This home holds a very soft spot for us as our first renovation. In the summer of 2015, just a year after we relocated to St. Augustine from San Francisco, we purchased our first house. It was a 1953 concrete block home located in Davis Shores on Anastasia Island. The Dallyon house was an unloved property in a wonderful setting. It had a sizable lot, tons of mature plant life, close proximity to the river, and a short walk across the bridge to downtown. The house itself was another story. It was infested with rats, the yard was a mosquito pit, and nothing had been updated on the property for quite some time. When it came to picking our first fixer upper, we really went in deep. 

At the time, we were in our mid-20’s, extremely grateful to have our first place, and on a very tight budget. We knew we’d have to do a lot of the work ourselves and learn along the way. We had to move in almost immediately since we couldn’t swing a rental at the same time. That experience of living with the construction mess was tough.

The flooring was a critical early piece. We removed many layers of tile, linoleum, etc. and skim coated and stained the concrete.