Thursday, January 30, 2014

The Nitty Gritty!

With all of the cold weather we're having this week here in Georgia, it is wonderful to dream a bit about a warm beach week.  Let's keep daydreaming about a trip to Coast Awhile Cottage, a cottage at Tybee that we restored and re-decorated last year with lots of help from designer Jane Coslick.  
Last time I posted about the kids' bunk room.  But what about the adult bedrooms?  Let me show them to you and then you can pick out "your" room.
We'll start downstairs with one of the master bedrooms.  It has an adjoining bathroom.  Definitely a great space especially if there is somebody in your party who can't do stairs.
This is what it looked like "before".



 There is an exterior door that leads out to the driveway--must have been a living room once.


A scary walk-in closet. with wiring and unfortunate venting that was allowing moisture to condense inside.  
Just to the right of the closet, a half-bath...Our plan was to add a shower.  There were also cabinets to the right of the bathroom--looked sort of like kitchen cabinets.  To keep or not to keep?
There were no air-conditioning vents in the room--can you imagine summer in the deep South with no AC?  I can't either.  Don't want to.  So that was remedied along with the numerous other wiring problems behind the walls.  Why is it the most expensive fixes are the ones you never notice if you did them correctly?
Once this was finished, beadboard was put on the walls and the ceiling. 
Then came paint.
Another view before paint
After paint
Here's the closet.  We took away part of it to put a shower into the bathroom.


Once the walls were ready the hardwood floors were polished up and it was time for furniture! 
That's the nitty gritty of remodeling!  Next time I will show you how it turned out.

Tuesday, January 28, 2014

Two Cute!

Today a very special little girl is turning T-W-O !!!


 Our granddaughter Josey, or as she sometimes refers to herself, "the Jo" is officially two today and Saturday family and friends gathered to celebrate at a "Milk and Cookies" party.



Josey's mom, Meghan, baked cookies all week and then invited guests to decorate their own favors.  She put a few double doozie examples out for inspiration.


This was a big hit with children and adults alike!


 

Josey was particularly excited about her birthday cake--a cookie cake, of course--served with cookies and cream ice cream.  Yum!


 When it was time to light the candles and sing the birthday song she was thrilled!  It was her first time to blow out the candles...

It took a couple tries but Jo blew out her candles while her mom (expecting another baby girl) held her.
 
 It was a perfect party for a sweet two year old!

Jo with Daddy Tom


 Happy Birthday JoJo!  We love the fun you bring whenever you're around...


You make us smile.  You make everyone smile:)


 Love you!











Tuesday, January 21, 2014

Ahhh The Joys Of Remodeling!

Coast Awhile Cottage was a bachelor pad for a while before we bought it and turned it back into a family home.  And like any bachelor pad there was "the bar"--in fact there was a whole room just for it.



This room was located right next to the hot tub room--now a children's bunk room.  It's not that the bar looked so bad but I did not want to dedicate a whole room to it--and I especially disliked it being located next to the kids' room.  

My plan for the room was to make a little den with a TV, DVD player and maybe (if I'm completely out of my mind) a game console. I also wanted to add a laundry area since it seemed to make sense to have a washer and dryer in a 6 bedroom house.  Right?

 The "before" room had some big problems--it smelled terrible.  Think rotten eggs. Once we took out the bar we found a sink that was improperly plumbed and the fumes were overwhelming!  And there was crazy electrical wiring behind the walls.  Think fire trap.  
Ahhh the joys of remodeling!



 Soooo...just like with the rest of the house, there was a lot to do.  New electrical wiring, new water heaters, and new venting for the HVAC system were put in to correct old problems.  Plumbing was installed properly to repair what was wrong and allow for a laundry room to be put in.  We also needed new flooring since the plumber had dug trenches in the floor to complete his job.  
Ahhh the joys of remodeling!



Finally we came to the end of the heart-breaking "discovery" phase of remodeling--the part where you spend tons of money and feel like you can't see where it has gone...the part where you question your sanity for taking on such a project.  That's when you are glad you have a designer helping you that has been restoring these little old beach cottages for a while to act as the voice of reason.  I can't thank Jane Coslick enough--she has talked me off the proverbial ledge a time or two.  Ahhh the joys of remodeling!

