No too bad for a bunch of fishermen.
http://youtu.be/ixUovKdhfqE
After the crime: New home, new chapter
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SEVERN (AP) — “This is the nicest place I’ve ever stayed in. And it’s mine,” a tearful Deanna Ries-Pace said as her renovated Severn basement apartment was revealed last week.
In a little less than two weeks, Capital reader Skip Zinck of Severn and his volunteer crew have transformed the once-cramped, darkly lit, blood-stained basement apartment on Thompson Avenue into a clean, updated and modern space where Ries-Pace can move forward.
The single mother was nearly killed by her boyfriend in the home. She didn’t have the money to move, forcing her to remain at the scene of the crime.
Zinck read Ries-Pace’s story in The Capital in June. With help from volunteers he found on an online fishing forum, TidalFish, Zinck offered to rehabilitate the apartment, free, with a goal of removing every bad memory of that awful night.
The crew also donated money to purchase furniture. Zinck is working on getting an electronics store to donate a flat-screen television.
Readers also flocked to help Ries-Pace, donating more than $2,600 to an online fundraising website.
The remodeling job is like something you’d see on TV.
On Aug. 7, Zinck scheduled Hydro Clean to remove the flooring and tear the walls down to studs.
The crew installed new drywall, trimming it with crown molding. An electrician completely rewired the unit, replacing fluorescent lights with recessed lighting with a dimmer switch. The cramped bedroom closet was torn down and rebuilt twice as large.
“I could hardly fit a clothes hanger in the old one,” Ries-Pace said.
The living room walls were painted a light gray that Ries-Pace picked out. The bedroom was painted light yellow.
Ries-Pace had already purchased Pergo flooring to replace the blood-stained carpet in her home. But she had no idea how to lay it herself. For months it sat stacked in the garage.
The crew found that it was just the right amount for the living and bedroom areas.
A kitchen nook was also created to give the basement the feel of an apartment. Before, Ries-Pace only had an old refrigerator. She washed dishes in the bathtub.
The volunteers placed a new kitchen sink unit in unused space along a wall and installed kitchen cabinets above it.
Matching cabinets were also hung next to the new refrigerator. Ries-Pace is getting a butcher-block kitchen cart to place under the cabinets to use as a counter and house her microwave.
The apartment is the single-family home of Ries-Pace’s grandmother, Betty Brown, 73. She grew up in the home and has lived in the basement as an adult.
As of last week, Brown and Ries-Pace had not seen the apartment for days. The crew did their best to keep them out until the big reveal.
As Ries-Pace shopped for furniture, the crew put the finishing touches on the apartment Aug. 18, framing the closet, installing cabinets and putting plates over electrical outlets.
Just before 4 p.m. they received a call that Ries-Pace was on her way home.
The crew grabbed brooms and screwdrivers to get last-minute work done. Zinck used a caulk gun to fill in any gaps between the cabinets and new walls.
Brown was the first one to enter. She was speechless at first.
“I’m flabbergasted,” she said, looking around. “Oh, you guys are too much.”
Minutes later, Ries-Pace walked into her new home. Tears streamed down her face.
“I have a sink,” she said, catching her breath. “This is like a vacation home.”
Ries-Pace hugged each crew member, holding tightest to Zinck.
“There is nothing left of him in this apartment,” she said, referring to the ex-boyfriend who attacked her. “Everything about that night, it’s gone.”