Massive miscellanous update - Christmas edition

Two weekends ago we put a Christmas tree up in the gallery and this past weekend was the Matlacha boat parade.  There were a whopping 7 boats in the parade, but we didn't care.  It started right out in front of our property and we got a blanket, a couple of glasses of wine, a warm Golden Retriever, and settled down to watch. 

Merry Christmas!!

1st of THREE moves - check!

Friday we rented a U-haul trailer to take down the furnishings for the Key West Cottage.  Ikea delivered the bed, mattress, and sleeper sofa (and 2 bookcases for the boutique) to our house, and we loaded them onto the trailer along with the buffet, dining room table and chairs, desk and chair, end tables, coffee table, 4 arm chairs, and a few misc boxes and linens.  It was a long day as we did all of the loading/unloading just the two of us.  BUT it was SO FUN to sleep there Friday night in the partially furnished cottage!  We slept on the mattress on the floor since the Ikea bed is still in boxes.  That will be phase 2 this weekend, where we supply lots of beer and wine to our friends in exchange for furniture assembly and painting.

Here are a few pics of the cottage.  We will add the couch, bed, and some decorations this coming weekend.  We will also paint the walls a light gray-white.  And take much better pics.  And steam the wrinkled chair covers.  And add a layer of polyacrylic to the dining room table top.  And probably do 2 dozen other things.

I.  LOVE.  IT.

The contract is FINALLY executed

Wow.  What a ride.  After many, many, many go arounds....waiting...negotiating....paying lawyers....we finally have a done deal.  No turning back.  Friday we sent in our down payment and signed papers...which wasn't quite as smooth as it should have been due to a last minute request on the sellers part.  We realized last night it was so anticlimactic when we finally got it done because of all of the highs and lows, waiting, frustration, etc.  That and we were literally half way out the door for a birthday party weekend w/ 40 of our closest friends :)  Last night we finally toasted it and let it sink in a little.  Which was closely followed by the realization that we have a million things to do before taking over on August 1.  But we'll get there and I'm sure it will have been worth the pain and the wait.

So yeah, August 1 is the date!  Of course that's a Monday so it will be more like August 5-6 that we'll "open".  Not sure what we'll have in place other than the boutique.  We'll have to figure that out in the next 6 weeks as if the past is any indication, things will continue to change/evolve by the week.

Still no offers on the house but things have picked up a bit showing-wise.  After having the showings slow down to about one every other week, just this week we've had 3.  Yesterday we had a couple come to see the house by boat; that was a first.  We plan to hire a realtor in the next week or two to hopefully get this done asap.

Island Time

What a lovely sounding phrase...and maybe once we're on it we'll actually appreciate it.  But for now I hate it.  It's what has turned what we thought would be a three month process into six.

Originally we had thought "maybe" we'd be on board with this business starting in May, considering the verbal agreements were actually in place in February.  Those hopes were quickly dashed when we realized how much needed to be done, so then we thought we'd be set on June.  Most of Feb and March was spent making sure we could get financing, since there were some questions about property lines and easements.  Then there were some restaurant equipment questions.  March quickly turned into April.  Since we need to get everything settled 60 days prior to the takeover date, going into April meant moving the takeover date to July.  April was spent doing inspections and contract language on the sellers part.  Well an inspection showed termites, and the contract had some language we could NOT sign onto.  Each thing we've thrown back has taken at minimum a week....if not two or three.  So now we're looking at starting in August.  And that's IF nothing else comes up....

Property description and pictures

OK so for those of you to whom we haven't described this property ad nauseum, here's the quick breakdown.  Four buildings and two docks.   One building is the commercial restaurant kitchen and one will be used as a rental cottage, right now it is called the "Key West" Cottage.  The third building is the Gallery/storefront/rental cottage and the fourth is the owner's cottage and current indoor dining area.  I'll describe as best I can w/ the pictures below.

 Taken from the one of the docks, this is looking west.   The building with the red roof is the Bridgewater Inn.

 Taken from the same spot, this is the cottage connected to the gallery.  Currently there is a full time tenant in there.

 Another picture to the west.  The dock in disrepair is owned by someone else.  Somewhat of an eyesore, but not a huge deal.

 Looking to the east at Bert's Bar and Grill. 

 Looking back toward the property, there is some of our restaurant seating.  We plan to clean this up and maybe re-arrange a bit.

 The restaurant kitchen.

 Right now this is indoor seating for the restaurant but it's also connected to the house we will live in.  We are thinking about moving the indoor seating to the gallery and opening this up to the house for more space.

The kitchen/living room of the house where we will live.

The dining room of one of the "Key West" cottage.

"Key West" cottage kitchen above, and bath below.

Bedroom and closet in rental "Key West" cottage.

"Key West" cottage living room. 

The large gallery space.  Through the door is where the boutique will be.

                                     
The other side of the gallery.  The doors here lead to the occupied rental cottage.

Boutique space.

Outside between the 4 buildings.

We'll take more pics on our next trip down and of course lots of pics along the redecorating/renovation process which we will be able to begin in April!