Furniture for the new house.

For those who know me understand that I got the “frugal” gene from my grandfather Stallings. Nothing makes me happier than a good find. I pluck things out of the garbage; no I am not a hoarder either. I love a good thrift shop and remaking things is really a passion for me. So in the spirit of creating an interesting home on a budget I am fixing lots of thing up. Here are the things I am working on now.

  A $20 table

Now its priceless!

A free table made from plywood and  2x4 wood 

!

 Now it is a beachy Treasure!

Free Ugly wall cabinet.

Now it s a nice Floor peice.

  Free bench

I did the same finish as the beachy table. Lots of shades

 of blue layered together.

The building of our house and the Pets….

 DEBORAH WRITES:

Blake is working really hard every day 8-10 hours; in the heat and all weather conditions. I don’t know how he stands it! The heat that is! He is very dedicated and has tremendous stamina.  He works right alongside of the framer.  They are making wonderful progress. 

He also spends much time coordinating the build, researching and ordering supplies and managing our personal finances. He has not really got much time for anything else. He is REALLY POOPED at night and we both fall asleep by 9:00 on average.  We are now getting to the fun part, picking paint colors, fixtures etc. The house is starting to look and feel like a house. You can walk from room to room. We hope to be done by late February; only time will tell. 

Needless to say the only paintbrush Blake holds these days is the kind you get at Home Depot. he is looking forward to his new studio. I am looking forward to real kitchen again and a new home that is easier to clean. Actually I am looking forward to all of it; the house is turning out so cute! We are both pretty thrilled about it.

 In the meantime our rental has sold and our new landlord Juliette has become a friend already. Blake and I are going to move out on December 1^st to our neighbor Alex’s home. He will be gone for at least 4-6 weeks to Portland. So we will live in his house, care for his pets and home (that are also our pets now) LOL

The stray kitty that was here are our rental when we moved is was very feral. Blake named her Feo ( means ugly in Spanish)  She is one of the sweetest and the most polite kitty I have ever met. I think she is so happy to have a real family. We both like her very much. In the 10 months we have been here she has become a changed kitty. She went from extreme fear, hissing at us, not coming near us and forget even considering touching her. Now she comes when I call her, lets us pet her, hangs out in her favorite chair or her cardboard box bed in the house. She loves us and wants to be near.  Alex’s cat “momma kitty” pretty much lives at our house too. We like her, she is sweet. All the pets are at least 10 years old. Lucy the dog is much attached to me and loves me; it mutual so I don’t mind at all. She can’t  stand to be away from me for more than a few hours. She is well behaved and minds me; she and I can even take walks without a leash and she listens to my commands. Needless to say I pick up a lot of poop these days; dog poop that is. The cats go somewhere outside so no kitty box, that’s nice.

House pictures

  The front on the house

 another view

 Kitchen straight ahead ( front porch to the right. Back lanai to the left)

 My Kitchen Pantry

 Porch off the kitchen

 Looking into the Lania ( it will be screened in)

 Lania

 Blake's Studio

 Guest bedroom

 Guest bathroom

  The ceiling

 The living room

 master bedroom closet ( above) Below is the master bedroom Bed will go between the windows

 Soon to be Master bedroom sinks area

 The toilet room

 This will be the Shower and bathtub area for the master. It will be an indoor/outdoor space

 Guest bedroom window

 The back of the house : to the left is lanai and the right with doors is Blakes Studio

THE PETS 

Lucy and I at Home Depot. I promptly went on a diet after I saw this picture! Truth!

Who is  that napping with Blake?

 The house was tented for termites. I had to drug Feo so I could pick her up and put her in a safe place at the neighbors for 2 days. After her prison term; which she enjoyed surprisingly, she has been a different kitty. I would pet her all day during her drug induced state. Now she is truly a kitty that is a pet. 

 Look Blake I got you a birdie!

Lucy hanging out at the salon with me.

Skincare Business

Skincare Business

     Well.... it has been a while since Blake or I wrote. Truthfully we have both been really busy and incredible tired at night.

  Deborah writes: My Skincare Business

On July 1, 2014,  I officially opened my new skincare studio; named Beautiful Skincare.

http://www.beautifulskincare.skincaretherapy.net/home

 My original plan was to have it at our house. But... as our plans evolved it made sense for me to try and earn a living ( it is expensive here) sooner rather than later. So I went out and found a very affordable rental space just a 2 minute walk from our house and our rental. I have a lease for a year; and in June if the landlord does not need the space I can resign and stay on.

 I had a great time fixing the space up. It never ceases to amaze me of the magic of a can of paint and interesting and coordinated decorating. I have posted some before and after pictures for you to view. 

Business is going better than I expected thankfully. I have on average 4-6 clients most weeks. Retail sales are going better that I hoped as well. My clients feel pampered and so they often fall asleep during their treatment. Afterwards I am being told I am gifted, and a treasure; I feel very embraced and appreciated by my clients and our community as a whole.

 I am also being asked for haircuts and much to my surprise I am developing a client base. My shop is not set up for hair care and so right now I cut them in my back room on a basic chair. They have to come pre-shampooed and not expect a blow-dry finish. The women I am doing like my work so much they are fine with that arrangement; and they don’t object to my fee. They are sworn to secrecy and are not allowed to refer me without my permission as I do NOT want a huge hair clientele. It looks like it is growing and it is hard to say no to the income. I may have to break down and get a styling chair for the backroom space to make it more professional and comfortable for both myself and my clients. I need to think on that a while before I make that leap. I am giving myself until January before I make that final decision. 
I will also have to approach my landlord and see how he feels about me using that back space for more than my original plan And I have to be certain my lease will go beyond June; if it will not I do not have room at our house for a styling chair.

 I have been advertising in many ways; Brochures, signs, my big mouth and newspaper ads. I am happy to report that I have gotten new clients, repeat clients and referrals as well. I even got an article written about me in the paper.

The link is below.

http://www.kohalamountainnews.com/resources/KMN+Sept+27++2014+optimized.pdf

Additional to my studio, I am “on call” at a resort down the road 5 minutes; Blake and I are friendly with the owners and they needed a skincare person periodically during the high season here. The owners approached me and asked if I would be interested; I told them as long as they can pay me what I would earn at my own salon, then my answer would be yes.  It was agreed. That will be a nice extra income for me too.  Here is a link to their resort; it is really more of a wellness resort and a very peaceful beautiful place.

http://www.hawaiiislandretreat.com/

Now some pictures of my studio: BEFORE & AFTER