A to Z With a Smile

"The best laid plans of mice and men often go awry." Robert Burns

Paint it white - I found this card from Michael Pelkey in the downsize and purge in New Orelans,  and placed it on the newly painted mantle in our beach house. It's the first decorative accessory I added.

In life plans change. I have always aspired to go from plan A to plan Z (and back) with grace and a smile. I never let a client see me fret or sweat. Since the last time I posted Dave and I had a restoration plan for our beach house. We were going to renovate the Love Shack and live in it while the larger house was being worked on. This meant raising it up and replacing rotten termite damaged wood under carriage with concrete piers. Dave also wants to move it to a better place in the yard. Some sewer and plumbing issues also need tending too. In short, it needs more than cosmetic attention.

Plan Z went into effect when Dave fell while moving an enormous amount of stuff from his New Orleans home to storage in Bay St. Louis three weeks ago. He injured his shoulder (a serious tear), and has seen a doctor. The only remedy is to rest the shoulder which means no lifting, no strain, no swinging the proverbial hammer. Since Dave is doing the bulk of the work on both houses, this development is a set back as we will be officially homeless when we must vacate my New Orleans house at the end of the month. The woman who bought my house has been super nice allowing us to stay rent free for 45 days after the August 23 act of sale.

I have managed many projects over the course of a thirty year career, so I jumped into action, and made the executive decision to get the big house ready first for us to live in. Except for the plans to take the back part of the house off and rebuild it, the rest of the house is sound and basically needs cosmetic attention. This I can do. We can even live in the back part of the house as is. It's basically a large add-on lean-to sort of structure that contains the kitchen, and a combination laundry room and large bathroom. The foundation of it has termite damage, so Dave will eventually carefully dismantle it (saving precious exterior weatherboards). He will raise it up to be level with the rest of the house, pour new concrete piers, and enlarge the footprint of it to create a dining space in the new kitchen. An en suite bathroom will be configured for the second bedroom, and also a reconfigured laundry room. 

Cosmetic I can do. I had the interior doors painted black. The en suite bathroom in the larger bedroom is small and funky but usable. A fresh coat of paint and a good cleaning will suffice. Eventually it will be renovated, but for now we are grateful to have not one, but two working bathrooms in the house.

It's all white and fresh. Ceiling vents need to be enlarged and we'll install white ones, and yes the ceiling fan will be replaced with a lovely vintage one Dave has in storage with no light kit on it lol

So I hired painters to paint the inside and out, and someone to clean up the floors. Surprisingly everything is being painted white inside and out. I added my signature black doors. We found the shutters for the house in the shed behind the Love Shack and they will be painted Quietude by Sherwin Williams. At the same time, the HVAC is being installed, and water lines connected. And Dave purchased a twenty foot long shipping container that has been delivered, to securely hold his tools.

I had all the interior doors painted black except for the front door, which will be removed for restoration. It's cypress that we will have stripped of old paint. It has an old stained glass window which also needs extensive repair and restoration (it's missing several old stained glass panes).

Back in New Orleans, we hired two guys to clean out my garage. And I continue selling furniture and editing my possessions and donating to The Salvation Army and Goodwill, and to friends who can use my things that I have no room for. I also hired movers a couple of weeks ago to move 100 boxes to storage (and those 2000 antique and vintage bricks). Forty of the boxes are Alberto's tango archive, which I hope to place in an educational institution once I have time to do the necessary administrative work. Dave and I have also been continually stocking our booth in Antique Maison in Bay St. Louis.

The center hall looking toward the kitchen. It's costing money to clean up the kitchen and second bathroom/laundry room, and paint it, but it must be done to be livable. It's a shame since it will be torn down in a few months and totally renovated and restored. It's only money lol.

So onward from plan A to plan Z. And I am smiling because this house is so lovely.

We are trying to go from plan A to plan Z with grace and smiles. It's hard when physical pain is involved for both Dave and me. I'm like a little old ant on an anthill, slow and sure and getting things done. I'm 80% packed. The rest is last minute things we will need when we are actually moved into our beach house.

