Thursday, February 20, 2014

Bargain-Hunt Beautiful!

On your virtual visit to Coast Awhile Cottage have you decided in which room you'd like to stay?  Would it be the "nautical and nice" downstairs master?  Or the "makes you smile" bunk room?  Or maybe Anna's masterpiece?  Can't make up your mind?

Let me show you one more and see if I can make it harder to decide:)  This one is next door to "Anna's".  It started out like this...

 As you can see there are lots of big windows. 


There were two lights that were on each side of the bed.  Jane Coslick and I decided to cap them off since we are changing the furniture arrangement to accommodate a king size bed.


We are leaving the bookshelf to store books and games.  The door on the right (above)
leads to a closet.

 As I already mentioned, this room has lots of windows.  They are original to the house with wonderful, wavy, old glass.  I love them!  The room get lots of light yet it looked very dark with it's dark paneling.  Call in the painters!


The paint color is MSL 8002 "Glass of Milk"--a Martha Stewart color.


Ahhh...better already.

While we were busy getting the house ready I was busy bargain-hunting.  One of my daughter's best friends, Jennifer Smith, told me about a fabric store that sells remnants and end-of-the-bolt fabric for unbelievably low prices--just my price range!


 Fabric World is located in Stone Mountain, Georgia.  It's sort of like a big rummage sale but at $1.99 a yard for designer fabric, I'm willing to dig through.



It's very hit or miss.  Sometimes when I go there is nothing I want but on this trip I lucked out and found lots of remnants just perfect for pillows!  I already had a lime green and white duvet cover and these other fabrics will look great!

Source:  Jane Coslick

Once the room was ready, Jane and I began experimenting with the fabric and trying out lamps and other furnishings.


Next time I will show you the finished room--it turned out so beautiful!  Then you can decide where you'd like to stay! 

Monday, February 17, 2014

Pondering and Perfecting!

Last week I showed you the front bedroom at Coast Awhile Cottage.  It was styled by Anna Speir, an  artist and friend of Jane Coslick, my designer.  When I say "cottage" it may give the impression of a charming, tiny home---Coast Awhile Cottage is charming but it is not tiny.  In fact it is quite large and it was all hands on deck when it came time to furnish the house!  We really appreciate Anna's contribution.

Once we had the house and it's furnishings somewhat under control it was time to tweak it and make it just right.  Jane likes to "ponder"--- that's what she calls it.  I'd like to show you how this already beautiful room was finished.

There used to be a game that a kiddie TV show used to play where they would show a picture and then change it slightly and ask the kids to see what was different.  The song keeps playing through my head..."One of these things is not like the other.  One of these things is not the same.  Can you tell me which thing is not like the other before we finish this game?" or something like that.  Let's see if you can find the changes...
Before


After
Did you see the changes?  Now look at these pictures...
 
Before

After

I found the tables next to the bed at a flea market for next to nothing and we decided to paint them white and use them in this room so the lamps would be the same height.  
Could you find the other changes? 

 I am learning this about decorating:  Rarely do you get things "perfect" on the first try--although Anna came very close.  It is usually necessary to arrange things, ponder a while, and then rearrange--add to--or take away--before it's just right.  Don't feel discouraged--even the pros like Anna and Jane consider this to be part of the process of design.  
Keep playing with it and have fun! 
 

Thursday, February 13, 2014

Anna Works Her Magic!

We're having an ice storm here in our usually-mild-weather community.  Everyone is housebound and right now it is so delightful to think about going to the beach.  Tybee Island is supposed to be in the mid-60's this weekend and in another month azaleas will be blooming and some days will get into the 80's.  Ahhh...I can't wait for warm days ahead!

While I am dreaming let me show you another of the lovely bedrooms at Coast Awhile Cottage.  The initial styling was done by Anna Speir, a talented artist who sometimes assists Jane Coslick.  Here's a peek inside..


 Before we actually go inside to get a closer look, let me show you what the room looked like "before". The bedroom had dark paneling when we bought the house.  I really wanted to brighten up the room with some white paint.  It was scary to paint over wood paneling but Jane Coslick, my designer, agreed that it needed to be done.   She suggested a Martha Stewart color MSL 8002 "Glass of Milk".

I think it made a huge difference.  
Just look at these before and after pictures and tell me what you think....  
Before
After

The room gets wonderful light from the big windows.  There is a huge porch that wraps around the front of the house and these windows look out onto it.
Before

After
The door on the left leads to a closet and the open door leads out to the living room.  Even though the walls are white the paneling is still beautiful--the texture adds so much!

Now let's get a closer look at the room....






This room was one of the last ones to be decorated and Anna did an amazing job using what we had left to compose a very pleasing space.  She found the green lanterns outside on the floor of the porch--we had bought them to possibly use out there--and decided to hang them on the wall.  It added such a nice pop of color and personality to the room.  Thanks Anna!

Friday, February 7, 2014

At the "Head" Of The Class!

Last time I posted about the "nautical and nice" downstairs master bedroom at Coast Awhile Cottage.  When we began the renovation there was an adjoining half bathroom but I wanted to add a shower and extend the personality of the bedroom into the bath.  We worked hard to make this nautical-looking "head" go to the head of the class.

 The art is part of a collection that we used in the bedroom--we used three prints in the bedroom and one in the bath.

  We carried the navy blue over from the bedroom into the bathroom with the striped shower curtain from Target. 




And that's it!

Wednesday, February 5, 2014

Nautical and Nice!

So excited to finally show you the downstairs master bedroom at Coast Awhile Cottage!  I had fallen in love with a blue and white pinstriped duvet at Ikea and we (my designer, Jane Coslick and I) used it as inspiration to put together this room with lots of flea market finds and a few new things to make a fun--not kitschy--take on "nautical".

We found this old trunk in the storage shed and brought it in for the foot of the bed. It reminds me of an old captain's chest and it offered some storage space.

Some new knobs on the vintage chest of drawers spruced things up along with the lamp and mirror from Home Goods.
It's amazing what a few new things and a some old things used in a new way can do...
Photo Source:  Jane Coslick
  
Nautical and nice.  Ready for company!

Monday, February 3, 2014

DIY Idea: King Headboard Made From A Twin Bed!

It's my favorite part of the renovation--time to decorate!  Can't wait to show you the downstairs master bedroom.  It was a challenging space because it only has one teeny tiny window letting in light.  So we painted the wall white---Martha Stewart Living #8002 Glass of MilkThat brightened up the room and gave a great background for us to build on.

I collected the goods for the room from lots of places.  The king headboard started out as a twin headboard and footboard that I found at a flea market for next to nothing.  Thanks to a trick I learned from Jane Coslick, my designer at Coast Awhile Cottage, we had the legs cut off and the parts were mounted to the wall...


And voila!  A king headboard two-fer!  Gotta love it.


The yellow bedspread was a fabulous deal from Kohl's and the blue pinstripe duvet and pillow shams were from Ikea.  The framed prints and octopus pillow were steals on Joss and Main, one of my favorite flash sale sites. Those stunning red chevron pillows were a splurge from 
C. Wonder but even they were on clearance and at 75% off they were quite reasonable.
Just about everything else was a flea market find--except for the lampshades above and the mirror from Home Goods.
This large oil painting was salvaged from The Coral Cottage.

 
Can't wait to show you how it looks up put together!  I'll post it next time.