Pinder's Island Vista

DIY Macrame Plant Holder: Complete in under an hour!

2014-06-05T12:01:00.001-04:00

There are few things better than quick projects with instant gratification. No waiting hours for paint to dry or processes that require a few days to complete. This is one of those quick projects!

Macrame has been making a come back since its prime time in the flower child decade. For those that are unsure of what macrame is Google provides us with this definition:

macramé

məˈkrɑːmi,-meɪ/

noun

the art of knotting string in patterns to make decorative articles.

I have decided that my front door needs some color. I will be painting it in due course but this was a quick project that gave me a good head start. This is what our front door area looks like.

All you will need for this project is:

rope/cord (I happened to have a spool of natural sisal looking cord on hand)

a ruler

a plant pot or vase

I cut 4 lengths of the cord that measured 8ft. I held the 4 lengths together in one hand at the same height and folded them in half at the midpoint. This creates the loop at the top that the plant holder will hang from. I then tied a knot about 3 inches from the midpoint to secure the loop.

Now I have 8 strands of cord and a loop at the top. I separated the eight strands into four groups of two.

I start tying knots from the top and worked my way down. I took the first group of 2 strands and measured 14" from the loop knot. That is where I tied my first knot.

I tied knots in the 3 remaining groups of 2 cords all measuring 14" from the loop knot. Take your time a be sure the knots are even.

Now you have your loop knot and the first set of knots that will make up your holder. Lay your strands next to each other and try to make them flat so they are not twisted at the top. You will then take the left strand of one of your groups of 2 and tie it the the right strand of the group that is adjacent to it. Do this to all of your strands until you end up with another 4 knots. At this point you should hold up your partially finished plant holder and fit it over your plant pot. This way you know if you made your knots correctly. It should fit around your pot in a circle with none of the strands crossing through the middle. If you find that you made a mistake. Just untie the knot that is incorrect and correct it.

At this point I would suggest that you should put the plant holder over your pot to determine where you should tie your final set of 4 knots. I decided that I wanted those knots to be right at the base of my holder. With the plant holder over the pot I measured the distance from my last set of knots to the bottom of the pot. It was about 4.5". I then did the same thing as in the previous step. Tied the left strand from 1 group of 2 to the right strand of the adjacent group.

This is what it looks like with the three sets of knots. This is what will make the nice "V" design around the sides of your pot.

Finally I measured the distance between the edge of the pot to the center of the pot's bottom. I then measured that distance from the last set of knots and held all of the strands together with one hand. I held the top of the holder up with my other hand and pulled to be sure the strands were all even. I then tied the last knot which is one big knot including all eight strands. This will be the knot that your pot will sit on.

This is what the pot holder looked like when I put my vase in it. This part of the project took about 15 minutes. I'm sure it could take much longer depending on how ornamental you want your plant holder to be. More knots = more time.

Now onto the hanging stage!

The overhang for our front door is made of sheet rock. Unfortunately this meant that I could not hang the pot exactly where I wanted it (in the center of where our little window is). There was not a stud to hold the screw secure. Not setting the screw into a stud (piece of wood) could mean my whole project crashing to the ground given a plant with soil etc. So I drilled into the front part of the overhang into a stud there.

After you've got your hole drilled screw in a hook that is long enough to go through the sheet rock and into the wood. Now hang your masterpiece!

I did not have a plant on hand and we were having people over so I cut a few pieces of bougainvillea from our yard and added them to the vase with some water.

Hope you all try this quick project out. You can also do this inside your house to hang plants near windows etc. Have fun :)

Old Made New: Vintage Finds!

2014-05-29T13:06:00.000-04:00

Hello Everyone! I am so excited to share with you a few of the fabulous finds that I have acquired for our house. I am lucky enough to know someone that has been in charge of getting rid of some old furniture that happens to be so fitting for our home's theme.

I acquired a pair of McGuire caned oval back chairs. I'm sure most of you may be saying, "so what does that mean"? Well, after four of these beauties hit an online selling site for a great price I knew I needed them! I did not know what or who McGuire was and did not even know the chairs may be worth a lot more than what they were being sold for. What I did know was they were beautiful and had big potential for becoming the accent chairs I needed for our living room.

