When our youngest child departed for college, we closed up our Midwestern home and headed West… really West. With four suitcases between the two of us we landed in paradise with the big task of renovating our Hawaiian condo. We set a budget and timeline and went to work. All of the demolishing and most of the labor we did ourselves. We hired experts for the plumbing and electrical work. During our planning stage, we kept in mind that we are getting older. We switched out all the carpeting to tile, and pulled out the bathtub to make room for a walk in shower. I think we will be able to age in place, at least for a little while.
Kitchen-before
Kitchen-after
Two months later it was a vast improvement over the rental property it once was. We slowly added more homey touches a little at a time. Since this was the first time living in a high-rise I wasn't sure what to expect, but something like dorm living came to mind. Luckily there were no issues with wild neighbors or unruly children. Within a few weeks I knew this building would serve us well. It is extremely quiet due to quality construction, and no bugs due to living on the 15th floor. We have everything we need packed into 600 square feet. I guess all those articles about tiny home living are true. It is possible to live comfortably in a small space.
Our building has extra amenities such as the pool, spa, sauna, security, meeting rooms, tennis court and more. Whenever our place gets too cozy and feeling small we can head to the pool to relax.This was an expensive year for us since we still had our home on the mainland and all the expenses that go along with it. Once we decided we could live this kind of lifestyle full-time we made plans for selling our house and all of our belongings. Eight months after we started, we headed back to the mainland to wrap up all the loose ends with our house and continue the liquidation process.
Vanity-before
Vanity-after
Up Next… Downsizing everything!
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