Cliff and Laura (Alison’s brother and sister-in-law) kicked off a multi-stage project to repaint the interior of our family’s house on Long Beach Island in 2012. Inspired by their amazing transformation of the large downstairs bedroom, we took on the living room, dining room, and hallways during Spring Break in early April, along with several intrepid friends and one invaluable relative: Alison’s cousin-by-marriage, Bruce Bickel.
For those of you who haven’t been there, the house is really an overgrown cottage, designed by Alison and Cliff’s maternal grandfather and built in 1936. Like many houses, it has never really been finished, and it is in constant need of renovation. More importantly, it holds a lot of people (see “Family Ties,” below) and many years’ worth of great memories. That it survived Superstorm Sandy unscathed, though only a few hundred yards from the ocean, seemed reason to celebrate – and that we did, along with Lukas’ 14th birthday and Easter.
Toward the end of this season, the project continued as Cliff and Laura restored an upstairs bedroom, The Flamingo, to the shade that named it decades ago (but was covered with Contractor’s White during a large-scale renovation in the early 1990s) and Gabe and Lukas organized the painting of their hangout, The Salt Mines, as part of their Family Life merit badge for Boy Scouts.
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