My little 65' slice of the coast (big pics) :-)

delliott00

New Member
Oct 10, 2006
115
Lake Travis TX
Just thought I'd share a bit of a slide show from our latest project, a fixer upper we bought on the TX coast. Being big waterholics and boat crazed people, we always knew we wanted a place where we could park a boat right outside the house. So a few years back we started saving & planning for that, thinking it would take us 5-10yrs to get to the point where we could start looking.

The market down there was really hit by the housing market issues, and the stock market did its part, so we decided to move our plans up a few years and get that piece of the ocean now while the prices are good.

Anyways, here is the reason we bought the place:

This is the view from my deck:
remodel061.jpg


Unfortunately, this was what the inside looked like. Had not been changed since 1983!!!!!

Before2.jpg

Before1.jpg


However, since I'm pretty much fearless about trying to DIY, I said lets gut the place and do it over. And save money by doing it all ourselves.

Here is what it looks like after about 2 months of working on it (mostly on weekends only). The only thing we didn't do is the new tile. We did all the demolition, kitchen cabinets, appliances, fireplace, painting, electrical, lighting, etc.

remodel138.jpg


remodel129.jpg


remodel124.jpg


Here is that same pic without the flash so you can see the view:

remodel132.jpg


Of course, we could not tolerate staying there and watching boats cruise by all day long so we decided we had to have one. Considering we won't really be doing overnighters, just cruising and fishing, we decided to get a Sea Hunt 22. Unfortunately, we'll probably sell our 320DA Sea Ray (which we use on Lake Travis) but I'd like to get a 280DA or similar to replace it, since we'll probably be staying on the lake a lot less.

island195.jpg


island163.jpg


I'll continue with some more pics next message....

-Dave
'04 Sea Ray 320DA
'07 Sea Hunt 220
 
Very nice prior to updates; Wow after updates :thumbsup: :thumbsup: :thumbsup:

Wesley
 
And here are some pics of the area.... Its a canal front community (no big deal for those who live in Florida) but probably not what folks think of when they hear "Texas Coast"....

island185.jpg


Here is the local hang out on the water. A little undeveloped canal right next to the intracoastal. It has lots of shallow areas to beach the boat and just walk around in 2-3' of water and super soft sand. Probably 30-40 boats hanging out on a nice weekend, plenty of shore line so people spread out a lot.

island171.jpg


All the waterfront homes are even nicer on the water side. Tons of boats going by all day long. A lot of shallow water fishing boats, but also your big yachts and sport fishers. Not too many sea rays though. We plan on spending more and more time down there, and hopefully we'll get a used and hopefully very depreciated 40-50' yacht to park out back in ~5yrs or so when we hope to be there most of the time.

island037.jpg


island026.jpg


island025.jpg


island017.jpg


island005.jpg


island130.jpg


Anyways, just thought I'd share a bit. Hope you enjoy. I have tons of pics of the area, and a bunch of the house undergoing some major rennovations.

-Dave
'04 Sea Ray 320DA (lake travis)
'07 Sea Hunt 220 (N. Padre Island)
 
First Born said:
Very nice prior to updates; Wow after updates :thumbsup: :thumbsup: :thumbsup:

Wesley

Well the "before" pics were absolutely horrifying to my wife and I. We almost walked out of the house and said no way, this is not for us. But then I saw the view. I figured I could upgrade the house, you can't upgrade the location :) .... I guess we're just not the "country island circa 1980" decor fans.

Forgot to mention......The inside pics are a month or so old so they don't show the finished kitchen, with black granite counters and all the wiring completed. But you get the idea.....

Also, theres a boat lift being installed on the deck for the Sea Hunt. It will still allow me room for a 40' boat in case I find that lightly used 380DA with diesels at some unpublicized estate sale for a steal :)

-Dave
 
delliott00- You're right in that's not what I expected when you said Texas coast! Very, very nice though... congratulations!
 
Nice pictures. Please down size them to fit inside the screen. :grin: No side to side scrolling please. :smt018
 
STIHLBOLTS said:
Nice pictures. Please down size them to fit inside the screen. :grin: No side to side scrolling please. :smt018

Sorry... still learning how to use photobucket. I just resized them, hopefully it worked.

-Dave
 
Nice piece of property and nice work on the remodel. As a lifelong DIY'er, woodworker and furniture builder (when I'm not at my day job), I can appreciate the work that went into that remodel.
 
Nice update. I love rehabbing houses. Wish I could do it full time and make a living at it (too much cheap labor in the area to do so).

Love what you did to the fireplace, did you just stucco over the old brick?
 
RT 240SD said:
Nice update. I love rehabbing houses. Wish I could do it full time and make a living at it (too much cheap labor in the area to do so).

Love what you did to the fireplace, did you just stucco over the old brick?

