Check Out Coral Cottage In HGTV Magazine!

I'm back....two months ago my trusty, crusty old computer refused to connect to the internet and after mourning and giving it a proper memorial I decided to switch over to a Mac Book Pro.  Easier said than done.  I still don't know what in the world I am doing--it's quite different than my beloved PC but my tech-y son and son-in-law have convinced me that once I learn the ropes I will love it.  It's not love yet, but I am learning.

So after a two month break from this blog.....hi there once again!  I have some exciting news to share.....Last August in this post I shared about the excitement our family had being a part of a photoshoot for HGTV magazine at our Tybee beach cottage, 

the Coral Cottage.  Quite a thrill!

We were told our feature would be on news stands in June 2014.  It was not in the June issue but in mid-June Henry and I were in the check-out line at Wal-Mart and we spied a new issue of HGTV magazine.  The July-August issue had been released.  We wondered if this could be the issue we had waited so long to see?!?  Trying to be cool, I casually reached over to flip through a copy.

All photos from HGTV

It was!!!  I was so excited...it took every bit of self-control I could muster not to show it to all of the other people standing around me in the check-out line.

There was a photo of our granddaughter Ella in the Table of Contents...

A photo of yours truly on the editor's page.....

And there was our little cottage...

(For the record I never thought of my little house as "gross"--just tired and needing an update.)

 My handsome hubby smiling with me at the front door...

 The house tour features ten pages of before and after photos with lots of information about paint colors, design tips, etc.  And there are some great articles about other homes.  Even if you've read all about Coral Cottage as I've been blogging, you should pick up a copy because Elizabeth Beeler did a wonderful job of styling everything!  A million thanks to designer Jane Coslick as well for all she did--too much to list.

I can't resist showing one more picture of our family--gotta get my other little Savannah granddaughter Charlotte into the act.  My daughter Kristen and her husband James were so kind to arrange their family schedule for these pictures.

  My sister Crystal, son Jordan and his wife Sarah stayed at Coral Cottage recently during our family reunion.  We had such a great time--I'll have to share some of the pictures!

If you need a little Tybee Time to kick back and relax, Coral Cottage is available for vacation rentals!  We have a fabulous, customer service-oriented property manager in Jim Heflin at Tybee Cottages.  Ready when you are--come on down! 

Just Like A Magazine!

I'm having a "catch-up" week at home after our busy week at Tybee last week.  I have lots to tell you about Doc Holiday's progress but before I do that I'd like to share a little about the 

HGTV Magazine photo shoot at the Coral Cottage.

 

 

 

I already introduced you to Elizabeth Beeler, our stylist, in the last post.  When we finished remodeling and decorating Coral Cottage, Jane Coslick (designer) sent photographs to Elizabeth.....Elizabeth sent them to HGTV to see if they might be interested in featuring our cottage and they were---sooo that is how it came about.

 

Elizabeth came early to prepare the cottage for the shoot.  She brought in lots of beautiful things (Jane helped provide some of these pretties) and made the Coral Cottage picture perfect!  Then a couple days later when things were ready these talented people flew into town ....

 

 

Pictured above from left to right:  Vicky (me), Elizabeth Beeler (Prop Stylist), Jennifer Berno (Home Editor for HGTV Magazine), Kim Cornelison (photographer), Alfie Ferreyra (Kim's husband and business partner who also edits photos), and 

Paul Kirkeby (Photographer  Assistant) 

They all worked hard from morning to evening for two days getting some fabulous photos!  I stayed out of the way except when asked to show up to be in a few pictures.  The last afternoon our daughter Kristen, her husband James, and their little girls joined me and Henry for some pictures in the backyard.

 

The camera was linked up to a computer so that Alfie could see everything that the camera 

lens was seeing.  Ella watched as the scene was being set... 

The afternoon was very bright and sunshiny.  It was interesting to watch as the photographer managed the light with a board that was held up to keep the light from shining directly into her camera lens (or at least that is what it looked like).  

 

 

The little models enjoyed some rest and snacks after they finished posing.

 

Charlotte was hungry after playing in the pool.

