In June of 1997, Aaron and I were living in an apartment in Reedley, when we were offered an opportunity to live rent-free in a house on his grandparents' property. The catch: make it liveable. The previous occupants had practically destroyed the house, and we accepted the job of cleaning up their mess. The first set of pictures below show the house as we found it.

That's not rust.
General squalor.
Should have bought more cleansers.
Be thankful this isn't Smell-O-Vision...
What happened here?
There just aren't enough words...

With the help of friends and family, we went to work. Of invaluable aid were Aaron's Grandpa Ernie, his parents Rod & Sue, mom Debbie, his brother Steve, my dad Tom, friends Geoff, Todd (our inside man at Home Base), Michael, Sean, Keith, Sam, Michelle, and several others. We tore out all the carpet, tore out and replaced sheet rock where needed, refloored the original bathroom, added a second bathroom (moving a wall in the process), replaced light fixtures and outlets, repainted everything, put in new carpet and linoleum, refinished a wood floor, and made several other renovations. It took six months and a lot of elbow grease, but by December 10th, we were able to move in. Here is the finished product:

Sea of carpet laid by Harold (Bo) Geislinger
More carpet.
The promise of a clean kitchen.
Would you believe that's the same commode?
Custom tilework by Aaron & Geoff.
All's right with the world.

Of course, none of this would have been possible without the support and funding of Aaron's Grandfather Howard, the man with the plan, and his Grandmother Carolyn, who provided us with many a meal during the adventure. Many thanks to everyone who helped (you know who you are).

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