My New Friend, the Squatter

Yes, a real, bonafide squatter, as in, "squatter's rights."

She found an empty house and moved in.

I have seen squatter nests in old houses before. They break into old houses and drag in a mattress without sheets. There is litter all over that gives a pretty good hint as to why they need someone else's house. Litter like empty liquor bottles and such.

Pam, on the other hand, has decorated! (No breaking in, either.) When she is done decorating, the finished result looks older than when she started, but way cooler. She gets buckets of paint from the hazardous waste disposal and starts doing a surface with 2 or 3 colors and only one brush. Add a couple of murals and then it's time for curtains and furniture.

Then she gets yards and yards of cast-off fabrics. Soon, everything is cozy and homey with a shabby-chic custom interior.

Here's how she came to be a squatter:

It belongs to my best friend's in-laws. The main heirs are either dead, or don't want the house, or where-abouts unknown. Just before it went to auction, Pam came along and paid the taxes and just moved in!