...and onto the next one. The new (old) casa!
/So, it seems we haven’t really gotten the knack of this whole blogging thing, given it has been almost two month since our first post, but a lot has been going on. About two weeks after we sold our last place, we closed on the new one. The house is located in what we here in Miami call the “South Grove” which, as the name suggest, is the south part of the neighborhood of Coconut Grove.
yes, those are peacocks…
Coconut Grove sits along Biscayne Bay on what was once (during an interglacial period) a coral ridge, which has the benefit of putting it at one of the highest elevations in Miami. Our place is walking distance from the center of the Grove, which is a largely commercial area with a lot of great restaurants and shops. The center Grove is also where we would go to drink in college, and while a few vestige dive bars remain, the college students have seemingly vacated the premises/relocated (does anyone know where the kids go these days?? such a mystery to me…). Anyway, I digress, but if anyone is keen for a dirty beer at barracudas, I’m here for it. Other residential neighborhoods include the North Grove that sits just south of Brickell (Miami’s downtown), and the West Grove, a predominantly Bahamian neighborhood. The Grove was the first permanent settlement in Miami-Dade County, and the earliest settlers largely came from the Bahamas, who were promised land grants of 160 acres (160 acres!) under the Homestead Act for anyone hearty enough to stick around for 5 years, build a house and harvest a crop. Tough sledding in what was once a mosquito infested jungle….oh wait, it is still a mosquito infested jungle…and I mean that in the most endearing way possible.
From its earliest days, the Grove attracted a boho smattering of artists, writers, musicians, and travelers. You still feel that boho “Old Florida” vibe here today, though, developers are tearing down the original charming bungalows and dense tree canopy at a rapid clip to build oversized ultra-modern, white, soulless boxes that will literally be impossible to sell in 10-15 years because they will be so passé, and because they are soulless, duh (a lot of good folks fighting this, for another blog post). We scored a little jungalow built in 1938 that we felt has great curb appeal/ old Florida/Key West charm, but frankly was/is a complete cluster on the inside, with a bunch of small, chopped up rooms, various ceiling heights, a hodgepodge of archways (and not in the way they are in-style right now), carpeted steps, glass block wall, and early 90s kitchen and baths — making it not exactly a house that someone would currently walk into a understand how to sort out. We spent A LOT of time trying to make sure we could sort it out, and we are (pretty sure) it is going to be groovy when we’ve had our way with it, but given this is our first go at such a big project, one never really knows. So without further ado, here is the new casa:
The front facade of the house will remain relatively the same, though we already started on major landscape changes. While I give myself credit for being pretty ‘in-tune’ with the plants, this job was beyond me and we really needed someone with professional background — we were recommended the most incredible landscape architect/artist/plant whisperer, (check him out on insta @thenakedgardnr, but don’t hire him yet, because we have dibs on him for now)...he is already doing his magic with most of the grass you see here gone, and the fence to the right of the house has already moved forward to be nearly flush with the front facade of the house, to incorporate as more usable space as part of the backyard. We are getting a new gate fabricated in corten steel to replace the wood gate and the wood fence will be completely covered by plants. No one in Miami has any idea what corten steel is, but we found a fabricator in Boca Raton that gets it. The gate will provide a bit of a peek into this backyard “room” that will have a long dining table situated down the gravel path, surrounded by plants, under lights strung between the coconut palms you see there. Here is the inspo image for the gate…you feel us?
The structure in the right background is a two-story carriage house that was pretty typical of homes of this era. We are currently living on the top floor, and we’ve done a bit of work to that already as well, including new butcher block countertop to replace what was this horrendous plastic (?) countertop, adding a small cooktop and refrigerator. While pretty tiny for two humans and two pups, it is ideal to not be paying rent while we are going through the reno of the main house and it is actually kind of refreshing to be forced to live with only the most minimal stuff you actually need (as it turns out I really only wear the same 2 pants). At some point I’ll get around to taking some pics to show you this space, which I think will be a pretty sweet little hangout for future guests. The downstairs area will eventually become a sort of casual pool room/ living space, but is currently functioning as our storage unit, with all of our earthly belongings. The front of the house will also get a new front door, light fixtures, mailbox, and will add an striped awning over the top of the front door a la:
The inside and back of the house is for a whole other blog post…but it is already well on its way to feeling like a very different space (in that war zone kinda way), with a bunch of walls torn down, bathrooms/kitchen removed etc. We are gonna be adding, removing, flipping and reversing…so keep following along. I promise I’ll (try) to write another one of these bliggity blogs before two months time…
xx L (+ M)…who is supposed to be writing, too…
