wins-
“the-race: type:. while you rely on
eadline’ pressure to push you off:
the ‘couch into a sullen woman-
of-action?:
30, imagine. the tensions. of

prepping ‘the shower stall in time.

. for. an 8 a.m. date with the tiler.
> Do. you ° “believe that “the. best
to- “every. prebleri is to
ey” ‘while: your.
mate's seif-cuffi ciency: keeps - him
draining his own motor oil?

Well, ‘think abcut how you are
“going to. feel watching hiza start a‘
-major:plimbing project: by .thum-
bing through’ ‘the Reader's Digest
“guide... Thén think ‘about how

ou'll both feel. finding a Plumber

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in our renovation batttles as well,
although. we rarely bothered with
anything as crude as dollars and
cents.. We preferred to raise our
quarrels to higher moral ground.

1 opted for rnartyred practicali-
ty, the moral superiority of tip-
ping our budget toward insulation

and ‘storm windows rather than .

mere cosmetics.

He cidn’t bother hanging his
insults upon lofty ideology. He
just complained about sharing his
life with anyone who would spend
limited resources on lighting and
not a free-standing fireplace.

Money may be marriage’s most
voiatile issue, but surely taste is a
close second. People may spout a
vive-la-diference: attitude for cer-
tain battles between the sexes, but
that laissez-faire attitude rarely
extends to putting mirrored tiles in
the bathroom.

. Sometimes I'd have fantasies of
taking Zack to court on charges

. of bad taste and getting a convic-

tion with a single paint chip as my

‘entire defence. -

In fact, where. wall color was

soncerned, mutual decisions oc-.

curred only if one of us decided to
remain mute. |

The first room we tackled was
the living room. We both agreed
that its plastic pine paneling and
suspended ceiling had to go.

We laughed at the. wallpaper
underneath that looked like a
1950’s version of men’s pyjamas.

While we were tearing down

someone else’s idea of ideal we.

were in complete accord.
But then we had to agree on

“our own. Do we really want to cut
“an archway into a load-bearing

' wail?. Should the pass-through to
the kitchen remain’ a home io old

sa

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BRING THE outdoors in with the use of windows, skylights and
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is fully enclosed to allow residents to enjey watching the rain
patter down.

I Photo distributed by the Los Angeles Times Syndicate

strain of home renovation.

our lives during renovation. Since

telephone bills and rubber bands
or should it be converted to a
built-in stereo unit?

Do we act as_ conscientious
homeowners and spend half our
decorating budget on replacing
rotten window frames or do we
just look the other way?

Aud if we are both looking the
other way, who is going to deal
with the 14 missing sash cords?

We managed to get through
those decisions without one of us
deciding to move in with a friend.
Then we had our first major
skirmish in the war of differing
standards.

One side believes you prepare
the walls by tearing off the frayed
edged of already peeled wallpaper.
Then, if the newly painted walls
look 2 fittl lumpy, you either
keep applying coats of paint or
judiciously hang pictures.

The opposing force delieves in
doing the job right, in other
words, spending a month spack-
ling pinholes into a slightly convex
shape which is then sanded into a
slightly concave one so the process
can be repeated.

If you somehow manage to miss
this battle, don’t congratulate
yourseif, The war has its bai-

tlefronts in every room of the

house.

Do you really have to paint the
insides of closets, for example?
Does the. wallpaper have to match

in dark corners?- How. close does

the paint on the woodwork have
to mirror the:color of the kitchen
counter?

And what. happens when you
were a little careless with the level
and the bathroom tile starts march-
ing downhill?

patiently waited for them to
disappear. Unlike his idea of
building a haif-court in our back
yard, however, his decorating
plans cropped up each time I
brought home the perfect paint
chip or wood stain for the fioors. .

I kept watering down his gold,
adding enough white and gray to
create an acceptable shade. of
cream. We never got the wall-
to-wall; we compromised on an
Orientai rug whose price tag
crossed off our bathroom. as a
budget line item. Our first room
was completed. And we were ex-
hausted.

Multiply this nightmare by eight
or so and you’ve got a picture of

!

we’ve put the roller pan and joint
compound out in the garbage,
we've liked each other. a lot better.

But now.I have a new problem.
It’s been about seven years since
we first painted the living room
and it looks shabby.

So yesterday I announced that. I.
.was going to repaint the. living
room. Zack. announced that. he.
was going for a week's vacation to

California.

I started: to. “squawk "with ;
resentment but, after a moment of -
memories, : I picked up the. phone:

to price his‘airfare.
Distributed «by -
Times Syndicate.

The Convenient Fire

But. those fights came later. We “|

were stili finishing the
teom. I suppose it was foolish to
think he made suggestions of a
gold living room or wail-to-wall
carpeting just to get my goat.

But I responded as I do to any
of his suggestions I don’t like. 1

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