We were down to DuckAway in the fall of 2014 to see how everything was doing. We were also checking out our other oceanfront house in Duck, “Sea Notes” (www.seanotes.org). We were very pleased with all the great comments from our guests at both houses for the 2014 season. During this visit we replaced the rear gate to the pool area with a new gate that works much better. We also spent time preparing the house for the coming winter.
Well, its been a long time since we have posted, but will try to summarize some of the things we have done for the upcoming 2014 season. We think we have made some significant changes and we are now ready.
Outside we have made a lot of landscaping changes. We have much new mulched area with some pines and ground cover way up front and down the West side. We have planted many new plants in the mulched area, by themselves elsewhere, and around the pool. We are hoping that they all take off and are keeping our fingers crossed that they continue and thrive during the Summer. (We planted several rosemary plants and if they continue to grow, please feel free to partake of them for flavorful dinners!) The grounds themselves have some new grass (sort of…) and are being much better taken care of.
The odd (low) wooden structure next to the parking is a way of controlling the pool water discharge as necessary. We have added some fenced in area with gates below the decks so your pet can easily wander among the decks, the pool, and the ground. We added a new gate to the pool through the carport so it is easy to move between the pool and the downstairs rooms which include a bathroom and the second refrigerator and microwave. We have added some paint, fixed some things and make a number of other outside changes.
We have made inside changes too, most notably replacing the vanity and hardware and the toilet in the upstairs bathroom. We also painted a section of wall in there with a great new color. We have replaced all the kitchen ware that was old, missing, or damaged and have added some new items. We have added many new furnishings and wall decorations.
The cable TV company went to all new equipment, requiring cable boxes for every TV. Unfortunately they didn’t plan well and there is now a mixed set of much-to-big cable boxes, some of it used, that take up space next to every TV. Sorry about that. We are going to try to see if we can update them with smaller boxes during the off season.
We had a great rental season for 2013 and had lots of very nice comments in the guest book. But, now for us, it is time to get back to work to make some more updates to DuckAway. One of our big objectives is to greatly improve the landscaping and add a number of plants. We also have some ideas about other smaller construction projects and there are always a number of miscellaneous items on the check list.
So we are now pretty much ready for the new 2013 rental season. Most everything is in place. Most recently we have a brand new updated kitchen with quartz countertops and very nice new stainless appliances and new cabinets. The kitchen has a large sink, extensive countertop space, large amounts of cabinet space (that is extremely well stocked with a large collection of new plates, glasses, pots and pans, and kitchen hardware), a new design with a large island with an embedded cooktop, and much more. We are very happy with all aspects of the house and know that it will be a great beach destination for a number of families for the summer of 2013!
We decided that we wanted to make updates for two of the existing bathrooms. One bathroom is new with the construction and three more were with the existing house, one of which we had already made some changes. So we refinished the floors in those bathrooms and then added new vanities and fixtures, new toilets and new wall hardware. One bathroom was repainted with a much nicer color (the other has natural wood walls).
We also decided to completely redo the kitchen, changing the layout very significantly by adding a new island and greatly extending the cabinet and countertop space. We have ordered all the new cabinets, all the new appliances, the new quartz countertops, and have an electrician coming in to make changes.
At this point the pool and construction are long done and we are doing a million things to get the house together. We have an all new driveway with lots of parking. We have replaced all the interior doors and have painted the complete interior of the house with lots of great room colors. We have had all new carpeting and some new tile on the lowest level put in. We have been putting together all the new electronics (TVs, DVDs, game console, stereo, etc.) There have been so many changes and updates it is hard to list the all. We ordered all new furniture and most everything has been delivered and it is looking great. We got all new beds with memory foam mattresses and it is all so comfortable.
We did purchase the other Duck house which is oceanfront just North of Duck. Soon after we purchased it, Hurricane Sandy came through and wiped out the beach steps which we had to quickly replace for renters later in the year.
A lot of things are finally coming together. By mid July the pool deck and been put down, the fence was put up and the equipment was installed (it took a little while longer to get a leak in the plumbing fixed). The construction was largely finished with several smaller things to get finished up or fixed. In the third week of July we had all new carpet installed along with tile in some of the downstairs. Right at the beginning of August we had landscapers come in and shape the ground, create a planting and walking area in front, plant a number of plants in back and on the side, clean up a lot of the remaining weeds, and fill in the area under the decks. We worked on doing the rather precise borders for the driveway/parking and will have it filled with pea gravel in the near future.
But one of the biggest new items is that we put down a contract on a second house in Duck! It is an oceanfront house that is on Sea Tern Drive in the Northern part of Duck about 2 miles up Duck Road. We have started doing a lot of things for that purchase and hope to go to settlement sometime in mid September.
On one of our stays at the house on June 4 we got a call one morning that the pool would arrive early that afternoon about a week earlier than expected. The pool contractor himself had been surprised and had gotten the call from the driver on the highway while he was already about halfway to Duck. The contractor got over there to unload and put the pool in the front yard. Since they were surprised, it sat there for a few days until they moved it further back and started digging to bury it. But then that got paused for awhile and it was about a week that it was finally put into the ground. In the meantime we had left Duck and through communicating with everyone we started realizing that things were going to be finished much later than we had planned. The pool still needed a deck, equipment, and a fence, and there was still much of the construction left to do. So we realized that we just were not going to be able to rent the house for the 2012 season and to make thinks less stressful that instead of continually postponing the opening we should cancel the season. Sun Realty was real good about it but unfortunately it did mean that they had to move a couple of rentals.
Well the construction isn’t moving as fast as we had hoped, there seems to be fits and starts with 2 or 3 weeks during which nothing happens until we get on their case. We also had a delay at one point because when we showed up at the house we realized that they were putting up the wrong siding. Fortunately, they had just started, but they needed to order the correct siding and it took time to get it. We also found out a while back that we will not be able to get an occupancy permit unless we provide parking (in a fairly strictly defined way) for five cars since we have five bedrooms. In addition we need a “repair” area for our septic system. That means we have to set aside a secondary section of the property with no improvements the same size as the actual septic field. This means the whole front of the property is taken up and means we have to rethink the pool further back at the side of the house. We had just put in a new septic tank and new field, but in order to fit the new pool location we have to move the septic tank to a different location. We talked to a pool contractor and now have the pool arranged and on order and have also contracted to have the septic tank moved a second time.
Because of all the problems and all the delays we also have to move the 2012 season further back so can not start renting the house until probably July.
After we hired the contractor right at the end of January, we needed to have the plans drawn up and make the modifications and give our approval. Then the plans had to be submitted to the Town of Duck for permits. All this took longer than we thought it might but we finally got the construction started in very early March. They have made some quick progress and we are very excited. We have seen some pictures that they sent us and some sent by the real estate agent we bought the house through (he has been a huge help in a lot of ways, from helping us find a contractor and other repair persons to helping us keep track of what is going on). We are very excited about how much things are changing.
