sinning in suburbia

check please!!

2011-10-30T18:06:00.000-04:00

papa smurf has been out of town for 3 weeks. 3 weeks! there was a total dryspell in the house.

get your mind out of the gutter.

actually there was that dryspell too but I digress. what i am referring to, however, is 3 solid weeks of nothing going on at home. no hammering, drilling, sanding, screwing, painting....nothing. the house was quiet as a church mouse. boring too.

then papa bear returned home. the drywall was hung! i mean totally hung. every last bit of it was screwed down. we're done for now. there is nothing more for us to do but outsource the taping at this point. the estimates will roll in this week....ready, set, go!

a rug was bought too. there is a new rug now adorning the living room to keep our tootsies toasty.

then sears arrived. they cleaned the bejeezus out of our ducts. we were told not to waste the money having the heating ducts cleaned and that it was only a scam but one time we lost our cat in the vent.....if you could only see what we saw. your eyes would burn. so we wasted the $200 but now we turn the heat on. yippee!

last but not least, we replaced our bed this weekend. when we moved in, we were unable to fit the boxspring to our mattress upstairs. we made a makeshift bed with two heavy duty pieces of wood on the bed frame supporting our delectable mattress. honestly, temporary meant 3 weeks but we stretched it into 6 months. we went to ikea and picked up a hemnes frame that will support the mattress without any bumps in the night. i already took a nap today :)

we're on a roll right now. obviously, my little temper tantrum incited some house work. i'll remember that for next time.

forever after....

2011-10-22T06:28:00.001-04:00

people keep telling me that this is not forever. i think i am starting to lose faith. it feels like forever. it's only been 5 months but these 5 months feel like forever. i am losing steam and losing faith right now. i've never been homeless but sometimes i feel homeless....seriously. i go to work, come home and feel like i am living in an abandoned house. an abandominium. i am still living out of boxes and bags. my clothing is in 5 rooms.....5 rooms people! i can't find my shoes or clothes half the time. not one room is complete. not even close to completion. is anyone else in the throes of living like a hobo? has lived like a hobo? how did you cope????

make good with wood: haan fs20

2011-09-18T06:52:00.001-04:00

i have struggled to find a way to clean our hardwood floors since we moved. the swiffer and it's compadres just seem like i am running a dirty diaper or maxi pad over my floors. the traditional mop and bucket routine felt like trying to bathe in the river with soap. sloshing dirty water around on the floor just didn't seem sanitary....ewwww.

maybe it's just my neuroses. scratch that. i am sure it is my neuroses but i needed to find an alternative to cleaning the floors....STAT!

so i started looking in to steam mops and stumbled upon the haan fs20. i looked at bissell, shark and some other contenders but ultimately it was the haan that won me over. it received glowing reviews on the amazon, home depot and walmart websites too. some of it's competitors were not so lucky to receive a medal in olympics of floor cleaning.

it is not available in any stores around my way so i ordered it from walmart. with tax and 97cent shipping, the haan cost me only $86 and arrived only 3 days after i ordered it. it arrived yesterday and i was so excited to try it. my haan fs20 did not disappoint!!

it was a snap to put together. a small stick vac approximately the same size as the swiffer. it packs a powerful punch though and steams at 200 plus degrees! this is not for the faint of heart...ha! it boasts the ability to clean and sanitize without the use of chemicals. makes me love it even more. it took about 5 minutes to assemble and about 2 or 3 minutes for the water to heat up and another maybe 10 minutes to clean the floors.

in under 20 minutes, i had cleaned and sanitized my floors. i would eat off my floors now because they are so clean. my uggs actually emitted a tiny little squeak when walking on the floors....like the old school gym when i was little and the hardwoods had the crap waxed out of them. that kind of squeak.

the haan fs20 did not disappoint. it was easy peasy lemon squeezy.

hello fall

2011-09-15T18:34:00.000-04:00

nice to meet you! with your to cool for school blustery chilled wind. i love you. please come back soon. i am feeling underwhelmed by the massive heat waves and sticky air. you have been a very nice intermission today. please enjoy the rest of the show!

winds are a-whipping!

dropcloth slipcovers

2011-09-12T16:52:00.001-04:00

we are still plugging away at drywall. just a few thousand more nails to go. i am sure of it.

in the meantime, i have been obsessing over slipcovering the couch. we have a 2 piece sectional. it's green. it has served us well for many years. it was one of the first purchases papa smurf and i made together when we moved in many moons ago. it's really comfortable. i won't lie. in fact, papa and i can each lay down on our couch while watching a movie. it makes for a very homey couch for snuggling on rainy days or watching freshly fallen snow while sipping cocoa.

