welcome to the hotel sherwood....

My dahling, gorgeous friend Jen is getting married to Shane who we adore in 17 days!!! I take FULL credit for making that match!! Everyone is coming to Charleston to celebrate the big day! Mike and I LOVE having people at the house...truth be told we don't want to miss any of the fun so we've invited people to stay with us...we just have a few more things to do on the house and have put project "get that sh*t done" in full effect!

we are renting so of course EVERYTHING (except the kick ass hardwood floors) are builder grade = CRAP .... we are very fortunate that the landlord has given us free reign on the house - all of our projects are upgrades but it's not our house so we don't want to put too much into it - enough to not cringe when we go in a room without it costing so much we want to take it with us when we go...

i don't think there's anything a nice coat of white paint can't make better and brighter except white paint AND rubbed bronze spray paint! ahhh instant smile

it is amazing how changing knobs from brass to rubbed bronze can change an entire look even on your linen closet (no pictures of the inside - too messy)

our vanity is uber sad...there is seriously nothing cute about this area - mike and i have been trying to figure out what to put in there knick knack and picture wise to try and help the poor thing...its.just.too.sad.

ugh, the only thing the crisp white paint and rubbed bronze did was make the top even more pitiful....does anyone have ANY ideas about how to pretty it up?? i am even willing to do a CHEAP "cost effective" resurfacing!! what does one put in a vanity before you get into the bathroom as decor??? HELP?!?!?!

obsessed....maybe a bit too much!

YES i have a problem!?!? they say the first step is admitting it! i can't seem to help myself ~ HELLO MY NAME IS DENA AND I LOVE BUFFALO CHECK!

I saw this on pinterest and thought it wouldn't be too bad for the boys' room? you want something "cute" but they are boys! When asked about it they said they wanted a "gamecock room" omg - how can i sneak orange into this room..hahaha

I may not have gotten orange in there but buffalo check?? OF COURSE!! this is their room in progress...we've still got some work to do!!

I've had this chair since annie was a baby...buffalo check timeless? check!

I saw this on http://oakridgerevival.blogspot.com/2012/03/i-heart-ikea.html

at the exact same moment one of my friends checked in at ikea on fb (our closest one is 3 hours away) presto chango and this is what our bed looks like now!! (before pictures later)

hahaha...no you aren't seeing things - that is check drawer liners!! we were walking through lowe's and i saw it soooo.......

now my drawers are lined AND i found these dish towels at Big Lots for $2 each I bought like 20 bc i didn't want to ever run out!! (and they're organic - haha)

mom and i (mostly - really all mom) i couldn't find the fabric i wanted anywhere - this is a little darker than i wanted but it looks fine - kitchen curtain (how to to follow)

I have been looking and dreaming and telling mike if i could just get check dishes i would be the happiest girl in the world - i went on pinterest this morning and SEE THESE!! yes, i clicked the magic link to make sure they were for real!! guess what just went to the top of my wish list?!?!?!?! so....do i have a problem?? what are you obsessed with in your house???

Then I saw our place...now I'm a believer!!!

I have heard great things about this Shark Vac then Steam on facebook (where i get my vast knowledge most all of the time) I've read about it, asked questions about it and even looked at it in Walmart - I kept coming up with the same question How does it do both??

low and behold ------> look what showed up at our house today via grannie!!

we LOVE our charlotte boo-boo but yikes the hair and the yes, even the smell...we bathe her but she's still a puppy....i sweep ALL the time and could never get rid of both totally so we've taken stock in glade plug ins

without further ado it was time to put the pedal to the metal and give her a spin around the house (she is designed for hardwoods)

SAY IT AIN'T SO! she vacuums AND steams....see the steam rising - you literally flip a switch and add a pad to steam!! I am in LOVE there is NO hair and NO smell...the vacuum is awesome - picks up hair and has plenty of suction...i even vacuumed the couch - lol ...... then i flipped to steam ~ it kills 99.9% of germs you know what else it kills -----> dog smell! i'm so excited i don't even know what to do with myself but i imagine it will entail me vacsteaming some more tonight!

it even comes with these handy accessories..3 mop pads that can be thrown in the wash to be used again and again, replacement filters and a water pourer... IF you have been thinking about getting one, needing a new vacuum or just like gadgets THIS is for you!!! it's the best $129 my mom has ever spent lol and makes me love my boo boo priss even more!!! (yes that's the dirty mop i had just used....no judging ;))

Out with the old...in with the new

this is our couch in all of her glory - she used to be pretty, clean and the right shape but the crucial word is USED to be....kids, dog, food and general wear and tear have made her a sad version of her former self so it's time to say good bye to her ~ i have learned that a slipcover is a MUST!

the chairs are slip covered and still in great condition but need some new life!!