Digging It Up

We did the first home improvement! Well actually we hired Brent Moralle with his big digging machine to clear the yard of all the overgrowth. Now we can really see the house and Love Shack and how big the yard is (it's big). Click on images to see them bigger.

All the overgrowth has been cleared away. I am so happy the overgrown Sago palms are gone and you can see the front of the house. One day there will be a walkway, pretty plantings, and a picket fence, and of course the house painted, and restored. Dave found the shutters for the house in a shed behind the Love Shack. We are thrilled to have found them!

Brett and his big machine pulled out all the overgrowth

Even the Love Shack looks bigger

Clearing it all away from the house

The yard looks a bit forlorn and rough and huge. Another guy is going to come by and smooth it all out and take away more debris. Sometimes things have to be deconstructed in order to build them up again. One day pretty plants and a picket fence in front and nice driveway will be in place.

In the meantime Dave is nearly done cleaning out his house in New Orleans, and moving his things to storage in BSL. His brother drove over from South Carolina to help with this last big push. The record breaking August heat hasn't made it easy for them.

I'm still packing at my house. Right after both our houses close on the 23rd of August, it will be my turn to get my things to storage in BSL. Our little shop in Antiques Maison will be ready for us this weekend to place a few things and to stage. I'm also teaching tango this coming Sunday in Biloxi, invited by local teacher there Percell St. Thomass. We're running on fumes and happiness.

As ever, thank you Charlie Pettway our broker who has become a friend, for her excellent referrals for the workmen we need.

Update

Update
It's been a whirlwind...

We closed on our beach house a month ago. That was the easy part. Since then both of our houses in New Orleans sold in record time. While this is wonderful, it also puts a lot of pressure on us to move. And we have no place to live since the beach house is basically a bit of a ruin right now.

The buyer for my house has been a dream. She loves my house, paid over ask, accepted the inspections without me having to do repairs or give money back, and is letting us stay in the house rent free 45 days after the closing. Both our houses close on August 23. So that means we have until the end of September to move.

Dave is desperately trying to finish a big contracting job Uptown in New Orleans, so he can start work on the Love Shack (the 300 sf cottage on our property) and have it ready for us to move into at the end of September. In the meantime, we rented storage space in Bay St. Louis, and he has been shuttling furnishings from his house to it. The plan is to empty is house first, then do mine.

So I have been packing and packing and packing. And selling off some furniture. It is daunting. The original plan was for us both to downsize tremendously. But then something else happened to make us hold on to our various collections of antique and vintage furniture and bric-a-brac. We acquired a prime booth in the best antiques mall in Bay St. Louis!

We will be shopgirls!

Nearly three years ago I was doing an interior design project in BSL, and I did a fair amount of shopping for the client in this antique mall. The ladies there were super friendly and helpful. Later I brought Dave there, and we all had many fun cordial interchanges. By coincidence both these women are leaving BSL! I was happy for their new changes in life, but a little bummed because I really wanted to hang out with them, One of them had the prime booth in the store, and I asked her about getting it in a kind of joking way, and she said, it's yours!

Dave looking over the contract for the space in the antique mall

Dave and I always talked about doing some kind of shop together, making our years of hoarding collecting pay off as an activity for our semi retirement. So here it is, the universe providing once again. I also was invited to teach tango in a fabulous art space nearby.

I will be teaching tango at Studio Waveland

So in the span of a month we have a new house, we sold two houses, we have to move, we have to renovate a place to live in, and we became shopgirls. These Saturday a guy has been hired to clear out all the brush and trash trees in the yard, and remove vines off the Love Shack. Dave's brother is coming from South Carolina to help him move, so hopefully Dave's house will be cleared out this week.

We've walked around the yard (I got bitten by fire ants last weekend) and the house several times, talking and planning, often taking our planning sessions to the local cafes and ice cream parlor. All in all things are humming along. We are both anxious to keep things moving forward, and still happy with our decision to take on this major challenge .

The Mockingbird Cafe in BSL

I celebrated my 70th birthday a couple of weeks ago, with lunch with dear friends and also a huge tango party. I truly do feel like 70 is the new 30.