One thing that I did not mention in the previous posts is food. We did our fair share of eating out during this project, but were also very frugal when possible. We packed our lunch, snacks and a cooler with sodas and refillable water bottles. I wondered why I didn't shed a few pounds while I was working and sweating. Then it occurred to me. Sodas have a ton of calories and I normally don't drink sodas. They were very good and since we were working so hard, we deserved them!!!
I have always said that Grandma could cook dirt and it would taste good. She cooked a few meals for us over the summer and we enjoyed them immensely. We even got biscuits and stewed apples.....and fried shrimp, stewed potatoes, butter beans or field peas, creamed corn - all that came from her garden. If my cousins are reading this - don't hate. You live closer to her and get her food more often than I do and I still get one of the boot cups, so don't even think about running away with it (inside cousin joke).
My Aunt called one Wednesday night before our weekend work trip and asked if we wanted to come to her house for dinner on Saturday. OF COURSE!!! Come to find out, she had invited the entire family.....20 people were there. We had a clam bake. It was out of this world, especially knowing that my Uncle caught the shrimp and my other Aunt and Uncle dug the clams. It was great to see the family during a "non-holiday".
Another shout out goes to Mom. She made sure that we had what was needed for sandwiches and dinners. We stayed at her beach house during the entire renovation. We have always have enjoyed staying there, but it was especially comfortable after a long day's work at the stinky trailer. A nice hot shower and food in the fridge really hit the spot.
The time has come for the after pictures.
As you can see below, we (Mom mostly) painted the kitchen cabinets turquoise. The insides of the cabinets are also painted, thanks to her. She found some great wallpaper and we lined the shelves with it, that is, after Dad re-did the yucky, gross, sagging shelves. The dishwasher is a great addition to the kitchen, thanks to Dad. We decided to leave a couple of shelves open, so I lined them with patterned shelf paper (thanks to Mom's great shopping abilities) and placed baskets in them to hold the dishcloths. It's really handy not to have to open a drawer to grab one. Notice the light hanging over the table? This was in the living room originally. I painted it and the husband hung it for me. This is probably my most favorite thing about the trailer, except for the vicinity to the ocean and my family.
I went a little crazy at the Target clearance and purchased rugs with lime green in them for $2.50. They look okay, but by hanging the Target clearance $5 table runner as the window covering, it pulls the green out of the tin platters hanging on the wall (found in the trailer when we acquired it) and brings everything together. The couple that sold us the stove (from Craig's List) had just finished remodeling their beach house. They had a few items laying around that had not made it on Craig's List yet and they sold us the pendant light, a stainless steel microwave and a light for the bathroom for $50.
As mentioned in the previous post, the husband took out the overhead bar, which opened up the space. He and Dad did a great job of capping the cabinet off at the end.
The living room was painted and we decided to leave the accent wall, as well as the beams, their original finish.
The addition of a new rug from Goodwill (A new Target rug that retails for $350 that was marked at GW for $159, then half off that) cozies the space up. We really liked the rug a lot, but it did not incorporate the turquoise cabinets in the kitchen. Luckily, the kid and I found some fabric at Leisure Fabrics in High Point for $4 a yard and made pillows and a throw to tie the two together. The tan zebra fabric was her idea.
Next were curtains. They weren't that time consuming to make. Once again, I referred to Pinterest for inspiration. My friend told me about Target marking down a lot of their home items. I was able to purchase the curtain rods for $10 each. I used the former Dorothy Originals for the lining fabric. The husband picked up this sleeper sofa for me at a warehouse sale in downtown Wilmington. The chair was donated by my Sister and looks fantastic in this space.
The below picture shows the hall. The paint really brightened it up. The husband hung a short barrel lamp shade over the existing light to create the look of a pendant lamp, once again, a $5 clearance purchase from Target.
The kid's room came together nicely. She wanted color on the walls, so turquoise it was. Once again, the fabric for her curtains came from Leisure Fabrics in High Point for a mere $3 per yard. The picture does not show it, but we picked a platform bed base off of Craig's List for $25. It's really handy to have the storage space, since we ripped out the closet. The square mirror came from Mom's beach house and the oval one was in the trailer. The remainder of the furniture and lamps were in the trailer when we acquired it.
The bathroom turned out better than I anticipated. Even though it's the only one, there is a lot of storage space. The awful gold tub magically was transformed into tan when we changed the color of the wall. A new toilet and shower head modernized it. Thanks to Pinterest, I got the idea to hang curtain clips on a plate rack (from Mom's house) to hold washcloths.
My favorite space in the trailer is the master bedroom. It turned out exactly how I envisioned it. With the addition of the curtains from Mom's beach cottage, I am able to pull the curtains in front of the end windows at night and during the day, pull them closer to the center, framing the ocean picture (another "found" object in the acquisition). My co-worker gave me some of her leftover fabric to cover the lamp shades with. There was also enough fabric and trim to make a pillow. This ties everything together. I have an idea for wall art, incorporating sea shells, but have not done it yet.
There is an obvious lack of pillows on both beds. A bunch of pillows really makes a bed look inviting, but practicality is a must, so no big, huge decorative pillows for now.
This concludes the 2012 Beach Project. There are other small things to do inside, and still more work to be done outside. Painting the exterior is next on the list. I'll blog about that when we are finished.
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