Sorry I have been MIA...

I must apologize, I have been MIA. With all the construction, then the holidays and life in general I have not been posting. We have spent the last few weeks cleaning up, putting things together, celebrating with family and FREEZING, yes FREEZING! It has been soooo unusually cold here. I know, I know you say poor Tricia...but we passed all of our beach days during renovation, and now the weather has changed and the temperature is not going our way :-(

Today, we had lunch out at the island and then did some antiquing and shopping. We hit my favorite shell shop, and picked up a few items too! Here are some photos of the great finds I have been collecting for decorating our shack and also some items not pictured that will be heading home to the shop. Finding things on a budget are not has hard as you might think....you just have to turn a few more stones...

Enjoy!

That tall clear vase, picked it up today for just $10 including all of the mini star fish.

Picked up these vintage pillow cases 2 sets for just $40 this set says Gal & Guy!

Another shot of that awesome tall vase & my neck pillows made from vintage fabric from a textile mill in Texas.

These AWESOME @ and & symbols I picked up at a Home Goods store for just $12.99 ea! The all white Matlesee under the @ sign, picked it up for just $1.99 today at the Salvation Army....$1.99 WOW!

A vintage clock dome for only $8 and a large sand dollar just $2.50

A vintage wooden step stool with beautiful original aqua paint...and my cool sea shells!

Large Star Fish....just $2.95 ea WOW!

Vintage flash cards....I have a plan for these!

Large heavy rope wrapped ball....I am using it as a cool door stop, just $14.95!

More to come....stay tuned!

Renovation...

Well after only 1 1/2 days...we have a completely new bathroom. Our guys ROCK! It turned out great and we actually have more room, more storage & way more STYLE! And the best news, it didn't cost us an arm & a leg! Stay tuned for more photos of the bathroom reno...

They guys moved back into the bedroom and in just under 4 hours the two wood-look walls were up and the U-G-L-Y wallpaper was GONE! We used the same product on the two walls here in the bedroom that we used in the bath. I gave the walls a quick two coats of paint and we called it a day with a PB&J sandwich.

This is a shot of the wall with some paint...it really shows off the wood-grain...

Life is GOOD!

Stay tuned for more photos of the completion.

Renovation Day...I lost count...

The yard is full of debris again, a toilet in the front drive is a first...with yet another trip to Lowe's...and a little more money out the door...we came home with yet another load of supplies to make repairs to the shack. Total demo was not in the plans until we found an un-foreseen plumbing issue that couldn't wait to be taken care of until next year...so hey we got a new bathroom out of it! :-)

We really tried to not hit the budget to hard since we were not planning to renovate the bathroom until next year so we managed to make a few budget conscious choices and here they are...

An outdoor siding that is designed to look like cedar lap siding. Made from a cement & paper mix. We didn't use it as lap but we butted the edges and it looks like a complete wood wall....AWESOME look! Best of all the boards come in 12' lengths and they were only $4.50 per board, much cheaper than wood! It cuts easy with a circular saw and we installed it with our small air power nailer with finishing nails, gave it a quick coat of paint and we were done. It could have also had a whitewash technique done on it if that was the look you were going for.

Sadie is wondering when this is going to be over with.....I wish I knew girl!

Stay tuned for the finished product!

Just Another Renovation Day...

As we came back from NYC our "To-Do List" was getting pretty small, and we thought we were on the down hill slide of this reno. I had already gotten my mind right that I was going to forgo my extreme dislike for our bedroom and 1/2 attached bath...and I was going to make it my mission to just live with it until we came back next Winter. We arrived back from NYC late Sunday afternoon, had a nice dinner and went to bed early.

As I woke up on Monday morning, I was looking forward to a quite morning...however I was awoken by the sound of Jerry ripping down wallpaper off the walls in the bedroom. I said "what are you doing", he replied "if I would have told you what I was going to do you wouldn't have slept at all last night...", and he would have been right. I was thrilled....even though it wasn't going to be the full fledged re-do that I was going to do...it was going to be a nice face lift and I was excited! I mean who wouldn't be....this was the U-G-L-Y room in the house...I mean REALLY U-G-L-Y.

While we were pulling off the wallpaper smiling...Jerry opened the access panel that hid the plumbing to the nearby bathroom. That was a mistake...but I guess one that would have been uncovered eventually...so when they opened the panel they found a plumbing problem under the house...and the bedroom face lift came to a hault and the bathroom that we hadn't planned on fixing until next year...well it came to the forefront.

They started by trying to go under the house but with no success, they came into the bathroom and by the end of the night there was a big hole in the floor and the only thing left in the bathroom was a bathtub! So the renovation budget took a small hit! When doing remodels, these unforeseen problems pop up, and you just never know what you are going to run into. We were happy to have found the issue before it had become much worse.

