Back in November of 2020, after a few months of thinking and rethinking what we needed from our city, community, and home (and calculating how much we had paid out in rent over the past few years), my partner and I started looking for places that offered a cheaper cost of living.
We found a ranch home in Yucca Valley, built in 1971, with a monthly payment that was less than half of what we were paying in Brooklyn. The caveat: popcorn ceilings, a floor-to-ceiling stone facade fireplace, three defunct jacuzzi tubs, and a lot of shag carpet. Over the last few months, we’ve been slowly tinkering, making this house feel like home (the adventures for which you can follow @cool.rancho)—and the first project I took on was the kitchen cabinets.