Monday, October 13, 2014

Doc Holiday Meets Erin From House of Turquoise!

This summer one of my favorite bloggers, Erin Moser, who writes the wildly popular 
House of Turquoise blog paid a call on our little Tybee cottage, Doc Holiday!




Erin and I are both big fans of the color turquoise and all of its variations so, with that in common plus a shared love for vintage things and old cottages, Erin and I had a great 
visit!  Lots of picture-taking ensued!

I'm excited to announce that today Doc Holiday is being featured by
House of Turquoise!  Erin has posted a bunch of those gorgeous pictures she took during her visit and you can click here to see them!

If you are dropping by as a visitor, I hope you will explore the archives.  My very first post was written on the day we moved Doc Holiday, our Tybee beach cottage, from it's original location to it's new lot down the street!

There are lots of before and after pictures and many in-betweens showing you stuff like how we got from here...


to here...


and ending up here...





  I've restored three old beach cottages with the help of Jane Coslick, a designer who specializes in historical preservation.  I didn't want to forget what an amazing experience I was having--or what the paint colors were--or where I bought the various items for the house--or how I diy-ed some of the furnishings and so on!  This blog shares that process and the ongoing journey of making a house a home.  Thanks for stopping by and I hope you'll come back again!

Friday, September 26, 2014

Lighten Up!

When we first built our home in 1999 I loved my warm color scheme with it's 
reds, greens and golds.  






Then, after living with and loving it for twelve years, I began wanting to lighten things up.  I didn't exactly dislike what I had; I was just ready for a change.  Do you ever feel like that?

I decided to start the redo by looking for wallpaper for the formal dining room and when I came across this Farrow and Ball paper called Lotus on the pages of Better Homes and Gardens, it was love at first sight!



Source

My love affair with this paper made me think of the old torch song..."You made me love you.  I didn't wanna do it.  I didn't wanna do it.  You made me want you and all the time you knew it.  I guess you always knew it."

  It is normally only sold to the trade (professional designers) and was out of my price range.  I worked really hard to find another paper I liked as well--or even almost as well--but I couldn't.  

Then enter my hero.....I have the world's most generous and understanding husband who urged me to splurge.  I rarely "go crazy" like that but this time I did.  This one choice was going to impact all of my future choices for the house since my rooms are all 
open to one another.  But I still had a problem--I don't like to pay full price unless there is no other way.

   Thank goodness for Google--I found a company online called L.A. Design Concepts that gives their customers access to "trade only" home goods--and at a good discount!  
Still, it was a splurge for me....I'm so grateful that I only had to paper above the chair rail!

Here's how it turned out...




These pictures were taken with a little point and shoot camera and they seem a bit dark but I think they give you an idea of how the room looks.  I would like to update with a new chandelier but I'm waiting for just the right one to come along (and for the budget).

In upcoming posts I'm going to share some before and after shots of other rooms I remodeled at home in an effort to build up the resolve to redo our master bedroom.  I need some courage to tackle that project.  Living through a reno is not for sissies.







Wednesday, September 17, 2014

A Love Story

When I married my husband, I also got the best mother-in-law in the world!  She welcomed me into her heart and home completely and after 41 years of being married to her son, I cannot recall her ever criticizing me even though I am sure I have disappointed her at times.  She always chose to encourage, forgive, and love.



Last Thursday she went home to heaven and oh how she will be missed!

Let me tell you her story--it's a love story.

Hilda Gattmann Patton aka Mema was born to Fritz and Josephine Gattmann--the beloved baby girl in a family with five kids.



She grew up to be a beautiful young woman.



Hilda fell in love with Henry Murriel Patton, the boy next door.  As children they used to rendezvous and talk through the hole in the backyard fence.



  Right after high school graduation toward the end of World War II, Murriel enlisted in the U.S. Navy and was stationed across the country in California.  He flew home to take 
Hilda as his bride.



Hilda set up her first home in Navy housing, a quonset hut.  They were a happy couple.



After Murriel fulfilled his commitment to the Navy they went back home to settle in Savannah, Georgia.  Murriel began working for the telephone company and they started their family...

Henry, Jr., Eleanor, Jeffery...



and Anita and Dorothy...



Hilda and Murriel worked hard to provide for their family and theirs was a happy home.  The years passed and the kids grew up, married and then grandchildren began to arrive...


The heartbreak of Hilda's life came when her dear husband Murriel died.  She was a 
one-man woman and when asked if she would ever date again, she said that she didn't plan to...the only way she would consider dating again would be if she could date Murriel.

The family continued to grow and now there are 15 grandchildren and 18 great-grandchildren with 2 more due by the end of the year!

