Monday, April 25, 2011

ONE MORE WEEK!!

Until we can start moving crap out of the garage!!!  That makes me SOOOOOOO happy.

We may be going down on Saturday to sign the papers and bring a check since the due date is the 30th and we're not able to take care of it earlier this week.  If we do, hopefully they will let us bring some stuff down a day early.  We're waiting to hear....otherwise it'll be the weekend after.

This weekend we traded in my beloved, beautiful, gorgeously awesome BWM for a pick up truck.  Granted, in the world of pick ups, this one is quite nice....but it's not a luxury dream car like the BMW was to me.  I'm a sad, sad sack of sad.  I cried a little tear when I last saw my car being driven away.  I suppose I'll survive but it's probably not likely.

We also had a good showing of the house on Saturday.  As always, they happen when you least expect it.  I had my 2 nieces visiting for Spring Break and we were getting ready to do a little shopping on Saturday morning when I asked them to clean up their room and bathroom a bit, which I never ask them to do, just in case.  Wouldn't you know it at our 2nd stop a realtor called and wanted to show the house.  We raced home and I had exactly 11 minutes to clean up some more.  I even made my 12 year old niece vacuum while I put some things away.  Fortunately they were super nice and didn't expect a perfect house.....which was good since it was far from.  Anyway I did my first realtor "follow up" call today and she said they loved it and would likely be making a 2nd visit when they are back in town (they live up north).  Since I'm horrible at not getting my hopes up, they of course already are, and I'll likely be checking my phone every second until she calls again.

I'm now up to about 150 items for the store....we'll have new and like new items, sizes 0/XS-16/18/2X, brands including: Banana Republic, J Crew, Ann Taylor, Ann Taylor Loft, Paige Premium Denim, Bebe, Gap, American Eagle, Abercrombie and Fitch, Old Navy, Talbots, Michael Kors, White House Black Market, Tommy Hilfiger, and a bunch of the different Target brands.  I don't think anything will be over $50 and most everything will be under $30.  I had hoped to have some things up here but I just don't have the time to iron everything twice (once now for a pic, and then again once they are up in the boutique) so I will make the online boutique more live once I start unpacking for the boutique (in May and June).

Tuesday, April 19, 2011

Chair alteration, misc pics and inspiration

I wasn't happy with the way the chair cover fit once I moved it to the actual chair that it will be covering.  We have 3 of the Ikea chairs, one is a little different from the other 2 that match, and the one solo chair was the one I tried the cover on first.  Even though I thought for sure it was smaller than the other 2, the cover actually fit looser on the other 2.  So I "took in" the parts that were too loose and it looks a lot better.
Plus it's hemmed now too.  Love it!

I've been browsing on the popular website Pinterest lately for ideas.  Here are some random pics of ideas and inspiration as well as stuff I just like.

Decor and color inspiration


Ideas for things to make


I think this next one is my new favorite saying!



Monday, April 18, 2011

What'SUP? YOLO Paddleboards are purchased!

Yesterday Chris and I met with Brody Welte of http://www.standupfitnessinc.com/ to test out the 2 types of paddleboards we were considering.  One is more expensive and will last a lifetime, but more succeptible to day to day damange.  The other is more durable if it's knocked around and a bit less $$.  Since for our purposes we didn't feel a big difference between the two, and since we'll be renting them out, we went w/ the latter.  Also, he had a few demo models so we saved even more by buying them slightly used.  Win-win.  We bought two of this model.  Took them for a quick spin in our "backyard" and found that it wasn't too difficult to launch them from our dock.  The biggest challenge was trying to keep them away from the pilings which are covered in sharp foam-cutting barnacles.

By the way - YOLO stands for "you only live once", how great is that for a company name/motto?  Love.

Sorry no pics!  We were so excited to get them out on the water I didn't even think about it.  I'll do better next time.  To make up for it, here are 2 pics we took last night as it was getting dark and the full moon was coming up.



Yeah, I can't believe we're leaving this either....

Tuesday, April 12, 2011

First official completed makeover

Well almost completed - close enough.  I didn't finish the hem, and I have 2 of these to do, but they'll look identical so for the purposes of sharing here, it's a completion :)

Before Chairs


And after!  Remember, it's not hemmed yet.