Yes, its just stucco over the brick. Mixed up a couple of bags of scratch coat.... let it dry. Then put on a colored finish coat, and then did some color blending with some paint and a sponge.

I would like to do this full time also, perhaps when I retire from the corporate world. You can save a ton of money if you DIY.

We have about $12K in the remodeling. Most of that (~$8K) was kitchen counters, appliances, and cabinets. My realtor suggested we have about $60-70K in additional equity (not bad on a $300K house) that we could get back if we relisted it, but the whole point was that it would be for us.

Bathrooms are next, but I can do that cheap as well. Only about $2-3K in tile, tubs, vanities, etc. That'll wait until winter I guess.


-Dave
 
That makes me sick... I spent about 12k doing a galley kitchen in a small condo. Gut, floor, appliances, granite, custom cabinets etc.

That 500 square foot condo sold for $310k.... and you got a whole house on the water for approx the same. :huh:

I just looked at major DIY'er. Needs gutted, all the exterior needs redone... not the best neighborhood and it clocks in at $450k and I would put 200k into it and it is still a deal.

I want to cry.
 
RT 240SD said:
That makes me sick... I spent about 12k doing a galley kitchen in a small condo. Gut, floor, appliances, granite, custom cabinets etc.

That 500 square foot condo sold for $310k.... and you got a whole house on the water for approx the same. :huh:

Well, I had originally planned on buying in Florida. But the costs simply made it unaffordable. A similar house/lot would certainly cost 2-4 times what I paid, but also the insurance would be a lot higher too. Flood/Wind insurance on our house is very reasonable. And boat insurance is MUCH higher in FL too. Granted, I'd rather be on the Florida gulf coast, but in 10 yrs I think this area of TX will grow to be a great alternative to FL. And in the meantime, I can enjoy it right now.

I was in Miami visiting some friends during the Miami Boat Show and explained to a buddy that for the price of some of the 50' dockominiums in S. Florida, I could buy a house with 60' of bulkhead AND a nice used yacht to park there in TX.

As for the kitchen, try IKEA next time. Their cabinet system is brilliantly designed, and their functionality is unbeatable. The cabinet surfaces are all solid wood and look custom too. I think I spent <$1800 on cabinets, including all the hardware, in cabinet lighting, backsplashes, etc. My contractor friend (who helped me buy some stuff through him to save money) was amazed at the quality. Even for custom cabinets, he's going to use the IKEA base cabinets and hardware and simply have the fronts custom made.

Amazing how much money you can save if you can DIY and know where to look.

-Dave
 
Very nice place, congrats.

I really though this was Florida intracoastal water ways...
 
Ok, why dont the pictures come up for me?

Is it possibly that im on a government computer?
bandwidth?
or just hitting a link somewhere?

I can see the captions but no pictures :huh:
 
wadebmadden said:
Ok, why dont the pictures come up for me?

Is it possibly that im on a government computer?
bandwidth?
or just hitting a link somewhere?

I can see the captions but no pictures :huh:

They show up for me, maybe the gov'ment is blockin you.
 
Well I read another thread in here, after posting the above comment, that several people are having some probs too...


Jim is aware of it and on top of it.


Could also be the MAN trying to keep me doing my job!!! :smt015
 
After switching computers, I can see the pics now... Im on a different network.


delliott00,
Im just a lil fish in the pond and I know Ill prolly never make it into houses like that, but If I could,,,, that would be the one I want,,,, if you ever need a house sitter or butler I'M your MAN!!!!!!


That area is beautiful,,, It really reminds me alot of the Coastal North Carolina Area...


Congrats. It all looks great :smt038
 
prodigalson said:
delliott00- You're right in that's not what I expected when you said Texas coast! Very, very nice though... congratulations!
Yeah me too. I like the little canals. Not too much of that around here. Very cool. It looks like a great little community.
 
Thanks guys. I checked the pics and I they should still work, but I have no idea if photobucket has some sort of bandwidth limitation since its free hosting. Let me know if they stop working again.

The whole picture album is here for those who want direct links:
http://s187.photobucket.com/albums/x53/delliott00/?start=all


Here are a few more pics from last week, including the lift we had installed for the Sea Hunt. Still have almost 40' of dock space to fill. :)

island349.jpg


island351.jpg


island336.jpg


island269.jpg


island235.jpg


And a slightly more finished remodeling view:

island285.jpg



Now that the boat is on the lift, I can get to my upgrades for that boat. We'll be adding a Lowrance 525 GPS/FF, Lowrance fuel flow meter, VHF, stereo, and upgrading the porta potti to a vacuflush.

If anyone is looking for a vacation home, you should check it out. Tons of houses for sale and some, probably flippers who got in at the wrong time, seem to be getting desperate. $300K will get you a nice waterfront home with lots of potential.

-Dave
'07 Sea Hunt 220 (North Padre Isles, TX)
04 Sea Ray 320DA (Lake Travis, TX)
 

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