This picture of grands and great-grands was taken at Hilda's 80th birthday party in 2009.


The last few years Hilda has battled health problems.  Her family has been by her side through it all until last Thursday she left her earthly life for an everlasting one in heaven.  We trust that she received a joyful welcome from her parents, siblings, and especially from her beloved Murriel!  I feel sure she also heard "Well done, My good and faithful servant," from her God as her faith has now become sight.

We were blessed to have her for so long and we will, we do sorely miss her!  She lived a life of love--a great legacy.





Wednesday, September 10, 2014

Repurposing A French Door!

Kim, my sister-in-law, is a great cook--the Hostess with the Mostest!


She's also a very creative and handy lady!  I love the vision she has for 
repurposing found objects.  

One day this summer Kim was walking by The Mulberry Inn, a hotel in downtown Savannah, on her way to work.  The hotel had been purchased by The Kimpton Hotel and Restaurant Group and it was being remodeled  into a boutique hotel.

Source


They were throwing out a french door so Kim asked if she could have it.  The remodelers were happy for her to take it so she brought it home and made it into an outdoor table!

She had Home Depot cut 2 x 4's into legs for the table and attached them with door hinges.  Then she painted the table.  All in all it cost $28 for supplies!  

And voila!


Isn't this a cool idea for recycling a door?  It pays to keep your eyes open for "trash" that you can turn into treasure!  Kim is planning to have glass cut to cover the top and she wants to paint the wrought iron chairs as well.  Great job!

Thursday, September 4, 2014

Some More Love For Coral Cottage From HGTV!

Coral Cottage has been getting lots of love lately!  HGTV magazine did a wonderful feature in their July-August edition.  





Then last week Erin who writes the popular blog, House of Turquoise, shared pictures of Coral Cottage in honor of her upcoming trip to Tybee.  Lots of turquoise goodness 
in those photos!  




Erin dropped by our Doc Holiday cottage while she was in town and took some pictures--maybe we will see them on her blog in the future!



Now I am excited to share that HGTV has posted a great recap of the magazine article on their website! 




Wow!  I'm thrilled that there are so many who love our little cottage.  If you'd like to see the HGTV online article just click on the blue link!

Coral Cottage is available for vacations if you want to come for a visit.  Click here for more information!

Sunday, August 24, 2014

Coral Cottage Featured on House of Turquoise Blog!

How fun!  Erin from one of my favorite blogs, House of Turquoise, has featured our little cottage on her blog!  Yep.  That's right.  The Coral Cottage is on House of Turquoise!


Source


Erin is visiting Tybee this week and enjoying a little Tybee Time with her extended family!  

She features the many variations of turquoise on her blog and it's always fun and inspirational to see the beautiful rooms she finds to share.  Hop on over to 
House of Turquoise and have a look!

Thursday, August 14, 2014

Henry, Vicky, and Triple D in Santa Fe!

Anybody else out there a fan of Guy Fieri from the Food Network?  Henry and I have enjoyed watching him cook and entertain since he competed to win the Food Network Star competition.  And he is really fun to watch on Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives where he "takes us" to various restaurants around the country.

We've often watched him visit a restaurant and wished we could go there to eat...
last night we did!  



This is what happened...

There is a medical meeting in Santa Fe, New Mexico later in the week that Henry is going to attend so we decided to come a couple days early and do some sight-seeing.  (A quick thank you to our house sitters for holding down the fort back home!)

We arrived mid-afternoon, and after settling into our hotel we took a quick walk around the plaza area to get a quick overview.



It's a shopping and restaurant mecca!  We poked around in a few stores...I know I don't look too happy in the photo below but when there are lots of boutiques to explore--believe me, I'm happy.



We made the acquaintance of this little burro statue...



And we came upon this beautiful church at the end of the street...Cathedral Basilica of St. Francis of Assisi.  We walked back to our hotel with lots of ideas about how we might spend our time exploring this week
.




When we finished this little scouting tour, we were hungry.  Our hotel concierge recommended a restaurant nearby that we could walk to called Casa Chimayo.




When we went inside we noticed a corridor leading to a courtyard...




There were some fun metal sculptures of a mariachi band.



Henry's favorite was the guitar player...He has a nice smile.



The sky looked ominous and we had felt some raindrops a little earlier so we decided to 
be seated inside.



I ordered chicken fajitas and Henry ordered their specialty:  stacked enchiladas made with blue corn tortillas.   They don't roll the enchiladas but they stack them instead!  We had just received our favorite part of any Mexican meal--the guacamole and chips--when we spotted this...



There was a poster of Guy Fieri standing next to the cool red convertible he drives when Triple D tours the country.  Guy autographed it when he featured the restaurant in a 
recent episode! 