Ella gave GG a smile.

 I got permission to share pictures of the process of the photo shoot but the actual photos of the house in all its glory have to "stay in the vault" until the June issue of 

HGTV Magazine comes out next year.  The ones I've seen look just like a magazine :)  and  I, for one, can't wait for June!

Meet Our Stylist--Elizabeth Beeler!

Bright, beautiful, and one of the best in her business--that was the young woman that showed up to style The Coral Cottage for our HGTV Magazine photo shoot last week!  Meet 
Elizabeth Beeler!

Elizabeth on the sleeping porch at Cottage on the Green

 I've been e-mailing back and forth with Elizabeth for several months as we worked out all the details for the photo shoot and I was really looking forward to meeting her so I asked her to lunch along with my designer and friend Jane Coslick.  I planned a simple meal, set a simple table and we three had a nice visit.

I knew Elizabeth was an accomplished young woman but I'm so glad that I didn't know just  
how accomplished she is or I might have been self-conscious showing her around my little cottage that is still a work in progress.  It's not every day I have the former Homes Editor for Coastal Living over to see my house and presently she is an editorial contributor to many publications including Southern Living, Coastal Living, Garden and Gun, Traditional Home, House Beautiful, and of course, HGTV Magazine who plans to publish Coral Cottage....and there's more on her resume.  Yep--it's good I didn't know all that!  She's nice--that's what counts.

I tagged along after lunch to one of Jane's latest projects, Cottage on the Green.  Elizabeth was scouting it for future potential magazine articles.  

 
The cottage is a duplex and it was staged so creatively with many trademark Jane Coslick touches written all over it!  Elizabeth used her phone to take pictures--she encouraged us to stand way back and take pictures of the whole room when taking scouting photos (relatively rare occurrence for me but not so rare for Jane).

I grabbed my little point and shoot camera and took a few photos of my own because I thought you would enjoy seeing what I saw--a cottage full of personality that welcomes you in.

Love the farm sink and the little curtain below!

I caught Jane fluffing pillows at the breakfast table.  The sign above helped to determine the color scheme.

 

I could just stay here all afternoon!

The other side of the duplex was wonderful too...

Aren't these slipcovered settees a nice touch here at the breakfast booth?

This bathroom was a highlight for me with it's footed tub...

...and it's connection to a private outside shower which can be entered from the bathroom or from outside to allow people coming back from the beach to shower the sand off 
before coming in.

and last but not least, another lovely, comfortable porch...

I like the string lights!  Must order some.

After touring Cottage on the Green, we took Elizabeth to Coral Cottage so she could begin to style it for the photo shoot.  I'll tell you a little more about that next time!

The "Little House"

This is an exciting week for us!  I'm down at Tybee and tomorrow I look forward to meeting Elizabeth Beeler who will be styling The Coral Cottage for it's HGTV magazine article!  Elizabeth and her fine work were featured in the August 2013 issue of Better Homes and Gardens magazine and I know she is a favorite friend of my designer, Jane Coslick, who wrote a great blog post about her recently.  So I am feeling very honored and thrilled to have her working on The Coral Cottage photo shoot!

I came a day early so I could continue to do some work on Doc Holiday.  DH is looking very good but I want to keep tweaking a bit...in the meantime I'll show you where we are right now with the cottage and how we got here.

Let me show you one of the master bedrooms--the one in the "little house".

These photos were taken right after the houses were moved onto the lot from down the street.

 
  This is how the interior looked when we first saw the house.

 Notice the faux wood paneling? Not too crazy about it.  The pictures don't show it, but the ceiling was very low--less than 8 feet.  I know it sounds crazy but I want to put a king size bed in this small room.  Jane and I measured and measured and think it can be done.  Here's another look from a different angle...

Love the windows!

One nice feature is that there is a door leading to a small porch.  It had no railing because it used to be low to the ground before we lifted it up on it's piers.  We want to keep it 
and screen it in.

What do you think?  Everyone who walks by the house is curious about this "little house".  Can you picture this room being beautiful?  It's gonna get worse before it gets better.  Time for demolition and discovery--I'll show you next time!