We moved to Florida in July 2021. It’s a long story, but we bought this house before we’d ever seen it in person. That’s just the way the real estate market was at that time. Randy told that story here in his blog. We counted ourselves lucky to even have “scored” a house at the height of the real estate boom.
What Randy didn’t tell you in his post was that during the inspection phase we discovered the roof on the house was like Swiss cheese, full of holes. We knew it before closing and negotiated with the seller on the price, so we weren’t surprised financially by that, but it had to be replaced before we moved in. Luckily, we were still staying in a condo we’d rented so there was no disruption to our life.
We bought a 30-year old house 4 miles from the Gulf Coast in Florida. A 30-year old house may not seem old, but in Florida it’s elderly. The sun and salt air take a toll. Back in the early 1990s building codes were just starting to be implemented here. We hear crazy stories about construction practices before those building codes. It’s funny. Unless you live in one of those houses. Then it’s frustrating and even maddening.
After we moved in, we knew there were several things that would need attention eventually. On the exterior the house would need paint, a new garage door which was bent, gutters and soffits, and the driveway would need to be repainted. Yes, for some weird reason, painted driveways are fairly common in Florida.
Inside, the kitchen had priority. It was very dated. So were the bathrooms. Both had pinkish jetted tubs, a luxury in 1993, but a pain in the butt in 2021. The showers were serviceable, but at our age, climbing into a tub to take a shower wasn’t easy anymore. And, ugh, the master bath had gold fixtures.
Finally, there were 3 different floors in the house, which is under 2,000 square feet. There was some brown carpet, some cheap grey oak plank laminate, and white tile, some with red painted grout. The floors would be the last thing, perhaps years in the future.
The lanai and pool area was in decent shape. They’d painted the pool deck to prepare for the sale of the house, and the pool didn’t yet need to be resurfaced. However, the statue of the maiden carrying a water jug on her shoulder in the fountain had to go sooner rather than later.
We’d only lived here a couple of months when I decided I absolutely could not live with the kitchen for very long. By the end of the year, we contracted with Just Counters and Other Stuff to remodel the kitchen and replace the cabinetry in the bathrooms. They did a wonderful job with installation in early 2022. Perhaps the best part was meeting the Just Counters designer, Michele, who has since become one of my closest friends in Florida. You hear about Michele a lot in my posts. In fact, she’s the reason this blog exists in the first place. Best chance encounter, ever!
During construction, the house was in disarray for a couple of weeks. But worth it. Those new cabinets, counters, and kitchen design completely changed the look and feel of the house. I’m still happy every time I think about that upgrade. But sadly, the old appliances didn’t look or feel like they belonged anymore, so they were upgraded to stainless steel during the Black Friday sale at Home Depot in 2022.
In September 2022, Hurricane Ian made landfall just miles from our new home. I’ve written about that storm and its aftermath extensively on this blog. Search for IAN on the blog home page if you want to read those stories. We ended up having $100,000 worth of damage from the storm. For nearly a year the house was in disarray from the extensive repairs needed to both the interior and exterior. The good news was that most of the exterior repairs we knew were coming eventually ended up getting done as a result of the damage from the storm. And even better, they were covered by insurance. Still, we lived in chaos for several months during the aftermath of Hurricane Ian.
Once all those repairs were finished, we began thinking about upgrading those floors and bathrooms. We knew the bathrooms would have to come first. We have a friend who is talented at remodel construction. He was willing to take the lead in doing the tub to shower conversion in the guest bathroom. The house was in disarray again for about 3 weeks as he and Randy performed a miracle conversion. The difference in that bathroom was astonishing. I couldn’t have been happier early this year when that project was finished.
And today is another red letter day for me. The house is again in disarray as Randy and Bruce are starting on our master bath remodel. The awkward corner shower stall is being reconfigured as a rectangle, and the ugly pink and white garden jetted tub will be removed and replaced with a window seat and some storage. I kind of feel like I’ve won the lottery this morning. But I can’t wait for it to be finished and put the current disarray behind us.
When the master bath is done we can arrange to have the floors replaced, a project that will, I’m sure, have the whole house in disarray for (I hope) the final time while we live here (barring another once-in-a-lifetime hurricane).
Every pain in the butt project has been worth it to me. I love living here, disarray and all. It’s been a necessary step to living in my paradise. And a privilege of lifelong savings for retirement. What a blessing.
P.S. The government shutdown is over, but we’ve postponed Part 3 of the Epic 50th Anniversary Grand Adventure Road Trip to North Carolina and Washington, DC to the spring. We think Cherry Blossom season might be a perfect time for Washington. The rest of the year is just too busy with the upcoming cruise and the holidays. And January through March are just too cold in DC.
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