Hey, Jaclyn here! As you may have seen on Instagram, we bought another house! There’s still about 3,873 things we need to do to finish up our Hilliard home… but the price was right, and we are always itching for a new project. So we are going to see what lake life has to offer!
The Property
We bought two small parcels of land in Lakeview, Ohio on Indian Lake. And by on Indian Lake, I mean closeby to Indian Lake. It’s not lakefront, but it’s just a short jaunt to the public beach, a walking/biking path and a playground. One parcel has an abandoned house on it, and the other parcel is empty. Here are a few of the before pics.
At this point, the second parcel will stay empty. There’s a chance we will do something pretty fun with it, though. Stay tuned!
The Plan
We just bought the house in March, but have a decent plan for what we want to do with it, and how we are going to design it.
Why Buy?
We have been talking about getting a house at the lake for a while now. Since I work remotely, we have freedom to be wherever we want to be. So goal number one is to create a fun place for us to go in the summer and enjoy time as a family. We definitely want to entertain and have our friends out, too, so we are keeping that in mind with the planning. We will also consider renting it out for getaways, either directly or through airbnb.
The Floorplan
It’s pretty small. 912 square feet small. So we want to utilize the space as efficiently as we possibly can. We will also be changing the roof pitch to allow for additional square footage on the second floor.
The first floor will be pretty open, with a kitchen, full bath, living room and small area for a sleeper sofa and toys for the kiddos. The second floor will have 4 (very small) bedrooms and another full bath.
The Great Outdoors
We want to have a really awesome outdoor space, so we will build a big screened-in porch and deck. There will be a large horizontal window that hinges at the top, and connects the kitchen and the screened in porch. (Think indoor/outdoor bar window.) We aren’t doing a lot with the yard, but will probably have a firepit area at minimum.
Interior Design
While we can never stray too far from our modern style, the lake house will have a bit more of a boho vibe. We are on a budget, so one of our goals is to furnish the house as inexpensively as we can. We have already gone a little crazy on BidFTA ($15 bed frames, a $35 cooktop, a $0.49 sleeper sofa). I will also be thrifting, garage saling and checking out Facebook Marketplace to score some deals.
The History
The house was built in 1996, so you’d think it would be in pretty good shape, right? Wrong. It was abandoned for years with a leaky roof, so it’s pretty nasty. Think rotting behind walls, broken windows, no working furnace, etc.
To add to the nasty, a neighbor told us that the owners went to prison, and there were squatters that lived in the house for five years. They had no electricity or water, and just used a generator. We pulled some questionable things out of those walls. Needless to say, Craig gutted pretty much everything in the house. Here’s the current status:
What Else Have We Been Up To?
We’ve been moved in to the Hilliard build since September, and Craig has been slowly working on some finishing touches. We now have a kitchen backsplash and a new white oak dining table.
My brother bought a house a few hundred feet away from ours, and I’m sure you can’t imagine that Craig convinced him to remodel the whole house. It’s a slippery slope once you start tearing things out. So Craig has been helping him with demo, plumbing, electrical, dry wall, and all the things.
In non-house news, Dex turned one on Saturday! We had a fun party for him. Being a parent is just awesome.
Craig is super busy, so I’ve started posting on the Outshine_Homes Instagram account. If you aren’t following us yet, head on over and give us a like!
Have thoughts or ideas on the lake house? Maybe a cool name idea for it? Drop a comment below.
Talk to you soon!