Our Top 5 Home Upgrades in The Villages, So Far!
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- Опубліковано 1 чер 2024
- #thevillages #thevillagesflorida #newhome
Greetings everyone! Here we discuss our Top 5 Home Upgrades so far. We have many more and our full list is below. Please remember to Like, Subscribe and Comment or ask us a question about what we did and why.
Top 5 Upgrades So Far:
Interior Painting
Landscaping
Interior/Exterior Cameras
Whole Home Surge Protection through Duke Energy
Ceiling Fan Light Kits & Remotes
Completed:
Interior Painting
Gutters
Landscaping
Selected Furniture
Garage Attic Stairs
Ceiling Fan Light Kits & Remotes
Lamp post sign (On Order)
Doorbell camera and front solar light camera
Indoor and Garage Cameras w/door sensors
Rubbermaid Fast Track Storage Rail System for Garage
Master Closet shelving
Whole home surge protection through Duke Energy
You are both so sweet and lovely. Thank you for sharing the many steps you have taken to make your home beautiful. Sending my heartfelt prayers to both of you as you shared the precious story about Lauren's magnolia tree. ❤
Thanks so much for your encouraging comment, prayers and for sharing our journey. We are so glad that what we share is helpful for you and others.
So I was super excited when I saw you bought the same model - Ottawa. I just had Steve Kling out today and love watching what you're gonna do next. My wife is moving down in the fall - I'm elsewhere on a military deployment. We're next door in Dabney - keep up the good work!
Thanks so much and welcome to The Villages! We appreciate your feedback and we are so thankful that what we have shared is helpful. We hope to record a home tour later this week, so stay tuned. We are meeting a growing number of retired military families here and we are making notes for a video about the advantages of retiring to TV for veterans/military retirees. Let us know if you and/or your wife need anything and also if at some point you want to meet for coffee, ice cream, etc. Our email is thevillagesnatives@gmail.com. We will keep you and your comrades in prayer for a safe deployment and a speedy return home.
We're headed to TV in a couple of days (June 8-11) for a slightly different type of lifestyle visit. We already have an offer on a home that was accepted by the owner but for a variety of reasons it might fall through. We're coming down to scout out a few options just in case! We recently found your channel and binge watched most of your videos. You guys are entertaining, informative and genuine...well done! Hopefully, we'll cross paths at some point! (Thank You For Your Service)
Thanks so much for your encouraging comment and for following our journey. We are so glad that our videos are helpful and prayers that your trip goes well. Let us know if the house works out or if you find another.
Such great suggestions!! We added 6 inch gutters all around our house after seeing waterfalls out our bedroom window. Best decoration ever!!
Exactly! Thanks for sharing and we did as well, we just didn’t have time to mention in the video. This probably should go in the Must Do.
Beautiful job with both the paint & landscaping. I cried when you talked about Lauren's magnolia.
God bless y'all. 💗
Thank you so much, we feel that they really help make it ours. And we truly appreciate your encouraging words.
Your home is looking beautiful. The painting came out great, the hardscape is beautiful and I think the magnolia tree is adorable and is a beautiful tribute to your daughter. I'm sorry for the loss of your daughter Lauren. Thank you for sharing all you have done so far. It's looking great. Love you guys.
Thanks so much for your encouraging comments, and that area with the Magnolia has really turned out so better than we expected. Our point with this whole channel is to give others a personal view of what transitioning to TV is like and that truly includes our story. He hope that it is helpful to others like yourself who are considering a similar move. Have a great week.
20 plus years ago we planed a magnolia tree - hate it! Constantly falling dead huge leaves.
@@florabamabelle6413 I have a magnolia tree and I love it. It's beautiful. Sorry to hear your tree isn't doing well. Maybe it needs fertilizer.
@@florabamabelle6413 Thanks for your comment and it does shed leaves, but that is ok with us. It is a minor inconvenience for the memory.
Thankyou for the info on the painting we just booked with him, we close on July 9th and there painting on the 10th.
Thanks so much for sharing and so glad that the recommendation was helpful. We think that you will be very pleased with the result. I look at our walls everyday and am thankful that we painted right away. It just adds so much to the home. Congratulations!