however, it is green. i don't really like it. i want a new couch. i can't justify spending the money on a new couch. there are about 95 bajillion other things to do with our money than buy a new couch. oh...the thought has crossed my mind though. several times.

instead of a new couch, i settled on some $10 dropcloths from home depot and a $2 bottle of bleach!

somehow, i though that it was entirely possible to transform my 2 piece green monster into a svelte little baby like this!!

restoration house

i will sip some tea while bleaching and trying to locate my sewing machine which has gone m.i.a. in fact, i'm really not quite sure that i ever had a sewing machine or knew how to sew in the first place. wish me luck. other bloggers make sewing slipcovers look so darn easy!

life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

2011-09-11T16:23:00.000-04:00

god bless america

small victories

2011-09-04T13:00:00.001-04:00

we have been moving along at a snail's pace all summer long with the drywall. did I ever mention that all 3 bedrooms need to be drywalled....top to bottom? they are swathed in broken down and beaten up plaster. covered in wood paneling and tile. blech.

here's what i've learned so far about drywall: it's heavy. really heavy even when you think it's not. i dropped it on my toe. i know it's heavy. also, it breaks....easily. don't drop it. don't smash it into something...like a wall. it will crumble into a fine powder. then you will have to save your drywall by cutting off your broken pieces. pain in the arse.

we are currently hanging drywall on the ceilings.

this is an upside down picture for some reason. even though it is not saved this way in my files. scratches head. anyhoo, we stared out with tiled ceilings. we ripped all of the tiles down when we first arrived back in the spring. we have been living with plaster and lathe ceilings now for quite some time.

we have drywalled 2 of the 3 bedroom ceilings so far. we picked up ultra light 1/2 inch panels for the ceiling at home depot and lowes. each panel runs around $7. once the remaining ceiling and all walls are complete we will hire someone to come in and tape. it's a job that we are not comfortable in doing lest we make it look like a 4 year old playdoh party.

we were able to get the job done on the cheap.

pliers to pull out staples. we already owned these so they were clearly free!

$5 ladder picked up at town yardsale in may.

another already owned item....drillgun used to hang the drywall.

lucky for us, we scored a $15 bucket of drywall screws at a yardsale. they retail for aorund $70 in the store!!

tsquare. scored for $2 at a yardsale! cuts 90 degree angles in drywall. indispensable.

we spent $22 plus the cost of drywall. not too shabby. here's to hoping that we can hang drywall tomorrow :)

rest in peace kitty

2011-09-03T19:45:00.000-04:00

sad start to the holiday weekend. i left work early yesterday afternoon to take my very sick cat to the vet. i knew what was coming. instead of the obvious, i asked dr. bell if he could save my kitty. unfortunately he could not. cancer came on like guns a blazin' and took my 7 year old kitty down for the count. she was a trooper all summer long while her papa and i spoon fed her and tried a million medications on her. it was her time to retire and go to kitty heaven. she is sorely missed today. rest in peace my beautiful little puffington.

xoxo,
mama and papa

turn the town teal

2011-09-01T19:26:00.003-04:00

ovarian cancer awareness month kicks off today!! turn your town teal in honor of all the women you love! i celebrate this month in memory of the greatest woman i've ever had the pleasure of knowing....my mama.

post apocalyptic irene

2011-08-31T17:02:00.001-04:00

irene arrived while I was tucked away in my bed this past Saturday night. she was touted as as all things dangerous and life threatening. she whipped into town on Saturday while I drywalled and left by Sunday afternoon. i was none the wiser, honestly.

with all of Irene's new found fanfare though I wanted to see exactly what this old gal was up to. i took a walk down to the river to find the winds whipping like crazy and a man kayaking in the midst of post apocalyptic irene. it was awesome. i won't lie.

my dog braved the wind with me.

if the boat is a rockin don't come a-knockin.

crazy man kayaks in middle of post apocalyptic storm.

beautiful park...still intact.

tired and ready to roll....

hope you stayed safe during the storm of the century.

summertime and the living's easy....

2011-08-04T17:15:00.000-04:00

Or so I've been told. From the time I can remember, Memorial Day marked the beginning of the season of tiny clothing, fresh fruit, hot sun, cool water, sand, chlorine, concerts, cold beer (not when I was a baby!!), grilling, chilling and chillaxing. Did I really just use the word chillaxing?

