This past week was a big downer.  Found out our 16 1/2 year old kitty has lymphoma.  The vet expects him to have another 3-4 weeks.  The only possible treatment is chemo, and I am not going to put a geriatric cat through that. 

I covered his belly for the picture since it is still shaven from his ultrasound.  He's doing very well though, all things considered.  He had stopped eating almost completely but with a combination of appetite stimulants, syringe feeding, sub-q fluids and predisone, he is eating (and eliminating) normally again. 
Took some updated pics w/ the new camera this weekend.  Still on auto as I didn't have much time or energy to play around w/ the settings.  New from the last set of pics: we got a piece of glass for the table behind the sofa, got the TV service started, upholstered the bench by the bed, painted and upholstered the desk chair, painted the desk, got a piece of mirror for the dark frame that will go over the desk, got a larger flamingo picture, and hung a few more things on the walls. 

Next weekend I hope to hang all the curtains.  We're putting a panel on the wall behind the bed, in the spaces between the large door/windows in the front room, over the small bathroom window, and over the shelves above the laundry.  Still waiting on the living room rug; last word was it should ship next week.

Moving right along

We spent this past weekend in Matlacha - another meeting with the bank to talk about financing and to open a business account, and another meeting at our accountants to get some training on using Quickbooks.  Tiki was welcome at both meetings.  I may start taking this dog friendly stuff for granted - god forbid I wind up in the ER or something, I'll be all "and why CAN'T my dog be here?  what kind of place IS this????"

We stayed at the Bridgewater (not view) Inn, which was nice and close for all the back and forth we did with the new property.  We took our photographer friends, Wendy and Davis, around to show them the property, meet the owners, see Pine Island, etc.  They loved it and we're all super excited for them to display and sell their photos.  Rich and Lesa joined us as well for Saturday day/night.

The owners had a bunch of furniture they wanted to leave if we could use it.  They also have decades worth of tools bought specifically for the property.  Between the two lots, we should have everything we'll ever need.  Included in the furniture lot is a ton of restaurant stuff.  Will make it easier to jump into that when we're ready.

Also took some detailed measurements so that I can start figuring out the store floorplan and what racks and displays we'll need to buy and arrange.  One of the detailed measurements was of the master bedroom in the owners cottage to see if our king sized bed will fit.....it will leave about 18 inches on each side of the room.
I think we're desperate enough for our large bed that we'll live w/ the tight space!

I made a list of all of the furniture things I need to finish and it's painfully overwhelming.  I thought I got such a head start on it, but once the frigging garage filled up, I couldn't really do anything (using spray paint anyway), so it came to a standstill.  I was planning to continue to procrastinate last night but felt the need to get something, anything, done....so I sprayed and covered the seat on this chair (it was already primed).  Baby steps :)  This pic is before I put the final coat of turquoise on. 

as a reminder; here is the before picture:

Also of note; the buyer for our home came by last night to learn all the details of the pool/dock/house maintenance.  He even brought me a bottle of wine!  These buyers couldn't be nicer and more excited about our home.  I am so thrilled.  Today is the inspection so pending that; we're golden!  Still looking at an August 15th closing date.

Makeover #4 - Goodwill director's chairs

On a recent Goodwill trip, while I was really looking for another small desk chair, I came across two director's chairs for $15/ea.  They were in great shape, just had some chipping paint and dirty fabric.  So with my two BFF's - paint and fabric - they went from this

to this

I was pleased to see, as I was taking the fabric off, that they are from Pier 1.  I looked up the retail online and they sell for $50 for the chair and $15 for the fabric parts.  So I got both chairs, with much cuter fabric then they offer, for less than the price of one @ retail.  I used outdoor fabric from Joann's when it was 50% off so the fabric for each chair was less than $10.

I think they will look very cute out front of this cottage

or this one

2nd and 3rd official completed makeovers

With the restaging of the house brought opportunity for bringing some things in from the garage to use in the house.  I'd been waiting to make this coffee table into a bench and realized the foot of the bed in the larger guest room would be a perfect place to put it. 

Coffee table before:

And after!

I LOVE it.  And it was super easy. 

Even easier was just painting these tables.  Not quite as exciting but at least they serve a purpose while we wait to furnish the new place.

Goodwill end tables before:

And after

Next up will be a pair of Captain's chairs from Goodwill - plan to re-paint and replace the canvas/fabric.

Ok, let's try this again: ONE MORE WEEK!

Yeah, so things didn't go as planned....we got the lease for review a few days late, and there was no way we were getting everything resolved by this past Saturday.  So we're hoping we can have everything settled by the end of this week so we can sign this weekend.  We have to keep reminding ourselves that Matlacha must be part of this "island time" we always hear about.  Must be nice!  Not sure if my anal retentiveness about punctuality will ever succumb to island time but we'll soon see.

Not too many new furniture additions since we can't hold another item in the garage, but I did score a free desk last week.  Just needed a little bit of wood patch where it appeared a dog did some chewing.  Splurged on some pretty drawer pulls to replace the very basic wooden ones it came with.  Some primer and paint and it will make a perfect desk/vanity for one of the units. 

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. 

I love surprises....most of the time

Tuesday I came  home early to show the house.  I took advantage of the extra hours and started priming some lamps and various metal decor items I had bought to refinish, then started cleaning and sanding the new yellow dresser. 

Here's a better pic of it in the garage.

I am loving this piece - it's not fine furniture by any means but it's perfect for a buffet for the small dining room in the Key West Cottage.

When the lady dropped it off, she mentioned like twice that it was marked "purchased in 1979".  Well she was close. 

This is what it actually says.

Sort of like this flower,

it will be a shame to paint over that.

So the joy didn't end there....first as I was removing the drawers I found this

Not sure if this was a small towel or a pair of socks, I didn't find it necessary to inspect that closely, especially when after the next drawer removal these appeared....

Seriously.  It's better than finding a giant spider,

but still pretty gross.

Weekend Update - furniture priming begins!

 Had a super productive weekend. 

On Friday I powered through 7 pieces of furniture and some oil based primer.  Half way through I wanted to stop....but I was starting to see how cool it will all eventually look, so with the help of some Advil, I continued until each piece had 2 coats of primer. 

Still to do - the large hutch type piece, 4 end tables, 3 lamps, dining table and 4 chairs, and this newly acquired beauty

Bought this off of Craigslist yesterday - $30 delivered right to our door. 

It's perfect for the space and I plan to paint it turquoise.  Love.

We also had a neighborhood yard sale and in addition to unloading 1-2 Jeep loads of stuff that we no longer need/want/use, we made $115 (at the end of the sale there was a Goodwill truck that took any unsold stuff we wanted to unload and we took a full car-load there).

And finally, we had 2 last minute house showings; one on Saturday and one on Sunday.  And got a call for another tomorrow (on top of another tentative one scheduled from last week).  So at least we're getting some exposure, seemingly at least as much if not more so than the houses on our street that are listed w/ realtors.