A friend of mine also wanted the chairs but decided we could agree on splitting them. She took two and I took two. After a close inspection she notices the gold plaque underneath the chair with the McGuire inscription. After paying for and collecting my chairs I did a bit of my own research. I found that on McGuire's website new dinning room chairs retail from about $1,000 to $2,500 each. In fact they sell the same chair on their website with instructions to contact a location for pricing. I then took to Ebay. I came across a set of four of the same chairs in a used condition that are being sold for $2,200.00! That is crazy to me, that's $550 per chair!

I'm sure by now your curiosity is killing you and you want to know what I paid for the chairs to make it such a good deal? The answer is $37.50 each!

I have had these chairs for a few months and I finally decided to go and purchase the fabric for reupholstering them.

The fabric on the far left is a Bahama Hand Prints frond print in chocolate brown on white fabric to be used as the seat and seat back. The center fabric is a turquoise-green fabric to be used for the piping on the seat back. The last fabric is for a different chair that I will share in this post as well. It is a sailboat print on tan fabric.

These chairs were upholstered by a professional. The only DIY here was the choosing of the fabrics and the placement. I was so excited to get them back and see my idea come to reality! I am in love with how they turned out! So naturally I took tons of pictures to share :)

I have more to share!

Remember the sailboat print fabric? Well this is where it went! I scored this chair from someone that was leaving the island. The cushions were a beige and red color fabric which would not have gone well in my master bedroom so I had them recovered. This chair is going to be the main piece of furniture for the reading nook in my room.

I will be spraying the base of the chair white and share that process in another post.

I also want you to notice my favorite Target finds from my last trip to America. The anchor bookends! I can't wait to get my shelves up and style them with these.

I also have a few other projects in the works. These pieces were found in a warehouse of discarded furniture and other random items. They were dirt cheap and have so much potential!

This faux bamboo chair and ottoman is going to be fabulous after a coat of paint and some newly covered cushions.

I also scored this faux bamboo framed mirror. I am still debating on painting this. I guess i'm holding out until I know which room its new home will be. What do you think? To paint or not to paint?

I hope you have enjoyed my new projects! Be sure to check back for updates on those projects in the works as well.

Thanks for reading! :)

A little Island to our Vista: Day Trip to Exuma

2014-04-28T12:07:00.001-04:00

Today's post is going to be a bit different. This blog is predominantly about our home projects and renovations BUT let's not forget about the "island" in Pinder's Island Vista. We do live in one of the most beautiful places on earth (not bragging at all) and its only right that I share with you all when I can. This weekend I was able to visit The Exumas. It was about an hour and a half boat ride on our boat and it was a bit bumpy getting there and back but it was totally worth it!

We trolled a bit and hooked a mahi! It was really exciting for me considering I usually don't fish (I'M more of a beach-goer). I even got a short video of Nick reeling it in.

We even scored a few conch to make conch salad. There is just something about eating conch salad in the ocean. It makes a good beach day GREAT!

We went to the sand bar which was absolutely beautiful! Its about two miles of beautiful white sand that protrudes out of the most crystal clear water. I will just let my pictures do the talking!

Isn't it beautiful? I just had to share it. This is also the reason why I don't have a new home project to share. Sometimes enjoying time with friends and in our paradise has to come first! Enjoy :)

Target Threshold Shelf Install

2014-04-14T12:11:00.001-04:00

Remember when I said I would be sharing some of my fabulous finds from my recent trip to the U.S.? Well today is one of those days! While I was away I found the answer to my bare vanity wall problem.

The wall to the right of the vanity in our master bedroom was very plain and was in need of a little something. The picture below shows a frame that I had put up there temporarily and this picture was prior to my rope mirror project.

As I said...it just needed a little something. So, while at Target I came across this fabulous Threshold shelf set! It is a set of three shelves in varying sizes and the best part is it was only $25.29! You can't buy the supplies to make these for less than that in Nassau.

