WPC: Optimistic update on house renovations.

As some of you may remember, almost two years ago, hubby and I bought a house which was in a very sad state, after standing abandoned for over four years with the roof leaking in many places. It was full of black mold and some of the ceilings were on the floor. After getting a new roof put on in September 2014, hubby almost gutted the whole house, and has been steadily working away at renovating it, almost single handed. He’s filled three large dumpsters with tons of rubble. We did get a company in to rip up all the floor tiles, and also had all the windows replaced with hurricane-proof glass. The rest has been done by my one-man-band-do-it-yourselfer, in between three trips overseas, and a week long visit to meet family in Key West.

The WPC ‘Optimistic’ seems a good opportunity to give you another update on the progress made so far. I know that my blog friend Jude is dying to see some photos. I have to be very patient, as things always take longer than anticipated, but I’m optimistic that one day in the not too distant future, I will look out every day on this view from our lounge window. Unfortunately there’s no alligator, but maybe we could import one, if the two in the lake outside our present home should have babies.

This is my half finished bathroom,

with a round tub, which I can sit in and look out of the window. It will have steps up to it.

The shower between the two bathrooms is almost finished and we’ve just ordered the frameless doors, which will be installed in just over a week.

Hubby’s bathroom is also almost finished. I took this photo a couple of days ago, and all the black and white trim is now in place, so it looks quite different.

Hubby is very proud of the barrel ceiling in the master bedroom, which took a lot of effort to put up all on his own.

The bedrooms are at the moment full of boxes of our ‘stuff’ as well as furniture, sent over from South Africa.

This is going to be my little nook off the bedroom, where I can write and paint.

The guest bathroom is almost done except for the sliding glass door on the bath and the wall cabinet.

The front bedroom is finished, except for cleaning up and setting up the bedroom furniture which is still all wrapped up. Window blinds and drapes are in the mail.

The grand-children’s room is also done except for the furniture, and clearing out the boxes etc..

One day this will be our outdoor living area, protected by insect screening.

The large living area is being divided up, and this will take at least another sixty sheets of dry wall. Hubby has already used a hundred sheets for replacing walls and ceilings in the rest of the house.

This will be the dining room, which also has a barrel ceiling like the main bedroom.

The kitchen will be in this area, and it will have a pressed steel ceiling.

Here will be the laundry room with a door into the garage.

The family/TV room will sit at the end of this area., and my piano somewhere in between, and the sitting room is off to the left.

The twenty-four heavy round things, which I carried in after the kerbside delivery, are the bases and tops of the twelve 8ft columns, which will be strategically placed around the living area.  The two of us managed to lift each column onto the wheelbarrow, and wheeled them into the house one by one.

Hubby’s study will be here, just off the entrance hall.

There’s still a lot to do, including laying the hard wood flooring, designing and installing the kitchen, and of course lots of painting.

I’m very optimistic that by next summer, I’ll be able to hang a hammock between these two palm trees, and relax. I might even let hubby have a go in it, if he has nothing else to do.

To see more optimistic posts for the WPC, just click this link.