We will keep you posted on the progress, it is coming back together and Jerry was able to fix the plumbing problem with not to much hassle...YEAH!

Inspirational R & R...

After a long weekend with Jerry & his son's family in NYC, we are right back at our renovations...in a BIG WAY.

I really enjoyed it, and can not believe that it took me 38 years to get to NYC.

Here is a sneak peek at our trip, enjoy!

Click on the photo to view the slide show!

Can I do White...

I really wanted to do the shack in "White on White"...but as hard as I tried, I must admit that I just am not a "White on White" gal I guess!

Photo Flickr

Photo Shabby Chic Website

I keep falling in love with all of the beach tone colors and I just go with it!


I do love the white siding that we used in the kitchen and dinning room, which I did paint white...but the TEXTURE is amazing!


So many of the blogs I love to read are all about "White on White"...but I just can't do it, because I love COLOR! It is different to view the pictures and read the magazines....but what can you actually "Live with..."???

I would love to hear from you................

Renovation Day 17...

As reno day 16 came to a close, tensions were running high. Everyone is just on edge...including ME! I took a final trip to Lowes for a board they needed to complete the step into the TV room, then Jerry made us a a great cheeseburger and we all called it a day...sometime around 8:30 PM...


It's hard to believe that in just slightly over 2 weeks that you could gut an entire Kitchen, Dining, Hallway & do cosmetic reno to a tv room....all while living in it with a total of 4 people. It's a big job and we all came here to have fun...so it does kind of get to all of us that we haven't had one bit of R & R since we arrived. We all have been getting up and starting each day by 7 AM...so even sleeping in hasn't been on our list.


Our goal is to be completed by Tuesday evening and get our Hillbilly porch cleaned off once & for all! Get all the wood cut that needs to be cut and get rid of the saw horses, air compressor and all the debris off of our front porch so that maybe we could enjoy it a little more for morning coffee or evening happy hour.


Wednesday is mine & Jerry's last day for a while, as we leave Thursday morning early for NYC for a short trip....which by the way I am also excited about....


So before breakfast, before my shower...I joined the other 3 on the porch and did a clean up of all the debris, set the stuff out for the trash men yet again....and then we were off to the inside to proceed on to the kitchen peninsula tile. A quick shower, and we were off on a short trip to Lowes again to get a few tile supplies we took the time to dry fit the tile and come up with our design for the peninsula.

Stay tuned for the finished product...

Renovation Day 16...

Sadie & I headed out to Petsmart to get her some dog food...and headed to Lowes to return some items and get some brackets for a shelf project that we started a few days back...I know we bought the brackets....but we can't find them here in the house....can you believe it!

The Fedex man brought our glass tile....and we were so thrilled!

We put together our make-shift wine rack , one that we made from a Closet Shoe Rack...and it turned out great! A budget decision of only $29.00 and it holds a whopping 15 bottles! WHEW HOO!

I cleaned the yard a little, cause we were starting to look like the hillbilly's again, and we were off! The bracket shopping trip was un-successful and we were back.

Trim was getting finished up and we were on a roll until our bellies started growling!

We headed out for a lunch on the beach and to meet some of our friends and after 3 vodka & tonics later I could have cared less if we did another construction project! :-)

Cheers for now!

Renovation Day 15...

Today we started our day at the donut shop...hey we hadn't been there in almost a week. We took a short trip to Lowes for some supplies...our trips to the hardware store have been slowing down. Then back to the shack....and everyone started to work on a project. Ellen & I painted baseboard trim. The guys finished up on the final trimming of the last few pieces of hardwood and by noon we were ready to have a little fun...so we headed out to the movies! We saw the movie "Old Dogs"...and it was really good. It gave everyone a 2 hour break, a ton of laughs and re-energized us all!

After the movies, we came back to the shack and everyone started their own little projects again. I trimmed some more paint, put the new ceiling fan blades together....Ellen shortened the 2" plantation blind over the kitchen sink...Jerry worked on hanging the ceiling fan and getting electric to our Chandelier....and Dudley hung a blind on the back door to give us a little privacy coming out of the bathroom.

Ellen & I have been working on getting a few accessories out and deciding where they are going to end up...things are really shaping up and all is well.

It was awesome to wake up this morning and actually walk to the kitchen with my bare tootsies!

Renovation Day 14...

Much to my surprise...at the end of reno day 14 our floor is completed! OMG...it looks fantastic! In a total of 2 days....those guys worked their butts off and it shows! No laminate...the real deal and it is SUPER!

Ellen & I trekked out and shopped for a few more items on the list, bar stools, a couple new lamp shades, etc...etc, for the finishing touches and the end result is yet one more day closer!

Stay tuned...