Close of Escrow

On April 24th of 2009, after 57 days in escrow, I finally became the owner of the 1970's porno condo. Escrow was extended twice without a per diem. Once, because my lender did not want to fund the property without the homeowner's association waiving their right of first refusal in case of foreclosure and secondly, because the seller's choice of services saddled me with an escrow and title company so slow that they took a week to close AFTER I signed all loan documents. In any case, the transaction is over and I can begin the next battle which is petitioning the homeowner's association for permission to gut the condo, remove the influences from the 1980's and revert the condo to a mid-century design that will more accurately reflect the building's original intent. However, this is not an entirely honest statement, i.e. the building's original intent was never to mimic the work of Charles and Ray Eames, Ludwig Mies Van Der Rohe or Cliff May, but the building was constructed in 1965 and I'd rather create the illusion of authenticity, and ape the mid-century-modern aesthetic, then leave the unit looking like a salvaged set from "Miami Vice." I have exactly 60 days to accomplish this task before I must move in and vacate my apartment rental. I do plan on moving in without the kitchen completed because the lead-time on cabinets is too great.

The first thing I tackled once escrow had closed (actually the day before the title was recorded) was to remove all door casing and strip/sand all the door jambs. Sloppy, runny paint-jobs and too many coats of paint are a real pet-peeve of mine. Since this unit had 15 years worth of apartment tenants before 29 years of condominium owners, you can imagine the amount of paint on every surface within reach. Multiple coats of paint upon drywall is of little concern, but once door jambs and other high traffic areas are coated too thick, you'll never get a subsequent coat to stick unless you sand off a couple of layers. Problem is, latex paint will flake off and gum up your sander...if you don't want to change sandpaper every 5 minutes, use a chemical stripper and scrape until you reach bare wood. It's a miserable, tedious task, but better than repainting every year.