Connie's New Florida Home.....

YIPPEE!!!!!

Today I can start showing you guys my buddies, Connie's and Chris's new home.

The following pictures are from the real estate agents site, and like most real estate pictures, they were taken with a wide angle lens and make the spaces look larger than they are.....

All these pictures show the previous owners furniture, 

so I will be showing you guys in the next few posts how Connie and I are going to decorate it and make it a home for the old coots this lovely couple.

It's one block in from the ocean, Connie and Chris having decided that it was time to move a little bit away from the corroding aspects of salt laden air.

The house they just moved from was smack on the beach.

They exchanged their beach cottage vibe of yellow.....

For a more Bahamian twist. 

I love the lattice pattern driveway courtyard.

So now..... instead of the ocean, they have a ginormous pool.

It's tough roughing it in Flerida.

The foyer is the first room you hit upon entering the house.

The previous owners furniture is glitzier than Connie and I will do in decorating this place.

The ceiling is coffered holding a skylight in each well.

The foyer opens up into the living room, dining area and central hall.

The central hall has a curved channel running down its length.

The architect that designed this house went crazy with the ceilings, there are lots of different wood ceilings scattered throughout the rooms.

Like this here living room!!!!!

Connie isn't crazy about the ceiling, but I think it's fun.

I want to clad the walls in a tongue and grove white board treatment.

I think it will make the ceiling relate a lot better to the space.

Cladding a room in boards is what I did in my own living room.

I would also like to do a similar mantle treatment for Connie, as she doesn't was a shelf mantle, not liking the clutter that accumulates on it.

She claims she never knows what to put on a mantle.

I replied that she shouldn't worry about that, as I would figure it out for her.......

But she wants less stuff in this house.

We'll see how that goes.

Rather than a chandelier in the middle of the room, we're going to add a ceiling fan, as that is always a great thing to have in the sub-tropics.

Besides, there's a ton of recessed lights in the ceiling.

Can't you see how much better this room would be with boards on the walls?????

We just need to convince Chris.

We will be going for a lighter look on the draperies.

And a very different furniture layout.

Below is a picture I took, see how the real estate shots make the room feel too large????!!!

I wish I had taken an overall shot of the bookcase on the right.

When I shot this picture, I thought we would be taking it out, but we've decided to keep it, and I will rework it and have all the fancy smancy details replaced with a simpler style.

What's really cool about this bookcase, is that the center section hides the door into the master suite.

More on that to come in future posts.......

Off the living room is the sun room.

It also has a fun ceiling,

It looks out on the backyard.

We're keeping the white upholstery in this space, as Connie and Chris worked a deal with the sellers, and they bought this furniture as well as the upholstery in the family room.

Connie's bedroom is behind the double doors in the back.

Off the foyer is the dining area which is part of the dining/kitchen/family room.

Once again, it's not as big as the shot below makes it look.

What's wonderful about this kitchen, is that it has a full refrigerator and a full freezer.

We're playing around with ideas to juice this space up.

We will probably change the upper cabinet doors to glass.

Maybe down the road, make the island different from the other cabinets.

(I haven't shared that idea with Connie yet.....maybe don't tell her right away..... )

Connie would like to hang something over the island, but I think it may be too much with the hanging light over the dining table.....

I have to ruminate about this.

At the other end of the kitchen is the family room.

We again have another interesting ceiling.

This is the upholstery we are keeping, as well as the linen wrapped tables which I plan on spreading though out the house.

I don't like it when everything is the same.

Connie also bought the entertainment cabinet under the TV.

She kept on buying stuff, and I kept on telling her to stop.

She pointed out that they needed furniture to be able to live in this house right away.

She said she doesn't want to still be decorating it in 4 years.

My reply was.....

"But what about my entertainment???????"

 As I said, off the sun room is 

Connie's room.....

She has another fun wooden ceiling.

We are going to decorate this room with a little glitz and glam.

It's a departure for both of us, and we had a lot of fun doing it.

It opens out to the pool.

Off the sun room is the covered part of the terrace.

This is going to be a wonderful place for family reunions.

With 6 kids and tons of grandkids, this house is gonna be rockin'!!!!!

Can't you just here someone scream "CANNON BALL!!!"

So these were the before shots.

My creative juices are flowing like crazy.

On that note,

Latah, Gatah