I am one of the worst offenders of spreading myself too thin, but last weekend took it to a whole new level.  My family has a beach condo in Bethany Beach.  Without a doubt, it’s my favorite place on Earth.  I used to spend my Summers there with my mom when I was a teenager.  My dad would come up on weekends and go back to DC for the work week.  I know-  I am totally spoiled.  I get it.  My parents renovated the condo back in 1990 and not much has been done since.  After Mom died, my Dad started renting it out, and on top of the pink and seafoam green decor, the place got uber gross, fast.  So, we were tasked to renovate the place, but because it is still being rented, we had to stay on a budget.

So, my sister Karen and I have been designing and buying for months only to spend last weekend scrubbing, purging, moving and painting to get this place ready for the rental season.  We only had two days, so naturally, we worked through the nights….

 .. and rainy days.  (I found this old rain coat of my dad’s in the closet, reminiscent of Long John Silver.)

There were many trips to the dump….

 as well as two soggy truckloads to a donation center.

Lots of cans of spray paint were used.

To help pull everything together.   This picture will give you an idea of what we were working with before.  (I swear, these pictures were only taken a few years ago.) 

I love my father dearly, but an interior designer he is not.  He is also SUPER.. how shall we say???…. Frugal.  Dad tried to update the kitchen on his own three years ago….  I can’t convey my level of distaste for the poop colored paint job and this granite combo.  (Unfortunately, we are stuck with the granite, but I think we were able to work around it.)

 Styling began.

And we designated placement for lighting, which by the way, we got all of our sconces from Home Depot.

But there is still a lot of work to be done, so we will be heading back in a week and a half to finish what we started.  CRUNCH TIME.  The first renter comes on June 1.

And by 7:30 am Sunday, we were on the road headed home to see our babies for Mother’s Day.  This mommy spent her Mother’s Day in bed with the pipsqueaks.  In two weeks we will lather, rinse, repeat.    I can’t wait to finally enjoy it.  I’ll be sure to share some photos of the finished product as well as some really inexpensive decorating ideas!