The Empty Nest

Empty Nest Renovation – Before Photos and Video

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Built in 1937, this little fixer upper needed some love and updating. The perfect empty nester adventure!

 

Oh my goodness this Empty Nest downsize and house renovation have been quite a ride. Just last summer we put our house in Laguna Niguel, CA (Orange County) on the market and this adventure began. We sold the house for the first time in late September, it fell out of escrow and then we sold it for the second time in December. We moved in to our fixer upper in Pasadena on January 5th, 2015. I have written several detailed posts that will help fill in the gaps for you:

We were only able to cram just about one third of our belongings into our little house in Pasadena. The balance of which is in storage and we know perfectly well that most of the rest of this “stuff” will never make it into the house. There is just not enough room and it will be time to purge when we move back in…which is actually a very good plan.

There are restrictions by the city as to how many square feet we may add based upon the size of the lot and the possibility of encroaching on our neighbors. We settled on adding a small master bath and walk-in master closet. The current closet was so small that we were forced to place a chrome hanging bar at the foot of our bed to hang the balance of our clothes. Very chic.

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The closet was so small that we had a portable hanging rack in the middle of our master bedroom.

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Experiences for Empty Nesters

Drinking wine in the vineyard

Making it happen in the empty nest.

Fall has arrived and a new class of empty nester parents are drying their eyes and lamenting the fact that their last baby has left the nest. What will they do now that Johnny and Sally are at school? Where did all of the time go? What shall we do next?

Have some fun.

Experiences for empty nesters are the answer.

My husband and I are four years into enjoying life as empty nesters. I do not wish to make light of this emotional, transitional, monumental time in our midlife years. However, what I have learned through these past four adventurous years is that there are many ways to be happy in the empty nest.

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Make lists, take a class, dream big, explore the world, perfect a skill! However, what I truly believe will get you out of that slump and put a smile on your face is to go out and find adventure. Get out and make experiences happen and you will thrive.  Pick up this motivating bestseller called Thrive by Arianna Huffington. It is an inspirational book to help you “remake the world in your own image, according to your own definition of success”

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Our Empty Nest Renovation & 6 Months in Seattle

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The renovation of our empty nester fixer-upper will begin in September.

The last time I wrote about the empty nest renovation was clear back in January. It has been quite the roller coaster ride with so many details, so many decisions, so many ups and downs.

A quick review:

Craig and I decided to sell our home, downsize and leave our beach community of Laguna Niguel after 27 years. We left our dear friends, daily routine, and a house full of memories. Not an easy decision.

We purchased a much smaller, 1937 Spanish Colonial fixer-upper home on a quaint, tree-lined street in Pasadena, CA in order to live closer to our family and my Dad who is fighting cancer.

With so many adjustments and challenges, these past seven months have been really difficult and exhausting, however the quality time I have been able to spend with my Dad has been priceless. The move was truly worth every single minute of heartache or discomfort.

We hired an amazing architect, a well recommended contractor and were finally given approval by the city to begin. Truthfully, we have delayed the start a couple of months because of Dad’s illness. He is an inspiration and has suffered more than any person should ever have to. Dad is still outrunning it and plans to continue on this path!

We have chosen fixtures, tile, marble, granite, appliances and floor coverings. The decision making is overwhelming, but exciting. So… now we needed to find a place to live while the house was under construction. The renovation will include every room and every crevice and to live there was just not feasible.

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A New Empty Nester Adventure: Filming an Infomercial

filming an infomercial

Our newest Empty Nester Adventure! Great news! It seems that empty nesters are quite popular and in demand. I was contacted by a Toronto production company to see if I was interested in testing and working with a product that would be a great fit with the lifestyle of an empty nester. As you may know, …

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The Evolution of the Empty Nest

  One more change in the Empty Nest Graduate from high school, move out, go to college, graduate from college, get a job – rinse, repeat. This is all happening again. Now, five years later, our second and last child has left the nest and graduated from UCLA just a few days ago.   I knew …

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The Downsize Stage Two: Join us to follow this adventure as we renovate our new “nest”.

The empty nester downsize move is complete, we have done our best to sift through the boxes, achieved some semblance of order and are ready to begin to plan the renovation. We even have a hashtag to help you follow our new “nest” adventure! #newnestadventure Architect Georgie Kajer, of Kajer Architects, who came highly recommended, is the …

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Empty Nest Downsize Update: A walk in the Lower Arroyo Seco Natural Park

While exploring our new neighborhood on our daily walk, we have found some beautiful places to enjoy nature. Our recent move and downsize to a smaller, much older home is now described as our “rightsize” move. Our new city, Pasadena, is 75 miles miles away from the beach community where we lived for 23 years and it has …

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The Empty Nester Downsize: We now call it “rightsize”

The Empty Nester Downsize Maybe it is because I am knee deep in an empty nester downsize, but I am now hearing from e-nesters everywhere who have already successfully completed this same adventure. They are telling me: “Been there done that” and many of them have done it several times. My generation is selling their …

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Empty Nester Downsize: The Ultimate Adventure

As you may be aware, I am the ultimate advocate of adventures, the #findadventure promoter, the supporter of new ideas and the author of the Inevitablitlty of Change. It is now time that I take some of my own advice. But what if this change is something so big and life altering that life as you know it will never be …

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