Our Florida house renovation is progressing quickly. Want to see the updates? We’re just as eager — we haven’t visited the house in person since work began, so all photos below were taken by our contractor over the last two months. Some images may be a bit blurry or shot from slightly different angles than our original “before” pictures, but we’re grateful for every photo. When we finally move in (still no firm date, but we’re hoping for next week), expect a barrage of photos and videos — we promise plenty of coverage.
This post highlights major progress in five spaces you saw in our original before tour. If you haven’t seen that tour or the video yet, it’s helpful context for these updates. The work completed so far is focused on making the house livable — functioning HVAC, plumbing repairs so fixtures actually work, replacing damaged drywall, and repairing floors. While the house was opened up, we also made several sensible, opportunistic improvements: we added extra recessed lighting in the kitchen and vaulted the ceilings in the two kids’ bedrooms since the attic space made that possible.
The Kitchen
Many changes have happened here since our February before photos. For this first phase we decided to keep the existing layout, appliances, and lower cabinets so we can live with the house for a while before committing to a full-scale renovation. That said, we removed the soffit, upper cabinets, and the peninsula — moves that aligned with rerouting HVAC, replacing drywall, and repairing floors. Lucky we removed the peninsula: the flooring didn’t run under it.
Key solutions for the space:
- Removed the soffit. We rerouted the HVAC ducts into the walls while replacing the system and drywall.
- Brightened the room. Six new recessed can lights were added and overgrown exterior landscaping was cleared to let in more natural light.
- Goodbye popcorn ceilings. With all the downstairs drywall replaced, we opted for smooth ceilings instead of textured ones.
Removing upper cabinets exposed a lavender-mauve paint under them that matched the old laminate countertop — a colorful relic of an earlier era that made us laugh. After installing new recessed lighting and fresh drywall, the kitchen already feels significantly brighter, even in contractor photos and FaceTime calls.
We’ll finish this phase ourselves: painting cabinets, adding open shelving, and finding a workable solution for the countertops. But now let’s head to the bedroom.
Our Bedroom
We’re converting part of the wall between the kitchen and the former formal living room into our bedroom. This location lets us add an ensuite bathroom and stay on the same floor as the kids. To make the space function as a bedroom, we closed off a 5′ opening between the rooms to create a wall that fits our bed and nightstands.
The turned wall also leaves room for a small living/seating area near the kitchen. Scale is hard to judge without furniture, but there’s space for more than just a kitchen zone. We closed the opening and created a standard doorway for the bedroom entrance. The awkward angled post with a mirror is gone — goodbye tiny outfit-check nook.
The freshly sanded floors in the bedroom are already looking nice and will continue to improve as finishing work is completed.
The Laundry Area
The original laundry hookups sat in what will become our son’s bedroom, so we needed a new spot. We prefer side-by-side machines with counter space, and an unexpectedly deep closet at the bottom of the stairs became the ideal laundry nook. That closet had a weird pass-through to our daughter’s room, so we reframed the back wall to block access and provide separation. The doorway was widened and hookups added, and the space was drywalled and fitted with new doors.
We’ll install upper cabinets or shelving and a folding counter, similar to the laundry nook we had in our first house. We also added extra insulation in the back wall to reduce machine noise for the adjacent bedroom. It might not eliminate sound entirely, but it should help, and late-night laundry will likely become a rarer habit anyway.
The Bathroom
When we bought the house the single bathroom was non-functional due to multiple leaks and a failed septic system. Since closing, we connected the house to the sewer and tackled the bathroom’s plumbing problems. What started as a simple vanity replacement turned into a much larger project: flooring didn’t extend under the old vanity, a second leak required removal of the tub and surround, and a failed toilet valve flooded the room — so we replaced more than expected.
We chose colorful porcelain tiles for the floor — a playful choice we loved in previous projects — and selected a 31″ vanity in a warm wood tone to anchor the space. The visible green in the photos is moisture-resistant greenboard; the final walls will be white. We also installed a new drop-in tub and classic white subway tile for the shower surround so the patterned floor remains the star.
Aside from finishing touches like a mirror, art, towel hooks, and perhaps a wall or ceiling treatment, this room should be fully redone by the time we move in.
The Kids Bedrooms
This is our favorite transformation. While planning the renovation, we realized the kids’ bedrooms had potential to be vaulted since there’s no second floor above them and the roof pitch is high. We tested the idea by making a small inspection hole in each ceiling to confirm nothing structural or mechanical blocked the space. The attic area above was mostly empty, so after rerouting a few HVAC ducts into walls, adding light electrical work and fresh insulation, we opened the ceilings. Instead of drywall, we installed wood planking for texture.
The result is a dramatically different, much more airy feel in both rooms. We’ll paint the vaulted ceilings white and add beams for subtle contrast; the floors will be natural pine. Because the rooms are modest in size, keeping the ceiling treatment light preserves a bright, open atmosphere while still adding architectural interest.
Seeing that idea come to life has been thrilling — we can’t wait for the kids to see their transformed rooms, and for us to finally experience them in person.
BONUS: The Upper Deck
We’re sharing a quick exterior sneak peek even though we planned to wait until we could photograph everything ourselves. The large deck off the upstairs family room has been refreshed: we replaced rotting railings with a horizontal style that complements the house’s modern lines, swapped the wood decking for Trex in a warmer Havanna Gold tone, and removed a rickety pergola and a problematic chimney that caused leaks. Some exterior rot repairs led us to have the house repainted white, which suits the surrounding greenery and metal roof beautifully.
We originally planned to save exterior work until after interior projects, but with some interior items postponed until we can work on them in person, there was time to tackle important outdoor repairs and updates for safety and curb appeal.
We hope to move in within the next week or so and then take our own photos to share even more detailed updates. The transformation so far is remarkable, and we’re excited to see — and live in — the finished spaces soon.