Installing these was my project for this past weekend and I love how it turned out!

If any of you happen to be in Target this is what the box looks like. Trust me you should put them in your cart and worry about where to hang them later. You will not be sorry.

I only needed a few tools to get these shelves up.

a level

pencil

philips screwdriver

screws (came in the box)

Next I put the shelf up to the wall where I wanted it and put the level on top before I made my marks for the screws.

I removed the level and put a small pencil mark right where the shelf touched the wall and where the slot for the screw is.

I then screwed the screws into the wall over the mark that I made. I left the screws out from the wall a bit so that slot on the shelf would be able to fit over it.

Then I hung the shelves and started loading them up with some pretty things like the gorgeous flowers that I trimmed from our backyard!

Now the vanity area looks complete! The shelves add just a bit of interest and some much needed storage space for our vanity.

Thanks again for reading! Any comments or questions on this quick project is welcomed :)

DIY Coastal Towel Holder

2014-04-10T16:50:00.003-04:00

This was a quick project that I have had my mind on since I finished the rope mirror project. I had a piece of rope left over and at the time we did not have a towel holder at our vanity. Perfect solution...rope towel holder!

Nick helped me out with this project as well. he found the center point on our wall and made marks where he needed to drill the holes for the eye bolts.

We screwed the eye bolts in to make the ends of the towel holder.

Next I took the rope and threaded it through the eye bolts and tied a knot on each end.

I left a little slack in the rope for the towel to hang in the bow of the rope.

And voila! Very quick project with a great return. Now we have a home for our hand towel and the towel holder goes with our coastal themed vanity area.

P.S. Sorry I have not posted in a while. Nick and I took a little vacation for our one year anniversary so blogging went on hold. BUT we are back and ready for more projects! I even picked up a few fabulous finds in America that I am so excited to share with you all.

Thanks for reading and please leave comments or questions below. :)

Giving New Life to an Old Mirror

2014-03-27T15:55:00.001-04:00

Nick has finally secured some time to help me out with a few projects. There are so many times when I am grateful that my husband is a Mr. Fix-it. He can fix almost anything or find someone to tell him how. He has been extremely busy with the boats and trying to get in a few days of crawfishing before the season closes the end of this month so I have had a few projects waiting for him.

This mirror was in the Master Bedroom vanity area prior to the renovation. The office/junk room has become its home since then. I decided this past weekend that I wanted to use it somewhere and spruce it up a bit. Our dining room is a bit lackluster at the moment and there are presently no mirrors in that room so I decided the mirror would go in there. Then to decide on the color!

I have had a thing for citron yellow for a little while now and I figured that color would make for a cool mirror frame. We also have some watercolor paintings in the dinning room and that color is in one of the paintings. I went to the paint store is search of a can of spray paint in my color then home to start my project!

This is the mirror before disassembling or painting.

I put the mirror on a table on the back patio and unscrewed all the screws that held that backing onto the mirror frame. I realize my choice of tool must be confusing but we did not have a flat head screwdriver that was narrow enough to fit in the groove of the screw head. I did find this spatula type tool that fit perfectly and did the job quite well!

After removing all of the screws and the backing I pulled the mirror out of the frame.

The frame was rather dusty so I ran a scrub brush over the frame a bit. I also used a Q-tip to clean in those small holes. I was so surprised as to how much dust had collected in those holes.

I put the frame down on an old piece of plywood that we had and I gave it a good first coat of spray paint. I left it there to dry for a few hours before bringing it under our patio (just in case it rained).

The next day I took the frame back outside for a second coat. This time I hung it so that I could get all the sides of the frame coated properly.

This is the part where I needed Nick's help. The mirror originally hung horizontally but I wanted the mirror to hang vertically. This means the holes for the fastener (which attaches the wire to the frame) needed to be changed. Here Nick took the fastener and marked out where the new holes needed to be drilled.

Nick drilled the holes through the backing and into the frame where he had marked. He then put the screws in to secure the fastener to the frame.

