Son’s Empty House Tour

To him, it’s a new adventure. To us, it’s a blank canvas! Join me for a tour of our son’s new home!

You’d think he would have hung around a bit longer. After all, I had just given his bedroom an adult facelift and renovated his builder-grade bathroom. But those plans were made when we thought he’d be with us at least until a spring 2025 graduation. And really, we thought he’d be with us for some time after that. He even mentioned it when he was a freshman.

And we were good with it! We love having him around. We’re a merry band of three, and we told him he was welcome to live with us for as long as he wanted.

Then he found out he had enough credits to graduate a semester early.

Great! Even better, and that would mean he’d be living back home even sooner!

But it seems he had a change of heart sometime between freshman year and senior year (the nerve!) and no longer wanted to live with mommy and daddy (how dare he?!).

Well, jeez, I can’t say that I blame him. When I was his age, I was a rocket with a lit fuse and a nosecone pointed away from Connecticut.

Now, rents around the Emerald Coast are pretty steep. Vacation towns aren’t usually known for affordability. So do we let him go out into a region where he has zero friends (we moved here when he was in college), and have him either live with strangers or pay an astronomical price to live alone? Or do we help him find a modest house and help him with the down payment?

The answer seemed pretty clear.

And since we’re not planning to leave the region, we’d be able to either rent the place out if he decides to move, or we could sell it on his behalf.

The house hunt commenced and ended with a beautiful home in Miramar Beach.

It’s right in the heart of vactionland and the military bases, so we’re comfortable with the rent/sale prospects for the house should Baris decide to move elsewhere in the future.

Now obviously we didn’t by the house just because it looked cute and charming from the outside. We wanted Baris to have a place that was move-in ready on the inside, but still could benefit from Handan’s planning eye and my aging muscles.

Let’s have a look.

Here’s the entry – nice and private and looking perfect for holiday decorating – spider tunnel, anyone?

Inside, the entryway spills into the living room.

Carrying on into the living room. There’s a natural gas fireplace, which will be great in our frigid Florida winter! 😂

Here’s a realtor pic taken from the living room window back across to the kitchen and dining nook. Normally, I’d be making fun of some of the previous occupants’ decisions at this point, but I gotta say – they kept it simple. The wall color is easy on the eyes, so I may not even have to paint for a while!

A breakfast bar caps the kitchen. This space tops the list for remodeling. My babes is already planning how to transform this kitchen into something spectacular but budget-friendly since we don’t know The Boy’s long term prospects here.

The counters are granite, but the cabinets are almost falling off the wall. We’ll change the layout entirely, so unfortunately this granite will go to be replaced by another better-looking granite that will still stand up to the abuses of a Gen-Z male.

This is the far side of the kitchen. It is separate from the foyer/entry, kitchen and laundry room. I don’t really know what it’s for, but in the future, It’ll likely be part of the kitchen! Just off camera to the left is a blank wall that Shrimp has already earmarked for a plate rack.

And here’s the laundry room. It’s actually more of a glorified closet. This is probably number two on the list of remodels. There’s a small closet to the right that is blocked by the open door pictured below. The closed door on the left leads into the garage.

The master bedroom is big with very comfy carpet. I’m guessing Baris won’t want me to tear out that carpet in favor of LVP, and I don’t blame him. Living in Florida has reacquainted me with the pleasure of carpet under my feet – at least in some parts of the house.

There’s a walk-in closet that should be more than enough for Baris. Still, those wire shelves will have to go, so I will give this a full makeover at some point. If anyone else moves into this bedroom with him at some point, she’ll need some space in this closet, so we’ll plan for two when remodeling. 😁

The master bath looks pretty good as-is. We’re thinking just a few cosmetic changes, and it’ll be perfect.

Back to the other side of the house, we have the guest bedroom.

It has a long closet which will likely be the subject of a future makeover or remodel.

The last bedroom will be Baris’s office/gaming room. I’m thinking more gaming than officing will happen there. Again, I don’t foresee much work to be done in this room.

Between the office and guest bedroom there’s another full bath. This is one of the old-style bathrooms with super-low counters and toilets made for Smurfs. I’ll definitely be giving this space a much-needed upgrade! Seriously though, I’m by no means a tall man, but my kneecaps are in danger when I stand at that vanity!

Now let’s head out back! This house a huge screen porch that is just begging for…ANYTHING! We’re already brewing up big plans for this porch and everything that lays beyond.

There’s a small, fenced-in back yard, that is also begging for some attention and TLC. This area is going to be epic when I finish with it.

The shed is handy, but it’s also ugly. I’m thinking we’ll upgrade that and the fence too. It’s falling down in some places.

Stay tuned as the projects start to drop. I’ll start with some smaller ones before getting into the big stuff, but you can expect some movement inside before we tackle the kitchen, and definitely some action in this back yard! For all of you who’ve been asking what I’ll do once I run out of projects in our home (even though I’m not even close to that yet), well, here you go!