Happy Chinese New Year! It is the Year of the Rooster this year, and y'all KNOW how much I hate roosters! Our month long holiday began a week earlier this year, due to the lunar calendar. All of my international colleagues departed on or about January 20th for parts far and wide- many went home to visit family, while others took advantage of the long break to do some extended traveling and adventure seeking- from Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Hong Kong, Australia, South Africa and more, to a 12 day Royal Caribbean cruise around the country of New Zealand! Wow :) Their photos on Facebook were amazing.
As for me?! I went home to Florida.
and worked.
on the house.
It wasn't exactly our plan. We toyed with the idea of going to see the sailboat we purchased in Baltimore (there is a blog coming about that!). We considered a vacay in Puerto Rico, as flights were super cheap. We even thought about a quick run down to the Keys. It just didn't work out that way.
Hell, I never even set foot on Ft. Myers beach!
Once we picked up the hammers, saws and paint brushes, that's all she wrote! It was a "break" to ride in the truck to Home Depot to get more building materials. We had a few half days of fun and adventures here and there, which I am saving for other blogs.
The reality is, once Len and I start working, it's difficult for us to stop- we like seeing results! And the plain truth is we are still settling in to our new home and this relationship. Though we have been together nearly three years, all of that time has been a long distance relationship- halfway across the globe. I am coming home for good this July, and we are furiously working to get the house finished. (though we know it will never be completely 'done', as we have so many plans!)
The biggest projects left on the list are:
*demolish and construct the master bedroom and bathroom
*build a bigger dock for the new sailboat
*complete the enclosed back porch, adding to our outdoor living space
*build a terraced vegetable garden on the bank (to keep the alligators away!), plant fruit trees, and complete the landscaping
With that in mind, given the time table I had at home, we chose to take on the back porch, which was still a major undertaking! I want to refresh your memory with what we started with, so you can appreciate how far we have come. And you know the old adage about needing to go back to work to rest up after vacation? Truer words were never spoken. I am exhausted! All month long our neighbors kept hollering at us to take a break and relax. Trust me, I got my share of margaritas in after a hard day's work :)
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| Our poor house had sat empty for nearly six years. The back balcony (which faces the canal) once was screened in, but when we took ownership, we were left with rotten indoor/outdoor carpeting, and a two foot 'railing' which was treacherous if you had too many margaritas- clearly it was not up to code! |
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| Remember too, that we used to have two windows and a sliding glass door, which have since been replaced with three beautiful french doors. |
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| The open space below the balcony (in the first photo) has since become an enclosed outdoor kitchen and brewhouse for Len's beer making. Notice the sliding glass door was re-purposed :) When I was home last summer, the big project was pouring the slab and building a deck on to the balcony. That area was also enclosed where Len has since installed a rain collection system, and solar energy system. A hot rainwater shower is the BOMB- no hair conditioner needed! |
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| Looking back at the 'old', the other issue was jacking up the southeast corner of the balcony, which was sloping down considerably. New beams were installed before this winter's project began. |
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| So this is the 'before' look...(no, that is not Len!) |
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| Here's a glimpse of 'after'. We permanently installed 21 glass doors to enclose the entire porch area, put up bead board on the ceiling and painted it, installed cement board then laminate flooring over the old decking, then Len installed two ceiling fans and another light fixture, and I painted, painted, and painted all of the deck railing, posts and trim in dark brown which matches the bronze fixtures and glass door frames. |
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| Though I never made it to the beach, I got a helluva tan with all of that exterior painting! |
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| Cement board was down to prep the flooring, and the bead board ceiling was beginning to go up. |
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| I love our nautical style ceiling fans :) |
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| I also love that my momma's "Florida room" furniture now resides in my Florida home- it's perfect <3 |
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| We have coffee there every morning. Look at that fancy coffee my love makes for me every day of the week :) |
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| The deck is complete. All of the wood has been painted, four solar panels are installed in the pergola, and I love that we have stainless lifelines (like a sailboat) rather than wood spindles- in keeping with the nautical theme! |
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| It's a beautiful place to cook dinner :) |
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| The white deck chairs you saw above are already gone. The day I flew back to China, Len sent me this photo. He salvaged these metal chairs from the Keys, sanded off the rust, tore out the rotting material, spray painted them hammered bronze, reconstructed them, and sewed new seats and backs- YES, HE SEWS, TOO!!! I love my Renaissance Man- a philosopher, mechanic, musician, songwriter, barista, chef, inventor, contractor, and so much more. He's an all-round peaceful, and environmentally conscious good guy <3 |
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| Below the deck is the enclosed 'utilities' room (where he used two more glass doors). This houses the 900 gallon rain barrel and the powers inverters and batteries for the solar system. I am blown away how Len just figures this stuff out! |
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| In the foreground, this end of the 'lanai' will eventually have a dining table that seats six. |
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| The east end of the lanai is a long hallway. Len has the hardiboard siding to install on the wall (we didn't get that one done), and on my second to last day home the old screen door at the end of the hallway was replaced with a bronze storm door. I have a retractable laundry line which is perfect for drying my sheets and whites in the warm Florida sunshine- I love it! |
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| Another finishing touch was the old anchor thermometer and barometer which came from Len's grandmother's home in New Jersey. It fits perfectly, and is so useful, too! It's so cozy in our new 'lanai'... |
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| ...even when this fella is our view in the backyard! |
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| We took an afternoon off in the midst of construction when Elliebug came to visit :) |
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| It was a gorgeous afternoon for a boat ride on the Caloosahatchee River. |
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| Any day on the water is ALWAYS a very good day! |
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| I love rural southwest Florida, it reminds me of being back home again in Indiana. |
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| "Pulling in" to our neighborhood... by this summer, our sailboat will join the many others here. |
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| The view of our home from the canal...all the glass doors, much of the trim all painted brown, the utilities room complete, composters are filled to the brim getting ready for our eventual landscaping and gardening, and the sail sun shade arrived just two days before I left. The extra two solar panels that are leaning against the back will eventually go on our sailboat- that's the plan anyhow. We've come a long way, baby! |
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| Though we worked like the devil this Chinese New Year's 'vacation', we still made time for several dinners with friends, played some music, had a bit of fun, and made lots of margaritas :) |
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| Cheers to working well together, to accomplishing much, to enjoying our beautiful new home, to future plans in the making, and an abundant star fruit tree!!! |
Stay tuned...I did have a few adventures while I was stateside.
It can't be ALL work and no play :)
G'nite, y'all!
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