Congratulations to Ruben Ramos for winning the Winter Yard of the Quarter contest. Ruben is originally from Queens, New York. He moved down to the Central Florida area in 1986. He lived in the Poinciana area for a short time, then entered the U.S. Army.  While in the Army, he served as a communications specialist. He spent time in different forts in the U.S., then was deployed to South Korea. We thank Ruben for his service.

 

Ruben more recently relocated from Davenport to Hidden Springs. His main motivation was to be closer to his younger children who happen to also live in Hidden Springs. He works as an in-house manager for Westgate. So now he's a bit closer to work, too.

 

Ruben's home underwent a massive transition. One of the first things he had to do was get rid of a lot of the oaks and shrub debris around his home. He had over 4.5 tons of yard debris. His home also sloped downward. After getting rid of all the yard debris, he had two full trucks of filler brought in -- 2 tons worth. The front yard is now even and not sloping towards the home. Then came sod and some new landscaping. Click here to see the before photo!

 

The renovation challenge was the reddish bricks on the exterior of the home. He had them painted gray, added bronze-colored decorative shutters and new exterior lighting. He also had the cement driveway demolished to install gray-and-white brick pavers. The front porch was revamped using the same paver color and style.

 

Ruben didn't just stop at the outside of the home. He's completely renovated the interior adding 30 x 30 porcelain tiles throughout and a new kitchen/family room. Next on his list is to gut the 2nd-floor room and make it an in-law suite with its own full kitchen for family to come and stay.

 

One thing Ruben is so happy about are his neighbors. He said he's never lived anywhere before and had such wonderful, kind neighbors. One set brought him Gatorade and cookies while he was in the midst of all the modifications; another neighbor just recently stopped by to bring over Florida avocados from their tree. All around him are great folks. He's grateful to be here and have them as neighbors.

 

Ruben was awarded a $50 Ace Hardware gift certificate from our esteemed Realtor in Chief, Hidden Springs/Estates Yard of the Quarter Sponsor, John Scolaro. Thank you, John, for always being so supportive of our Yard of the Quarter program.