Thank You so much!!
When we remodeled our home, we had decided we wanted agreeable grey as well. It looked way to beige. We did a very light grey and have loved it
Thanks so much for sharing. Finding the right color is often a journey in and of itself, but so glad that you found one that you love.
Thanks for all the information you provide, it is really helpful. After hearing about the cameras, I think we will be doing that as well. I like that there is no monthly fee and you can take care of it yourself. Thanks for taking the time to share!
Thanks for your comment and so glad that it is helpful.
Great information. You did really well explaining. Thanks!
Thanks so much and glad that it was helpful.
"We didn't know what we didn't know" Sounds like Sec Rumsfeld. :)
Thanks and good catch. As you may also know, it is a common acknowledgement/phrase in military mission planning which definitely has shaped our decision making process. Have a great week!
Great information! Beautiful home! Thank you for your videos, but more importantly, thank you both for your service to our country! 🙌🙏🇺🇸
Thanks so much for your encouraging comments and we are honored to have served our great nation.
(hugs) - I love the magnolia tree is so special to your family, what a beautiful way to honor and remember. The magnolia has special meaning to us as well. ♥ The landscaping looks amazing too!
Sweet, thanks so much! This and other key features are ways that we can incorporate who we are and the important things in our lives into our new home. We are sure that you will do the same.
When you talked about the Magnolia tree it brought tears to my eyes. I also have one that was put by TV and it was the first thing I noticed when I first came to visit TV. They are beautiful trees and do so well here in central Florida. Informative video and looking forward to your golf cart video.
Thanks so much for your encouraging comment and for watching. We totally agree with you about their beauty and they seem to really love this muggy warm weather. I am waiting on a few things for the golf cart and then I plan to do that video, but hopefully soon.
Fab! Yes what you said, I told hubby, it will take me a year or more just to get the house together how we want / need, THEN I can relax, feel settled and go PLAY more haha... ♥
I completely understand. We use the occasional "play" to recharge our batteries to get things done at home. At some point we know that it will shift to more playtime, YAY!
Home looks beautiful- thank you for sharing!
Thanks so much for your encouraging comment, and happy to share.
The grey looks fantastic, I see lots of tan in TV my wife & I don’t like it. The landscaping is amazing especially that very special magnolia tree 💞. We’ve been using eufy security for years and found it outstanding. Thanks for sharing all the updates. Can’t wait to hear about all the fun in the future videos.
Thanks for your encouraging compliment of the grey and our landscaping, we really love them too. The grey adds a great warmth and took care of the sterile, old hospital feel of the all white. We have also seen a lot of tan in TV and mostly in the pre-owned homes, and we have avoided it as well. We are so glad that you and so many others are enjoying what we share and I do have an unplanned video I am working about a great feature here that we really love. Thanks again.
All homes come with a one year warranty. This is to allow time for the house to settle. You should not do landscaping during the warranty time. If something occurs, your home may not be covered because you made changes.
Thanks for your comment. I have not read that in the home warranty or deed restrictions but I will take a look. If it is true then most of new home owners like us are at risk.
Thank you interested as well in camera installation
Thanks for your comment and it is definitely a growing and user-friendly option available to us. What we really like is not have a subscription or dealing with a company. We get to manage it ourselves and can grant access to our daughter if/when we need to do so for safety.
Thank you for your videos!We just discovered you as we headed to TV for our lifestyle visit. We planned to seriously consider TV next year but as best laid plans go, we did a thing! My husband took a big gulp of that kool-aid and we will be back to meet with the designer team late July on our Oriole in Shady Brook! I’m excited but panicking a bit. Your videos are a great help as we work through this process. I think one of the biggest concerns is moving to a completely new area with no support system and not knowing the “lay of the land”. Don’t have your military practice with that! Thank you so much for the info on your painter - really noticed that while looking at models that the color can change with the light. Keeping that tip for sure!!