Yes, this fit the bill of most summers. All but this summer. This summer has met me at the door with non-stop heat waves. A bajillion percent humidity matched by the overwhelming burn your skull rays of the sun on a daily basis. So freaking hot you can't leave the house for fear of dehydrating immediately and turning into a little raisin.

For several weeks I was sick and misinterpreted my symptoms as mere heat exhaustion. Finally after being sick for days on end and not being able to stay awake or keep food down I met with my friendly doctor. He ordered labs and thus the story began. He tested my iron, thyroid, glucose, red and white cell count and hepatic function as well as epstein barr and Lyme. Can you believe I tested positive for mono, lyme, low iron and low glucose???? Fo shizzle! No wonder I thought I might die.

I am on my way to recovery with a few more tests to check of my to do list. All matter of work in the house has ceased until I fully recover. I am itching to get back to work though!!

Have you ever had mono or lyme? Do the symptoms resurface? How have you handled it?

independence celebration!!!

2011-07-06T17:09:00.000-04:00

Is it wrong that I am still recovering from my fourth of July celebration??

I am truly wiped out from all the fun we had over the weekend. Our little old town goes bananas on the 4th.....so we quickly realized. The hubs and I were busy over the weekend framing out doorways and slapping up some paint in the dining room. We also managed to move some respective pieces of furniture around, order some paint, order some samples of wood blinds and take down all the window treatments. Oooops. Yep. It's hot as blazes out and the first floor is naked. Let's hope that we can come to a definitive conclusion on wood blinds tonight.

After all the mayhem and destructing of stuff, we got ready to celebrate independence day. We thought maybe a parade, a cookout....keep it simple. Holy guacamole. We woke up 6 am to clean!! 6am!!! Folks started arriving by 9am and we were off to the parade at 10am.

A little grilling and chilling in between the parade and our next stop: the soap box derby! Kids build their own soapbox derby cars and race down the hill on Elm Street. The street is set up for spectators and the cars are clocked with a digital speed counter at the bottom of the hill. Seriously. Awesome.

One more stop home to get a cocktail and then down to the river we headed for the river raft race. River rafts are once again a home made cocktail of bits and pieces from your yard and basement. Sometimes they float. Sometimes they don't. Sometimes (true story) they put the river raft in the river and don't paddle but instead set up a WWE wrestling ring and calll their raft "let's get ready to rumble" and entertain folks with wrestling. Again. Seriously. Awesome.

Next year, we are planning ahead and having a party to commemorate this crazy ridiculous town goes bananas event. You should stop by!! Just look for the house on the corner with the liberty bell!!

craigslist obsessed

2011-06-23T18:13:00.000-04:00

To say I am obsessed with craigslist is almost an understatement. Rarely am I ever really on the interwebs anymore unless it is to scour craigslist. Occassionally I pore over the ads looking for a specific item such as the vintage turned leg kitchen table I found for $30!

I am enamored with old wood furniture, specifically anything with turned legs or pedestal bases....sometimes anything that is just real wood. There is so much particle board furniture that it is refreshing to find an old, heavy piece of wood furniture that has probably been around longer than I have.

Sometimes I have a flash in the pan thought about something. Lo and behold I see that "something" on craigslist.

Just last weekend, I was at my in-laws and was admiring the wood corner hutch in their dining room. Our dining space has a somewhat awkward layout that makes fitting a dining table as well as a server somewhat cramped. Corner hutch....you are a dream. Now whether you can actually fit serving plates in the corner hutch space is something else.

I was once again browsing on craigslist for nothing in particular when I stumbled upon a spitting image of my in-laws' corner cabinet! $60 and a truck is all I need to haul this 7 foot monstrosity home with me. I now wait patiently for the boy to return from his business trip to show him my new treat!!

I have visions for my craigslist scores. I'll share those shortly. In the meantime, I am going to go scour the interwebs for a free boat or hot tub. Those are always listed too! I have yet to convince the mister that we need either of those right now. Do you obsess over second hand scores too? What have you brought home lately?

deceptive paint and a lowes fail

2011-06-21T17:45:00.000-04:00

I broke out the plastic drop cloths, rollers, brushes and ladder this weekend. I got down and dirty with my 2 gallon no name ceiling paint and the 5 gallons of SW accessible beige that I have stored in the basement. Have I ever mentioned that this house was bathed in a high gloss white?

I moved the furniture, unscrewed the 1970's curtain hardware, spackled, sanded and got busy.

