This Week's Golden Squirrel Award Goes To....

Each week, I award the Golden Squirrel Award to the person, place or thing that distracts me the most.

This week's winner is larger than a breadbox, but smaller than my sister's garage. This week I'm being distracted by 990 square feet of living space with too many reminders of the late 1980's. This week's biggest distraction is my condo.

Home sweet home. Home white elephant home in a time when existing home sales dropped 27% in one month. (I've heard that the sales of non-existing homes is even worse!) Now, I'm facing the scary reality of trying to sell my condo during a weak economy.

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But that reality alone isn't the whole story. It's the little voice in my head that reminds me that my condo, while charming in many ways, has some "issues." The condo was built in the late 1980's when the "hip happin' colors" were dusty rose and mauve - otherwise known as pink and light purple. Not colors you see used in many homes these days unless you're decorating a pre-teen girl's bedroom.

Only two items remain in the condo that would clue you into the original color scheme: the mauve carpet and the pink kitchen counter tops.  Yes, you read that correctly - pink kitchen counter tops. Pink counter tops are not something you see every day, but I've kept enough clutter on them to distract me from really seeing the pink. 

Should they stay or should they go?

Beside those two low points in the home tour, there is one other BIG item that is constant debate as to the value they add or the liability they cause. To make the living room look bigger, the builder put in one wall of mirrors that go floor to ceiling. Since the ceiling is about 15 feet, these are very big pieces of glass. How the heck do I get rid of these? Without causing years of bad luck?

On the positive side of the scorecard are the cathedral ceiling in the living room and kitchen, a roomy kitchen and dining area, newer appliances and a bathroom with a new ceramic tile floor.

I meet with the Realtor next week to start the process. He sent me some paperwork to get the process started. Page and pages and pages.

I'm stressing about a stranger walking through my place and critiquing it. I'm sure he will be thinking, "...really? Pink counter tops?"  Oh, please be gentle.