The fabric that looks sort of bunched on either side of the bottom is a pleat.  They'll look neater once ironed and hemmed.
The back, with the almost invisible zipper
It's not the most perfect fit in the world but it's defintely good enough. 
Here are a few "action shots" of the process.
10 yards of fabric - almost 2 too many but the lady at the fabric store convinced me I would need 10.  She was wrong.
Laying out the cushion
Laying out the chair pieces.  The fabric is folded over to cut both at once.  The fabric to the right is all leftover x2.

It was pretty easy to put together.  It took a few minutes here and there to figure out how to piece it together but the only problem I had was in the beginning with the first cushion.  The chairs were in the garage and I wrongly assumed that the zipper was on the straight part when it was actually on the curve.  I lost about 20 minutes unstitching and re-sewing but it was easily fixed.

So happy this was so doable.  I seriously thought this might take me like a week, but it only took about 4 hours total so far.  The 2nd one will come together even faster.

Oh and just a note about this fabric.  I came across it ages ago, way before we had even heard of Matlacha, but had no reason to buy any even though I loved it and knew it was totally "me".  I found it again right about the time I was planning to decorate the first cottage in the gray/yellow/turquoise color scheme.  I kind of purposely didn't show it to Chris in case he wanted to try to veto it.  I had planned to order it eventually but found it at a local fabric store that had 40% off everything this past weekend.  Since I bought TEN yards of it, it was a pretty big committment.  I showed it to Chris, bracing myself for his potential dislike, but also knowing he would pretty much be SOL
if he didn't like it :) 

Fortunately for both of us, he likes it.

Monday, April 11, 2011

Weekend update - new furniture acquisitions

Just when I thought our garage couldn't hold any more stuff.....we crammed a few more things in there this weekend.


Here's a view from inside.

And here is what it looked like just a month or so ago....before I lost my sanity :)


Then there was this.....

Oy.  I am so having to repress my OCD lately.

So - onto what's new. 
I had bought an almost new Ikea Tullsta chairs from a Craigslist seller a few weeks ago for $60.  These chairs are $99 new, plus tax, plus the hassle of driving to the Ikea....not to mention how long must take to make a purchase in that bloated warehouse on steroids (I've only been once just to scope it out.  Didn't buy anything, but almost got stuck there since there appeared to be no way out unless you were going through the checkout).  So I'd been checking Craigslist for more Ikea chairs and found 2 more for sale along w/ a cover.  And she delivered.  So I got 2 more chairs and a cover delivered for less than it would have cost for one chair and the cover, new.  I only planned to cut the cover apart for a pattern to make new covers, so a used one was perfect.  These two chairs are not exactly the same as the one I had bought but a. they are way more comfortable, and b. they all look the same once the covers are on anyway.

I'll post tomorrow (hopefully) with the finished chair covers.  I have made the cushion part and cut out the chair part, I just need to buy zippers and put them together.  They are going to look SOOOOO awesome and I am in love w/ the fabric.  Here's a preview.

More on these tomorrow or Wed.

Saturday the neighborhood next to ours had their community garage sale.  I got on my bike and checked out most of the sales.  Not too much good stuff but I did find a mirror that matches the yellow dresser from a few weeks ago (sans any extra panties, thank goodness).  Five bucks!  Sweet.

Then found this high top table w/ a Carribbean map on top.  It came w/ 2 stools and they had a $50 price tag on it, which was cheap enough in my book,  But as i was standing there looking at it and waiting for Chris to show up to check it out, the guy told me they were negotiable on the price.  So we offered them $40.  Not sure where we'll use it but I see it coming in handy somewhere.  Will probably paint the base of it and the stools a light aqua or yellow to complement the map.
Oh and here is our free TV stand, courtesy of my co-worker, the same one who is donating our dining room table and chairs.  If I were going for the really rustic beach look I'd leave it as is, but I think most everything else will be a bit more polished, so I'll throw a layer of paint on it. 

I'll post the total furniture expenditure update in another post. 

Thursday, April 7, 2011

Great news - Inspection was a success!

Chris went down to the property today to be there for the inspection.  It went better than we were willing to let ourselves hope for.  In the words of the inspector, it is "one of the best kept places on the island"!  Hooray for us!

He did find a couple of very minor things, but nothing at all to be concerned about.  AND the owner said he'd take care of them in the next few weeks.

This was our last hurdle to the start of the lease.  So we're golden.... so to speak :)