We shortened the wire since the distance between the fasteners was now shorter. Nick then took to the wall. Measuring to find the center then drilling holes for two screws. He decided it would be best to hang this mirror with two screws rather than one. The mirror is mighty heavy and the wall is sheet rock. Using two screws will allow the weight to be distributed in two spots rather than one.

And here it is all done!

You can catch a glimpse of our super fabulous pineapple lamp that sits on our entry way table from this photo as well. Eventually the paint on the wall will be changed (look forward to our dinning room reno!) to better accommodate my yellow mirror. But for now I love this little ray of sunshine on this wall.

Questions or comments? Leave them below and I will be happy to write you back :)

Master Bedroom: New Lamp Find

2014-03-24T12:10:00.002-04:00

Happy Monday everyone! I hope that you all had a great and productive weekend. I could not wait to share with you my fabulous find from this past weekend!

While perusing one of my favorite stores (not looking for anything in particular might I add) I came across this fabulous pair of lamps. I stared at them for the longest trying to picture them in our newly renovated master bedroom and I fell in love. I then called my mom and cousin over from the other side of the store for further confirmation and they agreed that they would be perfect!

These lamps have a basket weave thing going on that nodded to my coastal theme for the room. I also loved the coloring that is a combination of robins egg blue and white. What was even better was the price! I know lamps can be expensive. I have been looking on line scouring websites looking for lamps that would suit the room but not break the bank. It was becoming a tough search. I definitely didn't think I would find that in Nassau. Almost everything in Nassau is at least double what it would cost in the U.S. So, for under $350 I was able to bring home a pair of these beauties! score

Thanks to mom and Aunt Monica for running in and picking these up for me. I had to send them in to pick up the lamps while I waited in the car. Parking in Harbour Bay is crazy on Saturdays!

Thanks again for reading. Enjoy!

DIY Rope Mirror

2014-03-18T13:53:00.000-04:00

As you will all find out I am somewhat of a Pinterest junkie! If you have never used Pinterest you are sorely losing out. Pinterest is my happy place. A place where all my favorite things and things that are waiting to be my favorite things are in picture form! I go there and browse most times. Pinning things that look interesting or pretty. One day while browsing I came across a pin for a rope mirror. I thought it was a cool idea (being that I love almost all things nautical/beachy/coastal) but never even pinned it.

Then after our Master Bedroom Renovation we were left with a raw frame around our vanity mirror. I had been contemplating what I would do to it and paint seemed like the easiest option. After stewing over it for about a week a light bulb went off in my head reminding me about that pin I saw for the rope mirror. So back to Pinterest I went in search of this rope mirror idea. I quickly came across numerous pictures of rope mirrors that you could make or buy, but the best pin I found was by a fellow blog Finding Silver Linings. Her post was so helpful and her mirror looked great. It was decided...rope mirror for my vanity!

This weekend I was off to the store to buy my rope.

I was so excited I even took a picture of the rope in my cart!

Everything that I needed for this quick project was:

78ft of rope

Glue sticks

Glue gun

Here is my vanity mirror before the rope.

I started by taking one of the ends of the rope and cutting it on an angle. This will help it to look more seamless at the starting and ending points.

I decided where I would start my gluing and applied a a bit of glue to the end of the rope that I just cut. I started gluing the rope on the inside of the frame rather than the outside. This made sure that the inside of the frame closest to the mirror was perfect.

After wrapping the frame until the width was completely covered I was left with the corners of the frame exposed. The thickness of this rope did not allow me to create a 90 degree angle in the corner so I have curved corners instead. Thus the leftover corners. I cut the rope to the length I needed to cover the corner (note I angled both ends). In each corner I had to apply two "patches" of shorter pieces to fully cover the corner.

This is what the width of the mirror looked like. There were quite a few stray pieces of rope poking out all over so I just took my scissors and trimmed them.

This is what the mirror looked like after! It only cost a few bucks and it took about two hours which is not long for a DIY project and I got a really cool looking mirror out of it. Best part is, my husband loves it!

