A Ilha do Amor Teaser

I went to the new apartment and picked up my keys. The manager explained everything that had transpired with Tyler. I signed the new lease and went to inspect the apartment. Tyler and I had decided on this place because it would be a good investment opportunity. Right now, we’d be renting, but Tyler wanted to buy the place, using our rent as a down payment. I personally wanted a house. Someplace with a yard for our family. Obviously, he had a different idea and I got roped into this.

Opening the door to my new home, I was assaulted by the smell of industrial cleaner. I wrinkled my nose as I wandered around. The walls were painted a dusty beige. The floors were hardwood except for the bathrooms, which were tiled. I sent a few texts to my mom and Alice, showing them pictures of my apartment. I wanted to text Edward but I decided to wait until it was finished.

My mom, in her girlish excitement, asked me to meet her at a local home improvement store with my friends, Angela, Becca and Jessica. After a few short phone calls, we were standing outside of Home Depot. My mom had a list in her hands. “Okay, girls,” she began, “we need to turn Bella’s drab apartment into some place fun.”

“Yay!” Jessica squealed. “Can you paint?”

“Yeah,” I said. “The manager said we can do what we want to the apartment on the walls. They only way we can change hardware and such is if you buy it.”

“The counters and such are okay but it’s in desperate need of some color,” Renee said. “So, here are your assignments. Angela and Becca, you need to find some rugs in the purple/red family. Jessica, you need to look for some funky lighting fixtures that are not too difficult to mount and that don’t require massive installations. Bella, you and I are going to pick out paint colors.”

“Red and purple?” I asked.

“Tyler was the beige king. Go the opposite direction. Lots and lots of color,” Renee gushed. She grabbed my arm and we went our separate directions. Now, despite my mom’s color choices, I was actually getting excited. My mom always told me that I had a vibrant personality but I let my true colors be muted by Tyler. So, the walls were going to be red, purple and even turquoise. The girls found some really neat accents. Giddily, I paid for my booty and we loaded it up into my mom’s SUV.

Next, we went to several various resale shops and consignment stores for unique finds. In those stores, I found some shelves that were going to painted turquoise and put into the office, an old desk that was going to repurposed, several bright paintings and other various items. The last stop was at a fabric store to recover my sofa to match my new décor.