Our wish came true!  Don't you love it when you get an unexpected perk? 


Monday, August 11, 2014

Tips For Feeding A Crowd!

Our yearly family reunion was held at Tybee Island earlier in the summer.  Years ago when we began this traditional vacation there were six of us--now there are eighteen with one more on the way in a few months!  And this year my sister Crystal joined the party!


We wanted to have maximum fun...




...with minimum fuss.


These are some things we did that worked well for us...

  • Divide and conquer.  There are lots of ways to divide up the work but after talking it over together, everyone in our group decided that each family (or team of two families) would be responsible for one meal--from grocery shopping, cooking, through to clean up.  Then they could relax and enjoy the other meals guilt-free when it was someone else's turn.  Crystal (my sister who joined us this year) is a great cook and she was in for helping out too.
  • Plan ahead.  We discussed and settled on menus before leaving for vacation and decided on a schedule so everyone knew what to expect and could bring anything needed from home along with them--or research which restaurant to call!  This also helped us avoid duplicating each other's meal plans.
  • Keep it simple.  Don't be overly ambitious.  Select an easy menu to prepare (unless you love to cook and don't mind spending the day in the kitchen.)  Disposable plates, cups, napkins and eating utensils make clean-up easy and you can be quite creative with all of the choices of colors and designs.  
  • Frills only if it is fun. I love to decorate--for me it is part of the fun. I bought some red tablecloths (easy care inexpensive ones on Amazon) and changed out the toppers plus added a few inexpensive props to make our mealtimes together more festive--totally not important but it is fun for me.  Only do the "extras" that add to the fun for you--skip anything else that drains you of energy.    
  • Assemble-it-your-way meals work well with large groups.  In our group we have vegetarians, meat-and-potatoes-only eaters, seafood lovers, seafood haters, gluten-free dieters, dairy-free dieters, Paleo dieters, etc.  Planning meals is pretty tough. We opted for meals such as a taco bar with a variety of options that allowed each person to customize.  Some other ideas:  Skewer your own shish kebobs offering meat and veggies as you like it or......Pasta night with sauce (meatballs option for meat lovers), salad, and bread---and yes, they make gluten-free pasta.
  • Order take-out.  My husband is fond of saying that I cook the best take-out in town.  When our kids were growing up and had after-school activities that took me away from the house all afternoon we would sometimes (all right often times) resort to picking up all or part of the meal at a local restaurant.  Some of the kids chose to forgo cooking altogether when it was their turn and ordered take-out Chinese food or pizzas and salad--I guess it reminded them of mom's "home cooking"...ha! 
  • Splurge for one fun evening in a restaurant.  If the budget permits, go out to eat and enjoy some of the local cuisine.  I like to factor this kind of a treat into the vacation budget when I am making plans.  In this case we walked to a nearby seafood spot that had land-lover options....not fancy but good.

Here are a few shots of our fun evenings.  Maybe they will be idea starters for you...

Mexican night hosted by Kristen, James and Crystal with chips, guacamole, and ingredients to build your own taco plus rice and beans.




I had sombreros in my party stash from a party I gave a while back.  They came in handy as a way to serve tortilla chips.





Chinese Take-out night hosted by Jonathan and Lisa and Tom and Meghan



I found this cool Chinese dragon on Amazon--it was inexpensive but looked like a million bucks in adding to the ambience!  



This dinner was also a celebration for Jonathan and Tyler who share a birthday....There was a delicious strawberry birthday cake and ice cream for dessert---Yum!




Memorial Day meal....Burgers and boiled shrimp with corn on the cob, 
baked beans, red rice, and coleslaw.



Same red tablecloths with red-checkered toppers and red, white, and blue all-American colors in honor of Memorial Day.  If you substitute white instead of blue napkins you would be ready for Italian night.




We were staying at three different cottages so each night we asked everyone to gather on the patio at Doc Holiday to visit until the final touches were put on the meal...this particular evening my brother Bill and his family joined us.



After we asked the blessing everyone served their plates and chowed down!  The beach always makes you hungry--why is that?



Toward the end of the week our numbers dwindled since some of our group had to leave early.  Jordan, Sarah, and Crystal found a pizza place at Tybee that had a gluten-free pizza option and they ordered delivery of several pizzas and salad according to the requests of  the remaining family.  We swam at the pool and ate informally on the screened porch--it was such fun and so relaxing that I forgot to take pictures!

How do you do things when you have to feed a crowd?  Any versatile menu suggestions?  Any do's or don't's that work for you?  Other pointers?  I'm up for ideas!  Please share. (Facebook friends please share here on the blog so everyone can benefit from your ideas.)