Hope you enjoyed this post. Please leave questions or comments below if you have any :)

Master Bedroom: Renovation Reveal

2014-03-14T14:19:00.000-04:00

This is the post that I have been so excited about sharing! Nick and I completely renovated our master bedroom last month and we are loving the transformation.

We initially decided to rid our room of the old wall unit ac that you see in the picture below. From there a whole new room came to fruition. We could not stop adding things to our list until the entire room had been redone. Nick kept telling me " the room is already gutted and the house is full of dust, we might as well do it all one time". And that we did. We were so blessed from all the help we received from family and friends during this project! So thanks to all of you :)

Here is our first major renovation...

Here is our master bedroom before. You can see these photos in my first post.

Removing the old wall unit ac.

We also decided to remove the built in desk and shelving that was in the corner of the room. I look forward to making it a little reading nook eventually.

This was our vanity area before. You can see in this photo the low ceiling with the plastic sheeting covering florescent lights. This was a feature that Nick insisted we remove. I on the other hand was not completely sold. All I was thinking about was the dust and how much it would cost of course.

Needless to say Nick got his way and down came the ceiling. This is one of the best decisions we made during this renovation.

This picture is from the attic looking down into the bedroom. Bye bye low ceiling and horrible lighting!

Here is our new ceiling! We installed sheet rock to cover the hole to the attic and joint compounded it for a nice smooth finish.

If you look back to the before picture of the room you will notice that we had tray lighting along one wall of the room. This is what it looked like once we pulled the entire tray down. We decided the tray would just be a place for dust to collect and it would not be easy to clean. It was a tough decision because the trays (which are located in almost every room of the house) were an original architectural addition that I liked when we initially bought the house. But like everything else we did in this reno it turned out perfectly in the end!

Here is a shot where you can see the same area after the tray was removed and the new ceiling was put in place. It makes the room look so much larger, especially when you walk in the bedroom door.

See what I mean? The room looks so much larger and more airy.

In the vanity area we primed and painted all the wood planking, removed the mirrors and the light fixture.

For lighting we installed recessed lighting in the new ceiling and added two wall sconces over the vanity.

Two other things we decided to add to the list was pickling the wood ceiling and adding a nice frame and sill to the windows in the room.

Here is a full shot of the room prior to painting. I also forgot to mention that we decided to rip up the old carpet and install tile. You know "we might as well do it all one time" got tossed in here as well. Although I'm pretty sure it was me that pushed for the tile!

When it came time to decide on a paint color for the room I knew in my head what I wanted. I just needed to attempt to get the exact color from the paint store. Hence the samples of color painted on the back wall.

I ended up going with a great khaki looking color called Natural Wicker by Benjamin Moore.

I would like to insert here a big tip to my fellow DIYers! Please please please remember to thoroughly clean your walls off (especially after a major reno) prior to applying primer or paint to the walls. If you don't this is what could happen to your wall! Not fun! Let's just say lesson learned.

Then it was time to choose the tile. I knew that I wanted the wood looking tile for our bedroom. There is no maintenance involved like real wood but it looks like real wood. Perfect! So Nick and I went off to Pinder Tile in search of our tiles.

I was pretty sure I wanted a very light sand colored tile. Nick, however decided he liked the grey tile better. We got the input from my father-in-law and a friend who happened to be there and we decided to go with Nick's choice. The grey tile is gorgeous! It is textured and has lots of interest thanks to the brown that swirls through the gray color looking almost like driftwood. Good job to Nick on this one!

With our tile being almost complete I could not help poking my head in a taking a picture of the progress. I was so excited about this flooring!

You may be wondering what the dark green floor is all about. We discovered after removing the old carpet and matting (which was a complete disaster thanks to heat I'm sure) that the floor had quite a few cracks that needed to be dealt with. It made no sense to lay our nice new tiles on a floor that was cracked and would allow moisture to get to the thinset. That meant purchasing and applying a liquid rubber membrane to the floor and patching the cracks with a fiberglass-like cloth. Better safe than sorry right ?

This is the vanity area after. Mirror is installed and the frame is up. The frame is not complete yet. That is another project that I am excited to share with you in another post!

