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...

Renovation Day 13...

Mom & Dad arrived Tuesday evening, we had some oysters & fish...Wednesday we did a little shopping for a farm table for our kitchen as the table that was left here was really BAD! We went to our favorite shop, but they didn't have anything...we asked to see if they knew of any other place that we might be able to find one. They suggested another little shop...they didn't have anything either but told us to try the local Dillards that was closing. We went in...and much to our surprise we scored a great farm table for just $25.00!

Here is a shot of the good buy!






If you noticed the floor....you are sooooo right! Stay tuned for more about the floor!

Black Friday...

Renovation Day 13...while we went out on Black Friday...the guys started putting down the hardwood floor....we trecked out to get a few items on the list!

I thought this project would take 3-4 days to complete....so I will keep you posted!

Non-Traditional Thanksgiving...

We were unsure if the weather was going to cooperate....but after a coat of paint on some of the new trim, we loaded up and headed for the beach! It was a little windy, but we held up under the pressure and had our turkey sandwiches and enjoyed the day.

We did come back to our half done kitchen and have a regular feast for dinner....all is well with our first meal in our half done new kitchen...all is good!

Renovation Day 12...

The hardwood was brought inside the shack to acclimate to the interior temp. The kitchen lights were hung and more trim was painted, cut & hung. Trim paint and touch ups were being done all through the shack.

Little things are starting to come together. Tonight around dinner time my Mom & Dad will be here and work will stop probably for a few days...We are going to try and spend a non-traditional Thanksgiving day on the beach...so we are crossing our fingers that the weather holds out!

It is really starting to shape up....and everyone is oh so pleased about that!

The hardwood will probably take 3-4 days to complete as it is somewhat slow work...but when it is completed it will be FANTASTIC. It is a maple hardwood 3/4" (the real thing) with a medium brown stain....not to light and not to dark. It is 4" wide and I just can hardly wait until it is completed......YEAH! A lot of people down here use the laminate....but we were able to purchase the real thing in 2nd's and it was only $1.99 per sq ft....which was really cheaper than the fake stuff!

The construction is starting to wear on all 4 of us and sometimes tension gets high...but we are trying to hang in there and plug along. I am so looking forward to starting the accessorizing...we have closets full of pictures, signs, dishes, and all the fun stuff....so as we approach the final stages I am keeping that in the back of my mind.

The money hemorrhaging is slowing somewhat....so that is always a good thing!

Stay tuned!

Renovation Day 11...

Wow...look at this our first orange from our very own orange tree!

Today we started our day yet again with a trip to Lowes & Home Depot. After a quick lunch out we were back to the house to start moving on our check list of things to do.

The guys hung our shelf brackets (this they were not to happy about) the shelf brackets were the nice beefy look we were going for, but kind-of-a pain in the B-U-T-T to install! These will be our open shelving system for our everyday dishes in the kitchen.

Jerry worked on facing the front of the peninsula and enclosed the vent stack.

We are on the countdown as Mom & Dad will be here Tuesday evening around supper time...and our work days will run a little shorter then...more later!

Renovation Day 10...

When I said plumbing could be slow....I mean slow. How about over a 24 hour period going to Lowes, 9 times for fittings that didn't even cost $12.00! When you do it yourself...you do save on labor...but not time, sometimes there isn't a time savings.

We painted more trim boards and the day ended with the upper cabinets being hung along with the exhaust range hood. The dishwasher installed and working and the kitchen sink & garbage disposal working.

We cleaned out the cabinets and started unpacking our boxes of food and pots and pans into our new cabinets.

We cleaned up the front porch and took some more items to the dumpsters to get our yard cleaned out....we were starting to look like the Beverly Hillbilly's!

We don't have our kitchen completed yet...but I do think we have enough space in the kitchen for the coffee pot to actually set on the counter tonight and we can actually fill it with water out of the kitchen sink....ahhhhh progress!

Renovation Day 9...

