Never Say Never

In spite of the crazy real estate market in Florida, Randy and Laurie said they would never buy a house to live in full-time without experiencing it in person. But you know what “they” say: Never say never. And so, after all, these Air Force veterans did exactly that.

Both Randy and Laurie were raised in and around Green Bay, Wisconsin. They retired from the Air Force in 1994 after declining orders to Fairbanks, Alaska. They figured if they were going to freeze their butts off, they might as well move home to Wisconsin. After three years of cold living there they moved south to warmer Lake of the Ozarks, Missouri. Finally, 23 years later, after retiring again from civilian careers, they moved even “souther” to the balmy paradise of the south Florida gulf coast, right about the time the housing market went berserk.

Their house in Missouri sold within hours of hitting the market and closed in 6 weeks. Nice, except that left them virtually homeless coming to the hottest Florida real estate market in decades.

On a Monday, a week before they left Missouri, though they’d agreed not to look at any more houses online; Laurie saw a listing for what seemingly appeared to be the perfect turnkey house for them. It was off the normal Friday listing cycle, the seller wanted all bids by 4:00 pm the next afternoon, and their realtor was on vacation in Costa Rica. Regardless, they broke a bunch of their own agreed to rules, the stars all lined up, and they won the bid on the house. There were risks, they knew, but in the hot market, they figured they weren’t committed for life if the house turned out to be less than perfect for them.

They also knew that the 30-year-old home would eventually need kitchen and bath updates. Once they arrived, primarily because of the state of the uncertain economy, they decided to tackle the projects sooner rather than later. They started with a kitchen design by Home Depot, but quickly discovered they had no desire to play general contractor on the project. They called three other cabinet design contractors. Only one, Just Countertops & other stuff, inc., actually handled their inquiry professionally and followed through on everything they said they’d do.

Randy and Laurie wanted to keep the beach feel of the house with the white cabinetry. The bathrooms and laundry room needed complete facelifts with all new cabinets, sinks, mirrors, and improved lighting. The kitchen had an excellent triangle traffic pattern but lacked countertop space because of the raised breakfast bar. Another large, useable wall only had a small pantry cabinet and a small, virtually useless, desk area. There was no lighting above the sink and breakfast bar, except for ugly gold can lights far above the area in the vaulted ceiling.

Designer Michele Rose suggested sleek ice white shaker style cabinets throughout the house. To increase countertop space, she suggested eliminating the raised breakfast bar and running the countertop across at the same level. The large wall was outfitted with nearly seven feet of upper and lower cabinets creating the effect of a buffet counter. An under-counter cabinet facing the breakfast nook area added additional storage while still leaving plenty of room for three stools to tuck in under the breakfast counter across from the sink.

Most of the lower cabinets were replaced with drawers so there is no need for these retirees to get down on the floor to reach things in the back. A garbage and recycling cabinet drawer was added between the refrigerator and the sink. All in all, the storage area in the kitchen doubled from what it had been before the redesign, while still leaving the excellent traffic pattern.

Life’s been a whirlwind for Randy and Laurie since they moved into the house on August 1st and decided to update it sooner rather than later. The project was completed December 23rd, just in time to serve their first Florida Christmas dinner in a house Laurie describes as “as perfect for us as I could ever have imagined it to be.” She says they’re NEVER moving again.

Now they can get down to the exciting business of redesigning their day-to-day life, expecting to thrive in retirement, in Florida, something they hadn’t even considered until less than 2 years ago. Because, really, as Randy and Laurie discovered…if you’re going to redesign anyway, why not go big…and stay home!

Note: I always try to give credit where credit is due. This blog was wonderfully written by our customer. It is 100% Laurie’s! She is a talented writer and has a flair for writing amazing stories. She worked hard writing this story, so therefore, I cannot take any of the credit.

If you have a room in your home such as a kitchen, bathroom, office, or another space that needs refreshing, Just Counters & other stuff, inc. team would be happy to help.