Stepped away from all my house projects this evening for a much needed, relaxing stroll along the beach. The sunset wasn’t exactly a stunner but I still found it interesting. It may be a cliche but as they say out here, “No bad days!”

I learned, when renovating my previous two fixer-uppers, every project will take twice as long and cost at least twice as much as I thought. Unfortunately, I kind of forgot that and I was overly optimistic when I tackled the Florida room last week.

In my defense, I was thinking the room was relatively small and uncomplicated. Ha! It could’ve been but I decided the six foot opening from the dining room into the Florida room was too awkward. It left my dining room table floating in the opening, so I decided to enclose half of it.

I have some carpentry skills but lack all the cool tools so it was a largely creative process (don’t look too closely at my lines). Thankfully, joint compound and paint can cover a multitude of sins!

I am pleased with the outcome, it is now a bright and cheery room. I have some artwork and a dart board to hang and it will be done. Well, not entirely, the six windows that make up the majority of the exterior walls are all single-pane, aluminum which I need to replace but my budget doesn’t allow it at the moment.

Next up, the guest bedroom, which will require opening up part of a wall to regain the closet. Seems simple and straightforward, right? Wish me luck!

Well, the time has finally come. After living in four states over the past four years, I’ve found a place to settle down. I started looking for a place to buy after deciding I liked it here enough to stay.

The parameters I gave my agent were a bit challenging; I drew a circle on the map of the area I was interested in living in and a fairly low price point but I reassured him that I wasn’t afraid of a little hard work. I’ve restored two fixer-uppers before, I figured I could do it again.

It took three months of looking and I’ll be honest, I was starting to despair, but then a little block house popped up on the market. Built in 1954, this two bedroom, one bath (with a Florida room – a bonus room of sorts) had been partially renovated. While it was filthy, and obviously in need of quite a bit of elbow grease, the bones were good. Plus, it’s located on a large, fenced, corner lot on a cul-de-sac in a quiet, little neighborhood just ten minutes from my old apartment (and the beach). ​

I closed on it the last day of September and after ten long days of work I moved in this past Saturday. Which explains the lack of activity on this blog, I’ve been too darn busy! I still have a great deal of work to do but the house is clean and livable.

Before photos: Note the lack of trim/baseboards as well as the orange and industrial grey paint scheme – blech!

After photos: I have yet to tackle the Florida room, the guest bedroom, and the kitchen but the main living area is at least clean, freshly painted, and livable.

Exterior photos: Needs to be painted and some landscaping work. All in due time…

Last night I was at the jetty to witness the end of the day. I know the sun sets whether I’m there or not but I try to attend as many of these events as possible. There’s something so peaceful and calming about this reliable ritual.

I had a free day so I hopped in the car and headed down to Sanibel Island for a visit. I have a long list of places to explore here in Florida and Sanibel was near the top.

It was a blustery, but sunny, Tuesday afternoon and thankfully, the island wasn’t very crowded. I started at the historic lighthouse on the eastern end of the barrier island. Built in 1884, the open, iron skeleton tower gives this lighthouse a unique look (compared to others I’ve visited).

While I strolled the beach looking for shells, I wasn’t as intent as the others who were practicing the “Sanibel stoop” (bent over, peering at the shell piles, hoping for rarity). To be honest, I was mostly just enjoying the beauty of the day.

The only imperfection was the brown water in the bay. According to a recent news report, the tea-colored water was the result of releases from Lake Okeechobee. The excess rain from Tropical Storm Sally raised the water level and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers wanted to reduce strain on the Herbert Hoover Dike.

Overall, a wonderful introduction to a popular location!

The temperatures are still in the 80s but the days are getting shorter. One of the very few indications of the change of season down here.

While Hurricane Sally spared this area, she did churn up the water in the Gulf. Low tide yielded some fun surprises this past week, including these sand dollars (and one oxidized quarter for scale).