At first I wasn’t sure about the Oregon Hill neighborhood. While I was waiting for the Realtor, I went into what used to be called the Chuck Wagon, which is now the Hollywood Grill, and I asked the lady, “Is this a safe neighborhood for a single woman?” She said: “Well, I’ve been working here for a long time. What house are you looking at?” And I told her this house, and she said: “Oh, yeah. My dad used to own it. It was a photography studio and my sister rented the upstairs apartment.”
So from that conversation on, it just all clicked, and everyone that I talked to either knew something about the house or knew something about Oregon Hill. Yesterday I went and got a wreath for my front door and the lady in the West End said, “Oh yeah, my kids own the tattoo shop [in the neighborhood].” So it’s a weird, trippy karma, but it’s worked out positively.
The neighborhood has been so helpful. Even coming here not knowing anybody, I’ve been able to accomplish a lot very quickly because of how welcoming everybody’s been and how one person’s led to another person’s led to another person to help with things. Everyone’s been so friendly and honest.
The first thing I did is I ripped up the flooring. When I went to pick out the tile, I noticed that they had this additive that you could mix into the grout. I knew this was going to be a party place and I paid extra for this tile and grout, and so when you turn all the lights off, it illuminates … it reflects off all the mirrors, so it’s kind of like a play.
Then in all of the [wall] paint, I put granite crystals. It’s real subtle, but, again, at night it just adds this fun element. … I don’t know if anybody else will ever like it when I got to sell it, but my friends and family are of the opinion that probably when I put it up on the market, people are gonna want the furniture and everything. You now, they’re either gonna like it and understand it’s kind of being silly and over-the-top and very tongue-in-cheek, or they’ll be like, oh it’s tacky. And if you think it’s tacky, well then, you don’t get it, you know. HS