Hardie siding, the right choice!

My dream when I retired was to have a bed and breakfast.  Something I could share with my friends and family as well with their friends, and of course something I could make a little profit on by renting it out to the public for their times of just getting away and having a great get-a-way.  A place where they could really relax and just enjoy themselves and be catered to if they so desired or plan a meal for themselves in the convenience of a home environment.

So after many long and discouraging months, I finally found my dream.  There it was in front of my own eyes, a quaint little 3 bedroom, 3 1/2 bath, large kitchen and dining room with a living room that looked out to the beach.  It needed a lot of work, inside and out, but I was ready to take on the tasks at hand.

Of course, this meant getting bids from several contractors which entailed replacing pretty much all the furniture in all the bed rooms, as well as some minor repairs in the bath rooms such as replacing all the plumbing fixtures and and refinishing all the wood flooring throughout the house and some major remodeling in the kitchen like replacing all the appliances with modern up-to-date ones, replacing all the cabinets and last but not least, the counters with new laminate countertops.  I also had an exterior french patio door installed in the living room which opened up to give a   beautiful view of the beach.

Next I had to do something to the exterior of the house.  All the old wood had to be removed because of the damages caused by all the elements from being in South Texas like wood rot and  termites.

So after a lot of research on different sidings, I chose to go with hardie siding rather than vinyl.  I learned that vinyl siding was know for sagging and was not as attractive as hardie siding.

On the other hand, hardie siding came pre-primed or pre-painted, my choice, so I chose a pre-painted one that I really like a lot.  Also because of it’s dense construction, the hardie siding does not absorb water, but rather absorbs more impact from debris from storms and unpredictable weather which is very common here in South Texas especially during hurricane season.

My husband especially loved it because it comes with a 30 to 50 year warranty and little to no maintenance!  Exactly what we needed since we are supposed to be retired!  As an added bonus, it was a do-it-yourself project which he was able to do by himself and a couple of his good buddies with their nail guns in just 5 days!

So if you ask me, hardie siding is the way to go and I am now ready to enjoy my dream house.  I hope you will too!

Our Kitchen Remodel Experience

Shortly after retiring my husband and I had the opportunity to purchase a Bed and Breakfast; something to keep us busy and at the same time bring in some extra cash.  We got a really good deal on our purchase because it was in dire need of some major remodeling!

And when I say major, I wasn’t kidding!  Every room in the place needed an overhaul.  The bedroom floors had nasty carpet in them, and of course that all had to go.  I wanted to bring out all the natural beauty of the place with wooden floors which were actually hidden there under all that carpet.

The bathrooms wouldn’t be too bad, they just needed a little tender loving care wih some major cleaning of the tubs and replacing the sinks and fixtures and of course a fresh new coat of paint.  But first things first!

Being that our main priority was cooking, our first remodel would be focused on the kitchen.  Of course that would mean the floors, cabinets and countertops.  So our work was really cut out for us.  The kitchen was really out of date seeing how the house was probably built way back in the early 1900’s.

So trying to decide on the floor was an easy task, we wanted wood of course and that didn’t take too long to get refinished.  Then came the cabinets and that too was an easy decision.  We went with all natural wood, no painting of course!  I think the hardest for us to decide on was what kind of material to use for the counter tops that would be the easiest to take care of, was cost efficient and of course something that would hold up.

My first thought was to go with tile,  but then the thought of keeping the grout clean scared me to death.  What about all those germs that might get trapped in there!  Then formica sounded good and cost efficient until we started getting estimates, and wow were we shocked!  So then our son recommended laminate countertops!

We were willing at this point to get an estimate, though thinking in the back of our minds that laminate countertops would really be out of the question and out of our pocketbook range.   So before we got an estimate on the laminate countertops, I remembered  seeing marble counter tops in my search for the perfect counter and thinking how beautiful that would be.

Well to my dismay, they too were out of the question as far as being cost efficient.  So now, we took our sons advice on the laminate countertops and got bids and learned of all the pros of using laminate verses those of the other types we were considering.

Boy were we surprised at the cost and how easy those laminate countertops would be to take care of!  So needless to say; we are so pleased we followed our son’s advice and are now enjoying our new beautiful laminate countertops!

New and Improved

Tired of your everyday routine? Maybe it’s time for you and your family can get away for the week or for the weekend for a little rest and relaxation. There is no better place to get some R&R than the down-home B&B. As new owners of this awesome bed and breakfast, my wife and I [...]