Today we finished the cabana room and boy what a transformation. Now we are putting together the finishing touches and trying to decide the final layout of the furniture. You will have to stay tuned for the photos later...as it is full of stuff right now from the dining room....but trust me it is an improvement!

We scored this super piece of furniture from our community fire department yard sale for only $15.00, gave it a quick paint job and it will now house the flat screen TV, books, VCR tapes, DVD's, games and much much more! It is a great piece of real wood furniture...what a bargain! It doesn't look like much here but we cleaned it up, gave it a quick coat of white paint and re-painted the pulls...and it will be perfect for our cabana room. It's original use was a bedroom dresser. We allowed the neighborhood fire department to keep the mirror for it's next garage sale and they delivered the piece right to our shack on the back of their golf cart trailer and the men carried in and put it right in place for us....wow what service. I think the men were a little confused why a bedroom dresser was going in our tv room...but I wouldn't expect them to understand me or my motives :-)

We bought a curtain rod from Lowes on clearance to cover this long bank of windows...we opted this time to replace the HORRID 1980's Grandma GONE BAD PINK MINI-BLINDS with the same style for a cost cutting budget measure. These are much less expensive than the faux wood 2" style and for now it serves the purpose. To finish off the windows on the long wall we went with yet another budget conscious decision of canvas painters drop cloths on cafe style clips. Drapes are so expensive and I have used these before and love the effect...so for $4.98 per panel, we have instant no sew drapes! They add the look of sand to our room!

The sofa, was purchased back home at a local auction. It is a great almost new sofa queen size sleeper that was never used. We bought this $1,000.00 sofa for only $425.00 and it will be great for extra guest at the shack! The two icy blue wing back recliners we purchased also back home at a antique shop....just $32.50 each!

The wall colors were from Lowes, the blue color is called Porch Swing, it could be one of my new favs....and the tan color is brought in from the dining area Coffee n Cream.

Stay tuned for more of the finished room later!

By the way, did I mention plumbing work could be slow...

Renovation Day 8...

Day 7 seemed to just go on & on & on & on....and before the night ended the guys had the counter tops glued and installed and the plywood place on the peninsula for us to get the tile on....and the kitchen sink installed.




Did I mention plumbing could be slow work.....

We keep joking that our front yard looks like the Beverly Hillbilly's have arrived...and after a few Rum Punches the other night....we entertained ourselves with a few photo-ops to prove our point....Hey Obama is not the only one who can do photo-ops....we just think ours has a little more CLASS! Thanks trash men for all of your help!

Renovation Day 7...

Day 7 began a little slower. I think everyone is starting the drag a little. We are all longing for the beach....but we know there is a deadline to meet so that we can all go and have some fun...so we are going to keep plugging along.

Today was garbage pick up so the workers so kindly took yet another pile of debris and boxes from the cabinets and hauled it away. The neighbors are not quite sure what kind of people they have residing next door....but when it all comes to a close I know they will be glad, as much as we will!

When I I did my last show up in Brimfield I purchased a great vintage chandelier this past September and we decided to use it in the shack over the dining table. Ellen and I took it outback and spent about an hour trying to clean it up a bit...here is a sneak peek at what it is going to look like.They guys ran some more of the plumbing & electric to the dishwasher and now they are installing a pony wall on the back side of the bank of cabinets to serve as our bar/peninsula/counter top eating area. Since the Chic Shore Shack is tiny, it will be nice to set a few stools there and have a few extra places for people to eat or drink!
Here is Sadie trying to help install the dishwasher.

Today we tried to tidy the place up but it is really futile and a total waste of time...but we did manage to find a few more ol' grandma items that we could give away to the neighborhood's volunteer fire department garage sale so little by little all of the old touches are going BYE BYE!

I unpacked a few more boxes and put a few more things away in the bedrooms...but it's still a wreck around here~n a nice kind of way I guess! Then worked my way into the cabana room...and since I had some extra paint left over I decided to start painting again....what am I a glutton for punishment??? Well to tell you the truth, I am somewhat at a stand still waiting for the guys sometimes and what the heck...I might as well paint something!