 Finally after the work passed all the inspections it was time to start putting things back together again.  The walls were closed up...

  

Paint went on...



Flooring and lighting were installed...



The washing machine and dryer arrived.



And all that was left was to furnish this space.





Photo courtesy of Jane Coslick ~ The washer and dryer are behind the curtain...folding area to the left.




We used the same flag fabric in this room as we used in the adjoining bunk room.  I had a comfy futon from home that I brought to allow for additional sleeping space.   
The more the merrier!
 

Photo courtesy of Sandy McCloud


And there you have it--the den at Coast Awhile Cottage.  Ahhh the joys of remodeling!
 


 

Thursday, January 16, 2014

A "Makes-You-Smile" Bunk Room!

Coast Awhile Cottage is a spacious home with 5 bedrooms plus a separate 1 bedroom apartment and when designing it I envisioned multigenerational family groups coming for a stay.  I could just imagine lots of cousins hanging out together just like I did with my cousins when my family had a reunion at Tybee over 40 years ago.  The more the merrier!

The bunk room is not very big but I wanted to squeeze two sets of bunk beds in.  They were custom made by Peter Dittmar and designed by me and Jane Coslick based on previous projects of hers plus a few Pinterest pins that I liked.  We had space in the corner to add some shelves for each person so they could have some storage.




I thought it would be nice for the bunkmates to have their own light for reading, etc.  and these inexpensive  nautical ones fit the bill perfectly!




I also liked the idea of having curtains so if one person felt a need for privacy or wanted to shut the light out to nap, they could.  Peter fashioned some strong metal bars for us to use as curtain rods on the beds.

Pre-installation--they are leaning against the lower bunk.



I found some wonderful curtains with a flag design at Ikea in the children's department and bought several pairs so we could use them on the windows and french door as well as some to cut up and sew into curtains and pillows for the beds.  




The yellow bean bag seat was a great bargain from Joss and Main, one of my favorite daily sale sites.  You should check them out!




I also found clearance bedding at Target and wonderful decorative pillows at Garnet Hill (on sale of course).




This little lime green dresser came from a flea market--ready to go!  No painting or refurbishing required.  I love that it offers both room for hanging clothes plus drawer space for each guest.




The bunk room is such a happy place--so colorful and bright!  Makes me smile :)



Monday, January 13, 2014

In A Funk Until We Built The Bunks!

I've been taking you on a virtual tour of Coast Awhile Cottage.  So far.....
 
 


 

 
  • We prepared dinner in "Come On Over For Dinner!"  (Now we know we're pretending--I'm more inclined to call for takeout or reservations when I'm on vacation.  Henry says I cook the best takeout in town--haha!)
 
 
 


Now it is time to get the kids ready for bed and I can't wait to show you the bunk room!  It may just be my most favorite room!  But it started out as my least favorite room:(
 

 The previous owner had been a bachelor who liked to party and he had left a gigantic hot tub in the room.  It had been improperly installed and let's just say it was ewww--we all agreed that 
it had to go.
 
There was a door in the room and somehow my handyman extraordinaire Peter 
managed to get it out!
 
 
We decided that having an exterior door in the children's room might be an issue for young kids and teenagers alike so my designer Jane Coslick and I decided to remove the door and install a couple of windows on that wall.  In this shot taken from the adjoining room you can 
only see one of them.  It worked wonders in making the room brighter.
 
 
 Once we got the plumbing issues cleared up, re-wired the electrical, and put down flooring,  Peter began to build the bunk beds.  I had collected a few pictures of bunk rooms I liked and we borrowed design inspiration from several of them.  
 
We planned for four beds--each with a storage shelf and curtains to give each bunk mate some privacy.  I found some curtains in the children's department at Ikea that made me think of nautical flags and I bought a lot of pairs so we could cut them up and use the fabric.


Later in the week I'll post the "After" pictures--you're gonna love it!