Our approach to renovating our new house from a distance has shifted a lot since February, when we began house hunting. At one point we thought we wouldn’t take on any major projects, but plans changed multiple times. Many of you have asked what we’re doing now, what remains, and how long the renovation might take. Today we’re walking through those plan changes, why packing up our belongings proved more intense than expected, an update on our move date, and a little debate about what makes a kitchen feel “adult.”
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What’s New
- Here’s our office today: most of our belongings are packed and on their way to Florida in a POD. What remains are a few items we sold to the new owners, like the large floating desk and desk chair. The computers and as many plants as Sherry can fit will travel with us by car on moving day.
- We’ll post a full video walkthrough showing what stayed and what’s packed in the POD, plus a final video house tour we filmed right before our early March showings.
- If you missed the episode where we explained how we decided what furniture to keep versus leave behind, check out “How Exactly Do You Downsize Your Stuff?” (Episode #169). We used four guiding questions that made the decisions surprisingly simple, and it felt great to consolidate our keepers into a single pod.
- This is how our POD looked as we loaded the last items — a real puzzle to fit everything in.
- We heard horror stories from others about items shifting and wedging the POD door, so we made a cardboard barrier at the back to keep things from sliding into the door.
- We were probably more cautious about packing than necessary, though some people just toss everything in and it arrives fine. As a rule-follower, John watched the official PODS packing video and used it as a guideline.
- For anyone moving soon, here are some supplies we found especially helpful:
- Forearm forklift straps to help carry heavy furniture — we moved everything ourselves using these.
- Ratchet straps to secure boxes and furniture inside the POD.
- Moving blankets to protect furniture from scratches and chafing on a long drive (we used two 12-packs).
- Small and medium moving boxes for most items; a few large boxes were useful for lampshades and bulky items.
- Furniture stretch wrap to hold blankets and bubble wrap in place and to convert open bins into closed containers by wrapping them shut.
- Also, don’t miss our inspiration photos for the Florida house if you haven’t seen them yet — they helped shape our design direction.
What’s In An “Adult” Kitchen?
- If you want to read the piece that prompted our discussion, it’s called “5 Things Every ‘Adult’ Kitchen Has, According to These Pros.” We don’t believe an adult kitchen must have any particular features, but it was interesting to see the pros’ perspective.
- We used a large cutting/charcuterie board from Ikea in both duplex kitchens (you can spot it leaning on the right in the photo). It’s a great size for the price — big and useful for cooking and serving.
Our 4 Phases Of Changing Renovation Expectations
- If you missed last week’s post with the before photos of our Florida house, check those and the video tour to see why the property didn’t match our original plan to buy a mostly move-in-ready place — think missing floorboards and a bathroom that needed work.
- We also shared a series of Instagram Stories that many readers found useful for understanding room sizes and our intended layout; it’s hard to gauge scale from photos without furniture in place.
- Although we flipped between several approaches to renovating from afar, we’re happy with our plan: the house will be comfortable and livable when we move, yet there’s still plenty to tackle once we arrive. The first priority is a phase-one refresh of the mauve-countered kitchen.
We’re Digging
- My son and I have been enjoying The 50 States book, reading one spread per night; we’re up to Hawaii. There’s also an accompanying activity book if you want extra activities tied to the maps and facts.
If you want to revisit things we’ve featured in past podcast episodes, we keep a master list of everything we’ve been digging. You can also find all the books we’ve recommended on our Book Club page.
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