Day 7 seemed to just go on & on & on & on....and before the night ended the guys had the counter tops glued and installed and the plywood place on the peninsula for us to get the tile on.

Some more of our friends arrived and they checked into their beach bungalow on the island (Anna Maria Island, FL) and I was wishing I was there for just a moment....no cares, no house repairs, just carefree beach rental life....but then I remembered...WAIT next year we will have fewer projects to do and more time for the beach and we will be in our OWN shack...and then I just kept on painting with a smile on my face!

My Mom & Dad just live about 1 1/2 hrs from here but I have not seen them yet....I have talked to them several times since we have arrived, but we are working swiftly to try to get our kitchen completed so that they can arrive next week and spend some time with us around Thanksgiving.

As I am typing this the guys are cutting the hole in the counter top for the kitchen sink. We have power to the dishwasher. I have 1/2 of the cabana room painted and re-arranged and we are rolling like mad people.

Stay Tuned!

Renovation Day 6...

We see the trim work coming to an end. YEAH!

Can you say CAULK & SPACKLING??? We should have probably bought stock in those companies! Oh...and probably the paint companies too!

I just can not express enough how much I truly love the look and feel really good about the choices of the products that I have chosen.

Today we took a trip out to finish our tile search for some accent glass tile to finish the top of the peninsula in the kitchen. Unfortunately, all the in stock colors in Lowes or Home Depot were just not right! We went to a local tile shop and ordered a mix mosaic glass and stone sheet that have all the right sea tones that we were hoping for. Sadly, they did not stock this item so we had to order. We splurged a little on this accent tile as the 12x12 sheets were $18.99 per sheet, but we got a bargain on the field tile so I think it will all work out! The order will not be here until next week Tuesday or Wednesday....so our plans for being completed for Thanksgiving may be fading!

The guys are finishing the hallway trim and the back hall door trim as I am typing and I am watching the sunlight stream in the cabana room where Sadie & I looked at fabric & paint samples.

We are hoping that we can soon start unloading the kitchen cabinets out of the Sprinter and have them set into place before sundown. But much to my surprise before 2 PM the cabinets were being unloaded before our eyes.

The next step for the day was to begin working on plumbing of the new dishwasher (which the shack never had before) and the plumbing for the kitchen sink. Then back to the hard install of the cabinetry. At this point we still have a lot of day left, but one thing is for sure....plumbing work can be slow.

Renovation Day 5...

This day started just like many of the others, but ended up spending a ton of time in the hardware stores finishing the ordering and purchasing the final large supplies for the Kitchen renovation.

It's not bad enough that you have to go to 2 hardware stores to get your supplies, but we had to drive to another Home Depot to get the ready made counter tops that we wanted called Jeweled Ivory....it has a nice sand tone background color with a touch of aqua. Perfect for the shack!

The doors and windows being trimmed and some more painting...OF COURSE! The wall boards a completed and the look is just what I had hoped for...if not better!

We ended the day at dark by heading back to Lowes to pick up the cabinets so that we have them on site to install in the next few days.

Renovation Day 4...

Is beginning to wear on me. Having the entire house in a shambles and 4 people trying to maneuver around all the junk is a challenge. I am trying to keep my chin up and my eye on the goal as we will have a house-full on Thanksgiving week....wait this already is a house-full?????

Today we again had to take a trip to Lowe's, so we decided to skip breakfast and head out during lunch to get our supplies. To my surprise Jerry drove to one of my favorite lunch spots "The Salty Dog", which is right on Sarasota Bay and for the first time this trip I actually saw the OCEAN!

After we saw just a glimpse of what the beach life was like...we went on to Lowe's and back to the house for the day.









Today was full of painting and hanging the rest of the kitchen & dining room wall boards. And we are almost finished....

Between the coats of paint drying I did manage to start a small project in a tiny part in the back of the hall that was a wasted space...so stay tuned for that later.