If you follow me on
Instagram you may have seen that we bought a beach condo last week! Holy cow. I cannot believe we did this. We signed the contract in December and finally closed on March 31st. EXCITING! And a little scary. How is it that we own a vacation home?? But, this is something we have thought about for several years but finally pulled the trigger now since it seemed like the housing slump was lifting a bit in coastal Florida (some may disagree!) and we didn't want to miss our chance at a decent bargain. This is an investment property so we will rent it as much as possible and use it when it's not rented, or when it makes sense to forego a rental for own vacation. We found it through word of mouth thanks to my parents who also
own a unit in the same complex. We think this saved us thousands of dollars and possibly a bidding war.
It's in a small condo association called
White Sands Village on Siesta Key which is a barrier island in Sarasota, Florida. The condo association has a tropical feel that reminds me of our honeymoon in Bermuda (minus the expansive ocean views - {sniff}). It's across the street from Siesta Beach - an amazing beach often voted as one of the world's top beaches (more on that
here and
here)!
So, now that the painful paperwork and closing stuff is done, the fun begins. Handy Hubby swears that the only reason why I wanted to buy a condo was to redecorate it. #hemightberight I'm not going to lie - it was really fun. This was definitely a use-what-we-have type of decorating and I love that (really!). I never even took out a paintbrush this time!
Here are the before pictures.
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| Living Room |
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| Main Living Area |
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| Kitchen |
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| Kitchen |
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| Dining Area |
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| Master Bedroom |
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| Master Bedroom |
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| Guest Room |
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| Balcony with Pool View |
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| Laundry |
It definitely was not horrible and much of the furniture was reused and will be for some time to come. We'll have to live with a lot of the furniture for a while so we can save up some money. We will probably only buy a few small pieces in the short term (more on that later). We donated PILES of stuff to the condo association yard sale that happens next week!
The condo had tenants until 10 a.m. on Tuesday morning, and tenants arriving at 3 p.m. the following day! I went into the unit at about 10:30 and started surveying what needed to be done in the next 30 hours. Of course I also had to make a trip to the dreaded Comcast office in that same time period - never a fun experience and an hour round-trip. At around 11 a.m., we got word that we had closed (we did not have to be there in person), so I started digging into closets. The next 30 hours were a blur.
Oh, and Handy Hubby had to stay home and work (boo!!!!!). Fortunately my parents are avid DIY-ers and were ready to take on the challenge. They had already scouted and purchased a TV stand at a yard sale for $60 and some other small items. They transported new bed linens and other things down from our house in February. We could not have done this without them!
More to come!
