Our Secret Hideaway

I have to admit, I've been holding out on you. I promise, it wasn't intentional - it just sort of happened.

When I started posting, this blog was just supposed to be about the renovation, restoration and decoration of one dilapidated limestone. (Hence the catchy title!) Much to my surprise, some of you wanted to know a little more about us and what went on behind closed doors. So I added a bit of travel and entertaining to the mix. Instead of it just being about the limestone, its become more of the highlights of our lives (always with an eye on spotting good design of course!). So you'll have to forgive me that I never shared our little bit of peace away from the city - down at the Jersey shore.

Before we had any plans of a huge renovation project in Brooklyn, we purchased a small one bedroom condo near the beach. Sadly, I don't have very good before photos so you'll just have to take my word for it. We loved the location, the complex's pool and the potential but the apartment needed some help. For starters, it stunk like a dirty diaper, the carpets had blood stains, the bathroom had all sorts of nasty yellow and brown surprises. It was kind of a mess.

Here are my only before photos but trust me, it was way worse than these photos let on. We spent our first few days in bio hazard gear with bleachy scrubrushes in tow.




So why am I mentioning it now? Because I need some motivation! We did do a few critical things the first year (like ripping up carpets, painting, etc) and it looks so much better but there is still work to be done. Naturally, we were preoccupied with the limestone renovation for a while so whenever we got the chance to stay, we didn't want to have to tackle a to-do list. But the time has come. The plan is get in gear this season! There are still way quite a few "little" things to do (isn't it always those little things that cause the most trouble?). I figure if I blog about it, I'll have no choice but to get my tasks crossed off or I'll have to hang my head in shame! (Am I the only person who uses their blog this way?)

On top of that, we really do love to relax here and I thought the first unofficial week of summer was the perfect time to invite you all in on our little secret. I'll be sharing what it looks like now, the bathroom renovation and the other projects I'm working on all summer long. And if you're interested, I can share a little more about what the Jersey Shore is like. (No, its not all Snooki poofs and fake tans!) If there is anything you want to see in particular, just ask.

Hope you've had a great Memorial Day weekend!