I have always wanted a white couch...everyone says it's impractical but Genevieve from HGTV says it can be bleached and really what's more southern than a white slip covered couch?!?!?!?

but then i walked and saw THIS....LOVE!!!i feel like this screams beach cottage and i think we live close enough to the beach to pull it off ~ I simply j'adore anything cottagey!!! Soooo.....here are our choices

couch - red/aqua pattern - chairs - blue paisley pattern and accent pillows out of the 3 colors including the blue...

couch - khaki linen - the chairs - navy pattern and accents out of the blue (I wonder if Charlotte's blonde hair will show up more on the darker pattern)

my WHITE couch i've always wanted - chairs - brown paisley and accent pillows in the blue pattern - I kind of like the chairs in the blue pattern but think it might be too drab we have burlap curtains to bring in texture and the rest of the house (to be seen later) is in the khaki and blues...I wonder if the red pattern is too far out of the box for the rest of the house??? It's such a hard decision....clearly we need to make one SOON ~ the couch and chairs will take about 6 weeks to come in and i'm not sure our lovely lady is going to last that long!!! what do you think?? HELP?!?!?!?!

Honey Boo Boo Child???

OMGRACIOUS! Facebook was abuzz Wednesday night about Honey Boo Boo - I of course have no idea what anyone is talking about - if it's not on facebook or trending on yahoo i don't see it (i don't watch the news or read the paper...who really needs to know what's going on in the world...not me) after further non investigating (more fb updates) i realize it's a spin off of toddlers and tiaras ~ hmmmm SOOOOOO we had a little spare time last night between PGA and Big Brother 14 (YES I WROTE IT) I mentioned Boo Boo Honey to Mike who said "well we may as well see what the fuss is about" (one of the things i love about him - he's down with crazy tv) I honestly could not believe my eyes....there are so many questions that popped into my head upon seeing this

1. WHO are these people 2. sugar bear, june, anna, chubbs, chickadee and honey boo boo?? 3. Who works? 4. Where do they get all this money 5. and most important...WHY DON'T I HAVE A TEACUP PIGGIE???

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE??? I would name her CoCo and dress her in tutus and paint her toenails - ps did i mention they are $1299??? poshpigs.net which brings me to...they spent $1299 on a pig because honey boo boo child didn't get a trophy....WHERE does the $$$ come from????

SHE HONEY BOO BOO and i am thoroughly amused, frightened, disgusted and mesmerized! She'll holla for a dolla!!! (i promise they say that in the promo)

it's just so dark and panelly....

the first thing we tackled besides moving all of our crap er i mean stuff in was the dining room...paneling is well, we'll go with vintage and since it's cut off from the living room and has no natural light it definitely needed some help (i'm not sure i would have agreed to live here if we couldn't fix it)

awww...here she is in all of her 70s glory - we saw something on pinterest that showed us how to paint panels like a pro - and by us i mean i saw it and mike was the pro!!

some spackling to get the project started

fill in all of the lines in the paneling to get them more even with the wood so it will look more like drywall

next comes sanding - partly to try and make everything more even and partly so the paint adheres to the paneling

looks like she's ready for her transformation

instantly it begins to look better but that trim still darkens it

we can't forget doors...there are french doors that lead out to the "carpeted master bedroom/laundry closet/2nd bathroom" or as we call it my office

(everything in our house is this color - the contractor used it so we thought we'd just keep a good clean canvas and use accessories for pops of color)

TA - DA! OMG i felt so bad Mike had finished EVERYTHING and his "voila" when he pulled the painter's tape off pulled some of the paint came with it - i thought he was going to throw up....but a quick touch up and

see how great it is!!??? you can barely even tell it was paneling!!

it makes the perfect spot for our table and chairs!!! (another post about those later) and much more to come!!! it makes a tremendous difference in the house - it's so bright and airy it was well worth all the hard work...watching him was exhausting! lol

to begin at the beginning....

When Mike and I started looking around for a new area to live with I had narrowed it down to 2 areas..Park Circle and Hanahan - both well established neighborhoods with lots of charm....what some people call seedy we refer to as eclectic! We decided to have lunch in the Park Circle area to get a "vibe" and ended up eating at Sesame Burgers and Beer - the food was wonderful but the atmosphere was amazing - very bustling and urban when we got in the car and drove around to look at houses we knew that was the neighborhood for us!! SOOOO the hunt began - the houses are pretty similar - brick ranch BUT we had a specific need - 4 bedrooms was at the top of our list... we needed a bedroom for us, annie, the boys and an office for me - we saw LOTS of cute houses but none fit the bill until......THIS ONE

4 bedroom fully renovated house!! how much?? $975/month we want to rent to make sure it's where we want to be....this was a new area to us

they have redone the hardwoods - aren't they gorgeous??? (this is the living room)

brand new bathroom ~ this is the 2nd bathroom

which is off of the 4th bedroom (i'm kind of curious about a bedroom that has a washer/dryer closet in it) the only carpet in the house...to be used as the office

the hall bath..hmmmm why is the vanity outside? and if you're going to redo the entire house - why didn't you fix this burned top? (no i'm not really that picky - i can fix that)

the kitchen...it's "cozy" but totally usable and NEW!

WOW - paneling?? that is a LOT of darkness

hmmm...what can I put in here??

NEW stove all clean and shiny - I can mess that up in 2 meals!

AHHHH...dishwasher!!

Bathroom - complete with "retro" glass doors