One year ago, on July 4th, I drove down to Florida with my two kids (and my sister, who was helping) and our family was reunited again. For those new here or for anyone who has forgotten, my boys and I lived for 6 months in North Carolina while my husband lived in Florida. We moved from Syracuse after bidding on a home in Florida. My husband’s job transferred him to Tampa so he had to go straight there, but we have nowhere to live other than a hotel, and no timeframe for when we would get the home. It was a short sale so these things can take as little as 1-2 months, or as long as a year. It was a HUGE gamble because they never give you a time table.
After the six month wait for the home, we finally moved in. That is when the real work began. The home was in bad shape- liveable but not pretty. I took a lot of time away from the blog in order to focus on painting and remodeling the bathroom. Between the 6 months I lived in Charlotte without access to most of my filming equipment, and the 6 months of intense work on the home, this blog suffered a lot. Shockingly, the traffic didn’t dip like I thought it would.
I was a woman on a mission and painting took first priority. I woke up every day and painted for 5-8 hours a day. I would take off every other day and do something fun with my kids to make up for the previous day of ignoring them while I was painting.
Now I can finally say that things have slowed down in the home remodeling department. I won’t lie and say that we don’t have more work to do. We have replaced all but two doors and need to replace all of the door hardware and paint the trim around the doors…. you can really see how dingy they look in the second photo.
There are holes in the drywall from moving the water heater to the garage to make room for a pantry in our laundry room and that is being done this month.
I still want to rip out the giant stone planter with my bare hands but it will be a lot of work or a lot of money, or both. And the outside of the home is basically crying out for the help of HGTV or DIY- we have a rotten deck that needs replacing, a pool deck and pool that need major help, and our landscaping is the shame of the cul-de-sac.
Regardless of what we haven’t done, I’m so proud of the work we have finished over the year. We checked off every major interior fix we had on our to-do list to make this house a home. No more orange paint, no more peeling doors, no more ugly grey front door, bye-bye 1970′s bathroom, and no more hideous and filthy light switches and outlets. Hello thrifty mid century furniture finds and modern colors. You can go back and look at the before/afters on this old post (a lot of changes have been made since the post but not enough to take new photos, except for the family room- the blue recliner went bye bye):
I am still on the hunt for the perfect mid century furniture and decor to complete our home but that will take time and patience. Now we have the time to actually enjoy our new life in Florida, see the sights, visit the parks, and spend our weekends as a family rather than spending them at Home Depot.
I’ve blogged a heckuva lot about our home progress, I’m linking the old posts for anyone who wants to look back at the work and projects we have done this year. Thanks to everyone’s patience as our family and home took priority over the blog. Things are picking up in the productivity department and I can’t wait to share all of the fun projects and ideas I have with you!
Before/After House- Photos of each room
Guest Bathroom Remodel- The Octopus Bathroom (featured on Offbeat home!)
Entryway- The Fated Thrift Store Chairs
Master Bedroom Makeover- Serene Retreat
Laundry Room- Utilizing a Small Space
Front Living Room- Orange to Grey
Front Door- Grey to Purple
Golden Girls Room-Downloadable GG Quotes
Projects-
Thrifted Night Stands- Traditional to Modern
Thrifted Chair- Painted upholstery (it works!)
Thrifted Dresser- Ombre Mid Century Mod masterpiece
Thrifted Frames+DIY Silhouette- Easy Tutorial