I went from high gloss white to a somewhat deceptive greige. What was supposed to be a warm beige tends to look slightly greige instead. I had to double check my paint can to make sure I actually mixed up the right paint.

Well, I clearly had the right paint. So maybe it is just the fugly green couch I have that is throwing off the room? The couch has me dreaming and salivating over slip covers. That is another issue all together though for a different time.

Once the hardware had come down from the windows, the mister and I headed to lowes to pick up some wood blinds. Being totally naive, I just assumed that you pick out your blinds and someone in a blue smock with the word Lowes written on it would then trim them right up. I was right. That's pretty much how it all went down. Well, except when we actually got home and hung the blinds. That was a different story. What I did not account for was the additional 3 feet in length that my blinds now have. In fact, they are so heavy from the additional length that they cannot be raised.

please take note of the additional blinds resting on the sill.

I also failed to consider that we were purchasing white wood blinds that were trimmed and would expose the raw wood. I guess it wouldn't be terrible if that raw exposed wood was not scorched.

I could do without the scorching, the extra 3 feet of length and the almost $200 price tag for my blinds.

It took some arm twisting and convincing my husband to take the blinds down and return them to Lowes but I managed. Those scorched suckers will be making their way back to Lowes this weekend. I will continue to consider my window treatment options since I am not sure that I love the wood blinds so much. Does anyone have suggestions?

progress not perfection

2011-06-18T07:05:00.000-04:00

It's official. I have moved. The move was torture.

We decided to move ourselves which ended up taking a total of 6 days and was done during the course of a heatwave. Did I mention that our new dwelling does not boast central air? Did I mention that my husband did not install window units during the 6 day move? I know, right? I said it was torture and that was no exxageration!

The house looked like this when we moved in......we are talking piles and piles of crapola! I mean I am not even sure what we packed and brought with us.

Since the house did not come equipped with a dishwasher we ordered one before the move. It arrived during the 6 day fiasco. Naturally we had to take a hiatus from the cleaning up the mess we just created because we could not stand to have one more box in our way. Tears of joy were shed at the arrival! I scored a stainless steel Kenmore washer for $284 from Sears online. We purchased a garbage disposal for another $109 when we picked this badboy up in the store. Our appliance package came to under $400!!

Once the dishwasher came home we got busy ripping out the corner cabinets. My husband ran the electric and plumbing lines for the appliances. We spent about another $100-125 on the electric and plumbing materials. Still keeping our total under $550!!

Two days of sweat equity and a few hundred dollars left me with this:

We have since replaced the trim work in the kitchen in case you are wondering. We have left no gaping holes. After our dishwashing hiatus we intended to start getting busy unpacking the house BUT my husband's truck got stolen!!! Right from his parking lot at work! He works in a corporate office with security that patrols the lot! What the what???? Needless to say, this was an unfortunate event that caused a small setback in our plans. We could no longer haul drywall and lumber freewheeling through town. We also had to start to re-think the house budget if we had to include the purchase of a new car into our expenses. Gah!

I am pleased as punch to report that his car was recovered already. The tires and wheels were removed and placed in the back of the truck. Why? I have no idea. They also stole one, not two, but one concert ticket, a frisbee and some trash. I am just happy that our large and in charge truck will be coming home eventually and that we can resume the remodel.

As for now we have made some small progress. We are getting ready to paint downstairs and are unloading some furniture that tagged along for the move that we don't need. Rooms are clearing out and we are actually able to walk through them. By the way, did you see the amazing job my husband did re-storing the floors????

wood floor restore. check.

2011-05-25T17:23:00.000-04:00

The initial estimate of both time and money spent to refinish our floors has doubled. We went from a re-finish to a full on balls to the wall restoration. It took 4 weeks of non-stop labor and about $1000 give or take to re-store the floors. It took two weeks to rip out carpet, tile, staples and more, another 5-6 days sanding and another 5-6 days sealing the floors. It was countless hours of manual labor but soooooo worth it. What we were able to accomplish on our own for pocket change would have cost the price of our first born if we had to hire someone to do what we just did. Granted, we didn't end up with professionally re-stored floors but heck we ended up with some damn fine good floors in 4 weeks!! Sadly I have no camera because I lost it in the hustle and bustle of feeling homeless and between dwellings in the past 4 weeks.

