Lake Norman, North Carolina 

Traveller's Retreat

2022-2023 Off-Season  Improvements:

2023-2024 Off-Season  Improvements:

---- Downstairs bathroom completely ripped out, reconfigured and remodeled with walk in shower and expanded 4 foot vanity.  This gets rid of the last bits of the original cast iron and copper piping in the cottage.

----Exhaust fans and ducts in both bathrooms replaced with fans that are 3 times as powerful with 1/3 the noise.  This now eliminates virtually all steam while showering.

----The laundry closet has been expanded so that the washer and dryer are now side by side rather than stacked

----Interior of house repainted (new color in most of the house is called "Agreeable Gray")

----clean up and revitalization of 

​waterfront strip landscaping

----Lots of other landscaping work

2021-2022 Off-Season  Improvements:

2024-2025 Off-Season Improvements:

2025-2026 Off-Season Improvements (In Process):

1)  All new furniture in the Living Room
 2)  The 50” Living Room HDTV has been replaced with a 65” HDTV
 3)  That 50” HDTV has now been wall mounted in the downstairs lakefront bedroom
 4)  A 43” HDTV has been placed in the upstairs bedroom
 5)  A 27” HDTV has been placed in the bunkbed room
 6)  Completely new downstairs central Heat/AC system installed (as of late summer 2021)
 7)  Downstairs waterfront bedroom Full Size bed has been replaced by a bigger Queen Size
 8)  New Microwave, Stove, and Oven
 9)  New cookware, dishes, and silverware
 10) More games & puzzles
 11) More to come……….

The exterior repainting of the house has now been finished (although if you look real hard you may find a few small spots that were missed due to me deciding that it was just not worth me trying to reach that far when up that high on the ladder).
-The Screened Porch Steps have been completely rebuilt with a railing on both sides and guttering above.
-New refrigerator (with ice and water dispenser).
-New Grill on the porch.
-A new large grass area where the big Poplar tree used to be (that unfortunately had to be removed in late 2022)……grass is growing there nicely right now, hopefully it survives the summer.
-A whole bunch of other landscaping that you may or may not notice.
-New seatbacks installed on the kayaks.
-Massive shoreline repair (that you will not realize) due to finding that Muskrats had dug a whole network of tunnels into the shoreline near the kayaks…….wow that was a lot of work!…..Muskrats may look all cute but they sure can do some damage to a shoreline.  Pretty sure they have now gone elsewhere to live.
-A bunch of other things you likely will not notice but needed to be done.

1)  A lot of general repairs and maintenance that unfortunately will be unseen
 2)  New plantings, berms, and other general landscaping improvements
 3)  Siding replacement and window trim replacement on roadside of house
 4)  Facia board replacement around about one-third of house
 5)  All trim of house repainted as gray instead of white
 6)  Further reinforcement of the boathouse to prepare for a future use
 7)  New gates on dock
 8)  New fencing and gate on the south side of house
 9)  Improved motion activated exterior lighting for front of house walkway approach, porch and back screened porch steps and walkway
 10) New covered front door stoop/porch
 11) New screened porch steps
 11) Repainting of upstairs bedroom and bathroom and maybe more
 12) Unfortunately, the huge Poplar tree on the lakeside is having to come down.  After consulting with several arborists, while the damage to it seems to be healing, it is just too much of a safety concern to keep.  It will be replaced with a Red Maple.
 13) New fiber wireless internet…….very fast
 14) More to come……….dependent on weather and time of course

---- Screened in porch being repainted and re-screene

---- Expansion of side yard monkey grass area (about 500 plantings)

---- Linten Rose plantings in lakeside center natural area

---- Re-landscaping of screen porch natural area with Nandinas and Hostas