Thanks so much for your encouraging comment and we are so excited for your new home in Shady Brook! Sorry for the late response today; we have had a busy few days. We were just down in that area last weekend and it is really taking shape well. We are glad that our videos are helpful, but we understand that it does bring up a lot of concerns. Are you on Facebook and if so have you looked for Groups of homeowners in Shady Brook. We found this very helpful in our transition. Will you be moving down full time or part time? I also became a member of the forum Talk of the Villages. I found that I could sift through and get some good information and discard some things that were unhelpful or too negative. I am planning a video to share some key connections that most people don't tell new residents but that I found via trial and error. I think the best advice that I have been reflecting on lately is to take it slow and allow ourselves time to develop our pace. It feels like a sprint at the beginning but it is truly a marathon, but a lot more fun and with much less pain. Fun fact, not very far from the Village of Shady Brook is the actual Shady Brook where I spent many a summer day swinging from a rope into the cool waters. I have not heard officially that there is a direct correlation but TV actually uses many local places of interest in their naming. Again, we are excited for you guys and please let us know how we can help and shoot us an email (thevillagesnatives@gmail.com) when you are down if you would like to meet for lunch or coffee.
I had been looking at a map and had seen Shadybrook so thanks for the history on that! We have already joined the forum on Talkof the villages, but did not know about the Shadybrook Facebook groups. I think my husband joined all three! But you’re right that will be a fabulous resource.when we are back in the villages, we would love to meet up with you for coffee. We’ll stay in touch.
So glad it was helpful. We look forward to meeting you guys. Just let us know via email when you would like to link up. Have a great 4th of July!
We are wrapping up a whirlwind design visit! Would have loved to get together but the time flew by! I couldn’t understand why the design visit was multiple days - now I know! Intense and we had a stressful start when we were informed that our home selection wouldn’t fit on the lot - by inches! 😮 Solution was reached and we moved forward. When all was said and done they gave us a closing date of November 5 - our anniversary! My husband will try to be here and we won’t be able to make the final move until late spring 2025. Until then we will keep watching your channel for move tips and tricks and once we settle we will definitely find you for coffee or ice cream!
@@LorriAlexander Wow! That sounds like a nail biter but so glad to hear that all worked out. I have heard the design process can be very intense and no problem not meeting up. We can catch up when you have time. Congratulations again and we will try to keep good content coming. Spring 2025 is going to get here before you know it and we look forward to enjoying some great fellowship with you all over coffee, ice cream or a meal. See you soon!
Your video was so helpful! We bought a Hillsdale in Moultrie Creek. We close 6/21. Your landscaping is beautiful! What company did you use? You mentioned there names but I didn’t catch company name.
Congratulations and we know that you all are very excited! We really love the Hillsdale model. Thanks for your encouraging comments. We used E-Scapes Landscaping (Tyler and Ozzie were the installers), but another reputable company is La Familia Landscaping; many of our neighbors used them and were very pleased. As we said in the video, we highly recommend that you get a detailed plan from the landscaper to include irrigation relocation, color and type of hardscape components, etc. We also filed the Architectural Review Committee request ourselves and attended the meeting for our own peace of mind. Hope this helps and it won't be very long now. All the best on your transition.
Agreeable grey runs darker Stan you think..his suggestion was suoer…we’re headed there in June to stay a week..in the south..hope to run into y’all. *R&A
Thanks so much and we totally agree. Hope you have a great visit and we will be around. If you are here on a Monday night we recommend Boozy Bingo at Sawgrass Grove. It is a really fun time with great music.
Everett, April, thanks for the information you shared on the video. Trying to budget for my upgrades and I’m curious did you paint the entire house inside aloof gray or just the main living dining area. Also if you wouldn’t mind sharing could you give the ballpark cost. I really am not excited about buying a new house and having to have it painted before I move in but I’m in the same boat you are way too much white bright that needs to be calm down a little bit and your gray looks fantastic. Thanks
Thanks so much for your question and dialing in the budget can be mysterious when moving here. Our estimates were between $3,000 and $4,000 and Steve Kling's was the cheapest. We had the whole interior painted except for the closets (master closet was painted), and garage. We will have Steve Kling come back to paint the interior of our lanai once we close it in. We wholeheartedly recommend prioritizing this upgrade because it makes the house feel more like a home. We agree about not being excited to spend that money but the quality of the paint finish is much better and will last indefinitely. Hope this helps!
Love your landscaping. Would you be able to share who did the landscaping for you. Thank you!