Please keep in mind in these after shots that none of the decor for this room has been added as yet. I will be sure to post pictures as I decide on pictures or art work and other accessories.

I hope you all like the new room! I know that Nick and I do. I still walk in there thinking there is no way this is my room. It's a great feeling to know that all the hard work has truly paid off.

I know this post was long and had lots of info but please feel free to leave questions or comments below. Thanks again for reading!!

P.S. for more pictures of the completed end tables in the room go on over to the End Table Revamp post!

Wardrobe Painting Project

2014-03-13T12:04:00.000-04:00

This post will be a short one. I wanted to quickly share another furniture project that we did as part of our master bedroom renovation.

This wardrobe was another one of the furniture pieces that came with the house when we purchased it. This piece also serves as a divider between our vanity area and bed area of the master bedroom. It is quite large and is extremely heavy. That being said, one of our first decisions for this project was to put it on wheels! That way I could move it to clean. Moving it would also make it easier for bringing furniture into and out of the bedroom. Great idea right?! We had our carpenter attach the wheels and put a "skirt" on the bottom so you can't see the wheels.

From there we sanded, puttied, and painted it from top to bottom. Nick also went out and picked up some new hinges since the old ones had paint on them. I was so proud of him when I saw they were brass looking hinges! I would like to assume it was a design decision on his part rather than that being all the store had to offer.

Now the wardrobe is finished and rolled back to its spot looking nice and fresh with the white paint. Here are the before and after photos of the wardrobe!

As usual if you have any questions or comments on this post please feel free to leave me a comment below!

Master Bedroom: Allover Wall Stencil Project

2014-03-12T15:09:00.000-04:00

This wall stencil project is my favorite to date! The process is not one that I will be in a rush to go through again but the results were just what I had hoped for.

After realizing my wall paper dreams for our accent wall in the master bedroom were not going to come true, one of my ingenious friends suggested a stencil. I figured it would not hurt to look but I doubted I would find the specific lattice pattern that I had my heart set on. Well I was completely wrong! My search concluded on Etsy at store called OMGStencils where I found the pattern that my heart desired!

After receiving the stencil I went to my local paint store in search of the perfect blue for my accent wall. I ended up with Benjamin Moore's Symphony Blue. I felt it would be the perfect navy without being dark enough to appear black in our dimly lit master bedroom.

This project took about twenty hours to complete and by the end of it my arm felt like it would drop off. Looking back on the finished wall I am glad I stuck it out and finished it but I won't be in a rush to do another wall stencil (unless its on a much smaller wall).

With the help of my grandfather I found the center of the wall and started my stencil there. This would ensure that I ended both sides with the same part of the pattern and the wall would look more symmetric. I then put a few pieces of painters tape on the edges of the stencil to hold it in place while I painted. I opted to use a brush rather than a roller for this project. Rollers hold quite a bit of paint and I was worried that would mean paint drains behind the stencil. Besides my grandfather suggested I use the paint brush method and he is an expert painter so that's all that I needed to steer me in the brush direction!

Pulling the stencil off of the first completed section was so exciting! I could not wait to see if it worked. It was perfect! No paint drains and the color looked fairly even. You could imagine I was absolutely ecstatic! Then I looked at the wall as a whole and thought to myself, "Oh great, only about 100 more of those to go!".

At this point I am looking at my wall and thinking how much I will love it when its finished. My husband and mother on the other hand are looking at it a bit confused, thinking it would be to "busy" for our master bedroom wall. I told them they were crazy and would just need to wait to see the finished product with all the furniture back in the room. And so I pressed on...

And on, and on, and on. My weekend was non-existent thanks to this wall! But finally late Sunday afternoon my last part of the wall was covered and I was overjoyed and sore at the same time. It was finally finished and I was extremely prideful of my newest project / work of art.

I did not include a picture of the wall 100% complete on this post. I am saving that for the master bedroom unveil! Please feel free to leave any questions or comments about this post below.