That brings me to today though. Today marks my one day off between projects. While my floors are curing I am getting geared up to sprint through a packing marathon. Tomorrow at this time, my furniture will be settling in to my other home. Needless to say my packing and organizational skills are a bit lacking since I have spent the last month sanding floors. It's time to get crack-a-lacking and start a-packing!!

floor restoration

2011-05-18T17:09:00.000-04:00

So apparently there is a very large difference between refinishing a floor vs restoring a floor...who knew? Certainly not I. I spent the last two weeks of my life pulling up tiles, carpet, staples and nails. Once that was over I thought is was smooth sailing. I thought Home Depot gave you a sander for the day and voila....24 hours later you had nice smooth floors.

Boy was I ever loving wrong. I should have been tipped off when I heard we needed a drum sander and not an orbital. Apparently the orbital wouldn't take care of the damage that the drum sander would. What? There's damage? I didn't realize that the splintered floor boards in the middle of the dining room or running down the length of the hallway posed an issue. I certainly didn't realize that the 50 or 60 year old paint covering large portions of floor boards would be difficult to sand off and would ruin disc after disc after disc. I also failed to understand that when my husband had to replace damaged floorboards in 5 of the 6 rooms we were refinishing that in fact we weren't refinishing but refurbishing!! Holy smokes someone should have prepared me.

By day number 4 of sanding the floorboards, my husband corrected me when I commented on how long the refinishing process took when people assured me it would be relatively easy. At this point in time, my husband gently informed me that we were restoring the floor to it's origins and not simply refinishing a floor that needed a new coat of poly. Oh!! So that's why we are moving into day #5 of sanding and still haven't sealed the boards....now I see.

It has been a slow and arduous process but one that will pay off in the long run. I had every intention of documenting with pictures until I misplaced the battery charger for the 100th time and have had no chance to look for it. I have had thoughts of investing in a video camera to tape the rest of the refinishing and the 95 projects on our to do list ranging from dishwasher installation to laying tile to blowing foam insulation. Somewhere along the way I am also trying to convince my husband that hot tub installation needs to be bumped to the top 5 on the list. For the meantime though floor restoration has become my home away from home, my second job, my other love....

72 hours

2011-05-03T07:52:00.000-04:00

Friday morning started with a pedicure and ended with keys to my first home. Saturday, Sunday and Monday, I spent ripping up carpet, tearing down paneling and drop ceilings and removing plaster. I have the cuts, blisters, scrapes and bruises to prove it too!! We started with a totally inhabitable dwelling and have ended up with a demolition zone. We are almost ready to put it back together again. Just a few hundred thousand more staples to remove and we'll be good to go.

Me and my raging headache are headed back to the construction site today to continue along with the tedious task of staple pulling. Fingers crossed that I can get at least one whole room done!!

T-24 hours

2011-04-28T16:57:00.001-04:00

until I can swing my sledgehammer and start the renovations...

learning curve

2011-04-26T17:24:00.000-04:00

Yep. There is certainly a learning curve associated with buying a house and moving into that house. Right now, I enjoy neither process. I find that I am spending an inordinate amount of time fielding phone calls and sending faxes!! Say what?! Seriously. The mortgage lender contacted me today in regard to a check I deposited back in February asking for a copy of the check....stat! No big deal but they've had these bank statements for over a week and are calling 3 days before closing? oy vey....

Some of the other great annoyances in my life right now are the dirty dishes, packing boxes and field mines everywhere I turn. There is just shit everywhere!! Holy smokes. Some people choose to live this way no less but I want to tear my hair out. I cannot wait until this is all over :))

yep....

Those are dirty and nasty dishes in the sink. A juicer and sink full of fruit rinds. It doesn't get much worse or does it? I am only documenting this so that one day I actually believe I had to suffer through this. If this wasn't happening to me I don't think I could ever imagine it....

I am the queen of cardboard right now as it is all I am surrounded with. Well cardboard and dirty dishes. I look forward to not seeing another cardboard box in my life. I also look forward to a vacation. I am thinking sand, sun, water and drinks with umbrellas!!!

haute puppy

2011-04-04T16:52:00.000-04:00

We have had this puffball since Thanksgiving and have diligently been working with a trainer to curb his vicious ways. We were unable to get him under control on our own. Although he knew commands like sit, stay and settle, he couldn't leave his street side mentality at the front door and would attack me when I fed him or any time for that matter. He would bark and go wild whenever someone would enter our apartment. Anytime there was a knock at the door or a noise he didn't like he would haul ass through all the rooms barking and going wild. At times, it was bad....very bad. Somedays I wanted to give him back to the shelter but I knew with the amount of times that the hubs and I had been bitten he would be put down 1,2,3. I can't get rid of him now. He had some terrible owners before us. He was a stray on the streets in Philly and was adopted by someone that never house trained him and locked him in a room for the summer until they returned him to the shelter. Then we found him and he became our badass problem.