Thanks so much. We had E-scapes Landscaping do our landscaping and we are really happy with how it turned out. You are most welcome.
How are you going to set up your grill ? No pavers. I know you won’t park it in the grass.
Great question. Our home came with about a 10'x10' concrete patio off of the lanai. The grill fits perfectly on one side of that and we have a mat underneath. We plan to have that painted/stained to match the driveway when we have that done in the future. Again, thanks so much for your great question.
Great video. I'm trying to develop our budget for when we buy our new home in TV. Any chance you can provide the costs (ballpark is fine) for the painting and the landscaping? Thanks.
Thanks so much for your encouraging comment and question. Our painting quotes ranged from about $3,000 to about $4,000 and Steve Kling was the one that we were most comfortable with and the lowest price. Landscaping has a much broader range of pricing due to the size and type of the lot (corner or interior lot), if you have work done in the front and the rear, and the plantings and extent of the hardscape. A neighbor of ours who has an interior lot paid around $3,500 for a very nice basic design, another had a bit more extensive build for around $5,000. Ours was just over $7,000 due to it wrapping around to the side yard and the magnolia tree. The palms can also play into the pricing if you want those. We also know of some others in our area who did an extensive package to include pavers and work all the way around the home and they spent about $40,000. We also see some folks who have a much more minimal approach without hardscape that can look very nice as well. We highly recommend that you just ride through neighborhoods and note what you like/want and what you don't. This was a bit lengthy but we hope that it helps. Let us know if you have further questions.
@@thevillagesnatives3491 Thanks, that's very helpful.
How do you like the fenced-in yard? Any negatives to it?
Thanks for your comment and great question. We love the fenced in yard and our dogs love it as well. It adds a very nice degree of privacy, even with houses as close as they are here. No negatives as of yet but I will say that with Verandas and Courtyard Villas you have to understand the rules about access for your neighbor whose house adjoins your property. When we have family over the kids can play in the backyard and it gives them limits and doesn't disturb our neighbors. Bottom line for that is develop a good relationship with your neighbor and all will be good. We have a corner lot so we have a side yard on both sides which we really like. We have small dogs so we had to add a sweep at the bottom of our gate so they didn't escape but that was really simple with a 4" x 4' vinyl baseboard. The added cost, which was very small, was very well worth it, especially if you have dogs.
@thevillagesnatives3491 thank you for the information. We are looking to buy a home next week and it's a nerve-wracking decision. 😨
We understand and we will keep you in prayer that you find a house that you can make your home.
Did they roll the paint, spray, or brush?
Good question, it was rolled and cut in via brush. Thanks so much.
Did you wire the cameras yourself?
I did wire the doorbell camera, and it requires changing the transformer. The doorbell camera wiring is very easy and the instructions are very clear. If you aren't experienced changing the transformer then you can hire a handyman for very little expense. The Solar Wall Light Camera is not wired and the interior cameras only need to plug into normal power outlets. The door sensors have a battery and link to one of the cameras that is a hub. All of them link to our WiFi and it is very easy to manage. Thanks, great quesion and hope this helps.
I noticed you do not have listed a whole house water filter. We got a whole house water filter and water softener (potassium chloride) from Nova Filtration and are very happy with the results and service! And you no longer need a water filter for the refrigerator!
Thanks for your comment and for mentioning the water filter. That is actually on our upcoming video where we will discuss upgrades that we are planning to do. We definitely plan on getting the Nova system as well and it is great to hear about how happy you are with the system. There is another system that is marketing pretty heavy in our area but from all we have heard Nova is the best option. Thanks so much for sharing!
Peach? Never heard that. We have agreeable grey and nothing about it is peach…
Thanks for your comment and so glad that agreeable grey works so good for you. In our opinion both are great colors and I think once we saw the other grey we really liked it.
Was your house brand new and bought thru vls?
Yes, we bought new through the VLS, and very glad now that we did.
So since it was built did you get a better price?
We paid the listed price. With a new house there is no negotiation; you pay the listed price. This is usually determined by square footage, model, location and type of lot. When there are fewer homes in an area left the Villages discounts them to complete the Village. Hope this helps.
(((((hugs))))))
Thanks so much!