Lauren Roberts and her boyfriend have been waging war with 1972. And each day more than 300 people read about their crusade against the past.

Roberts is detailing their adventure of transforming a dismally passé Kitsilano condo into a pad worthy of a profitable bidding war that will give them a leg up on Vancouver’s “ludicrous” property ladder.

“We’re equal parts OCD to ADD and hope to chart our path from quotidian to chaos with as much mirth as we’ve got,” the 27-year-old Roberts writes on her Meet My Ugly Baby blog.

Visitors to Meet My Ugly Baby can scrutinize “before” shots that expose an entranceway carpet of an indiscernible hue, harvest gold kitchen appliances, mirrored wall features in the living and dining room and metallic and flowered wallpaper, inlaid with mirrors and stretches of textured fabric, that graced one bedroom wall.

Above the photo that reveals the bathroom’s turquoise and silver forest wallpaper, dingy linoleum and a blue faux marble countertop and sink, Roberts has posted: “Don’t be shy, take a long look.”

Roberts and her live-in partner, a private guy who goes by the pseudonym Paolo on the blog, set out last spring to buy the ugliest apartment they could find. They’d been paying $1,000 a month for a 600-square-foot, second-floor apartment in Kits and dreamt of one day owning a house with a yard and a view. They see flipping as their first step to their dream’s realization.

The couple purchased a 750-square-foot second-floor apartment for a price she said was between $325,000 and $350,000, set aside money for renovations and immediately began ripping out carpet and wallpaper to make their new home more livable.

Neither of them have any home renovation experience. “The only thing I’d done was conscripted labour for my parents,” she said. “Painting and that kind of stuff.”

They don’t have cable TV so they don’t watch renovation makeover shows. “We’re making our own drama,” Roberts said.

She and her boyfriend aim to complete the makeover in a year plus two days. Their deadline is Aug. 30. “One day to celebrate and one day to get showered,” Roberts said.

If they had to do it again, Roberts said she’d pay someone else to remove the “popcorn” ceiling throughout the suite, a task that involved two weeks of overhead scraping.

The blog includes pie charts along with her pains to snuff silver fish and degrease cupboard doors.

Receiving advice from those who’ve undertaken similar projects was one benefit Roberts didn’t bank on.

Winning third place for best new blog in the 2010 Canadian Blog Awards was another surprise for Roberts, a first-time blogger and copywriter.

She isn’t sure how long they’ll occupy this home. The ultimate goal remains to own a detached home with a scenic view.

For now, she’ll settle for less.

“My main goal is to be taken seriously at Home Depot,” Roberts said. “We’re working on that one first.”

crossi@vancourier.com