Alas, we contacted Christine a couple of months after we had him to help us deal with his food aggression, dominance, trust and fear issues. Christine came twice and loaded us down with lots of homework. We had to modify his feeding schedule, walking routine and lots of other day to day activities. We have him on a homeopathic anxiety med and will be switching his food from Purina 1 to a freeze dried human grade food. Once we move and settle into our new digs we are also getting the little guy his own treadmill too. Our trainer has faith in him that he will be able to do 30 minutes of mentally burning exercise on the treadmill while I get ready for work in the morning!!! I am really excited that he one day he could potentially be fully rehabbed!

In the 5 months we have had him he has never been groomed. He was far too crazy to take to the groomer. We leave his rabies tag on him when walking him for fear he will bite someone. I couldn't imagine unleashing this terror on a groomer. Christine begged to differ though and referred us to Gretchen at doggie & kitty style. Sure enough, my little guy did almost just fine... up until she went to touch his face. He had enough for the day but he did manage to get his nails clipped, bathed, trimmed and brushed. He saunters through the neighborhood like the show dog he was meant to be. He's one haute puppy now and I can't wait to take him back to Gretchen.

funky funkerton

2011-03-29T17:40:00.000-04:00

Spring has sprung and with it no warm weather has arrived. Rather it is still cold and unseasonably bitter. The sun is out and shining brightly but the wind is whipping and the temp is barely reaching 50. Although I do love winter somehow old man winter didn't get the memo that his check out time was a few weeks ago. Instead he's been lingering around....

Something has got me in a funk lately and I blame it on old man winter. What should be "let's open the windows" weather is more "let's turn the heat up" weather. A girl needs some fresh air and exercise and has been cooped up in the house since Thanksgiving. Please, please, please old man winter head out of town before all the kids get out of school for the summer. This girl is dying to get out of this funk and be able to go outside without her winter coat and gloves on. For the love of pete....help a poor, tired girl in a funk out with a littel heat :)

animal prints: tacky or tasteful?

2011-03-25T19:24:00.000-04:00

I have always associated animal prints with the word tacky. I picture a middle aged woman with a leopard top, frosted hair, doused in perfume, red talons and a red pucker reeking of booze and cigarette smoke slurring sweet nothings to the balding used car salesman at last call on a Friday night. Yup...cliche as it is that is what I think when I hear animal prints. Well, I had an epiphany when I posted this picture....

congress hall brown room

I decided that if animal prints were tacky then I want my home swathed in tackiness!! Okay. Perhaps I am a bit overzealous. I don't want my home doused in leopard skin just like I don't ever want to run across the aforementioned woman with the leopard blouse and red lips on a Friday night. However, I am not afraid to use a little zebra in my home and might just do it. I grabbed the pictures below off the internet for inspiration. I apologize if these are your images....I am a mess when it comes to organizing my images and credits.

Are animal prints tacky or tasteful?

clutter!!

2011-03-23T06:22:00.000-04:00

If you are anything like me you spend time whittling away the clutter that some how accumulates in your day to day existence. Piles of junk mail, receipts, bills, free items and a host of other useless junk that has no permanent home. If this sounds like you at all then check out Jen's blog for tips on organizing and ridding your self of clutter! She's even kind enough to be doing a clutter rehab giveaway for folks like us! Don't walk, run to her blog to enter!!

modern vintage?

2011-03-21T16:36:00.000-04:00

Is that even a style? I have no idea so I am going to coin that phrase if it isn't already spoken for. I last posted that I was eyeing up the Ikea candy and was thinking of going sleek and modern in design. Well, no sooner did I type that than my husband said he thought we go modern vintage a la Congress Hall style.

If you are not familiar with Congress Hall...let me introduce you. It is one of my all time favorite seaside haunts. A stately hotel from the 1800's that housed the presidents on vacation!! It had taken a beating and was worse for the wear until a dynamic duo called the Bashaws came into town...think supergirl and superboy. They renovated and remodeled top to bottom and left us with Congress Hall...vintage with a twist.

The Bashaws also own and have renovated the Star Inn, The Chelsea, The Beach Shack, The Virginia and The Sandpiper Beach Club!! Oh, how I would love to be related to the Bashaw family right about now.