End Table Revamp

2014-03-11T19:28:00.000-04:00

So this was my first project at our home. These end tables came with the house when we bought it and I was super excited when I started thinking of making these tables prettier! I was also thrilled when I discovered that those green looking plates on the doors were made of brass! **score**

Being my first furniture painting project I solicited Nick to go with me to the paint store to get the tools I would need to make these tables really great. I apologize for not having any pictures of the process but I did not know at the time that I would be sharing this with you all. No more excuses!!

We picked up:

lots of sandpaper
painters tape
1-2-3 Primer
small foam roller and tray
2 inch wide paint brush
white paint
brass cleaner (from our local food store)

I started with disassembling both tables and removing all hardware. I then sanded the tables with sandpaper by hand. This was before I had access to the brilliance known as the hand sander! The tables also had a few areas that needed to be puttied. I puttied and sanded again. After the sanding was done and Nick inspected them thoroughly I cleaned them off with acetone. I taped up the brass feet with painters tape then I finally got to paint!

I applied two coats of primer and two coats of white paint to the outside as well as the inside. After the paint was completely dry Nick helped me with putting all the hardware back on along with the cleaned brass plates that I was so excited about!

Here is one of the tables before.

And here is the table after! I am in love! They turned out even better than I expected. I can't wait to share a picture of them in my room but that is another post for another day.

**Update! Below are pictures of the end tables in the room. Check out the rest of the Master Bedroom reveal for more!

**Update #2! Finally found lamps for the room at one of my favorite local stores. Here they are :)

Our Home...before!

2014-03-11T12:28:00.000-04:00

I am so happy to be sharing with you the pictures of our home! As well as to be composing my first blog post on Pinder's Island Vista. I had these pictures sent over to me by our Real Estate Agents which were absolutely amazing (I must publicly thank ERA Bahamas agents Helen Dupuch and Donna Davis!) and I fell in love with the house right away.

Nick and I had been hunting for a home for quite a few months and we were beginning to feel as if we had exhausted the market until this beauty landed in my inbox!

Some of these photos were the photos used in the home listing, others I took after we had moved in. Beware the photos that I took are not of good quality and the rooms are mostly messy. But that will make for even better before and after shots right?! ;)

This is the front of our home from the main road. It was built in the 1960's and has had two previous owners. As you can see the home has a chimney which is extremely uncommon in the Bahamas but it and the fireplace is one of my favorite aspects of our home.

Nick and i were not looking for a home with a pool and we briefly talked about filling it in but now that it is getting warmer we are thinking it was a good idea to keep it. One of Nick's only requirements when we were house hunting was finding a home with a large enough backyard for all his things. I was excited when this one fit the bill.

This is part of our living room and a view of the entry way. When I saw this picture I immediately fell in love with the wood ceilings and those unique windows over the couch. This room is where we spend most of our time and will probably be one of the last renovations that we complete. I think this renovation will have to wait until the mortgage payments are finished!

This is another view of the living room including a little seating area that you could not see in the prior picture. You can see the fireplace in this picture as well. This seating area in the foreground of the photo looks out onto our back patio through a massive sliding door which lets in loads of natural light.

This is our dinning room that is adjacent to the kitchen. This room also has a massive sliding door for access to the back patio.

View of the kitchen looking in from the dinning room.

This is the kitchen from that little seating area in the the living room.

Our master bedroom.That massive wardrobe behind the television is used as a divider for the vanity area and bathroom entrance.

This is the guest bathroom.

This is where the picture quality went downhill! I took these with my cell phone really quickly one morning. I was not thinking they would end up on a blog but oh well here they are! This is our entry way shortly after we moved in.

This is the guest bedroom which is actually a nice size. You can't tell from this photo unfortunately.

I saved the best for last! This is my husband's office / guest room. It is the "junk room" as I like to refer to it. It always seems to accumulate the things that don't have a home or we don't want to get rid of. This photo was taken when we first moved in and its actually a bit better looking now. Feel bad for his working conditions? I sure do :)

So that's it! This is our house before! I am so excited to start sharing with you the projects we have completed and the projects that we are going to complete. I promise I will work on my photo taking skills! :)