Sassy Seagull on The Tybee Tour of Homes!

Wow! It's been a long while since I've posted. Now that spring is here I am thrilled to think about tuning up our Tybee cottages for beach season!  I'm also super-excited to announce that our cottage, The Sassy Seagull is going to be on the 

Tybee Tour of Homes on May 5, 2018! 

We've been working hard to make it a fun time filled with lots of inspiration and great ideas for all of the tour patrons. We hope that you will come for a great day of touring and having lunch at Tybee! Click here for details about the tour, tickets and such...

My last post was a wrap up with pretty pictures of the vintage clawfoot tub bathroom reno at Sassy Seagull cottage. If you missed it and want to catch up, there is a link below plus a few "blast from the past" posts at The Sassy Seagull...

Clawfoot Tub Bathroom

Beach-y Master Bedroom

Quirky Little Kitchen

From Dive to Dining Room

Living Room--Welcome In!

I'll be back soon with some all new pictures and posts!

Where's My Rubber Ducky?

This is the story of how we got here...

...when we started out here...

You can see more "before" pictures and read about my plan for this room in my last post.

Aaaaand...here's what happened. 

We stole the closet space from the bedroom next door that was jutting into the bathroom.

Once the linoleum flooring was removed we discovered some rotting and decided to go with tile instead of refinishing the floor. Floor and Decor had some great choices of floor tile with a classic vintage vibe. This basketweave one for $2.99 per square foot...

This hexagonal tile for $2.57...

And last but not least, this selection for $2.39. I liked all three choices so I went with the least expensive one. No need to spend unnecessarily. Here is the winner...

And I went with a gray grout color to accentuate the design.

The plumbing needed to be reworked so we took a few inches from the next door bedroom to make a bit more space for the tub and to allow paneling to be installed to match the rest of the room.

When we rebuilt the closet for the master bathroom to use we made it a little less deep and a little less wide to allow more room for a larger vanity.

I found some goodies at Home Depot. This vanity was a bargain considering it came with a cultured marble top and sink.

And when I saw this brushed nickel beauty I knew I had found my vanity light...

The faucet and drain on the old tub had seen better days.

Sandpiper Supply, a plumbing supply store in Savannah, was where I found this Moen line of fixtures. The style, Brantford, was high quality but at one of their lower price points. I thought it had a lot of bang for the buck!

And the star of the show, the clawfoot tub was spruced up so it could show off. The outside was sanded, smoothed out with some Bondo, and then painted with Benjamin Moore's 2044-60 "Crystal Clear". Then I found Mike's Bathtub and Tile Refinishing on Angie's List and had Mike resurface the inside surface of the tub.

And y'all. Just look at this...

Yeh. I love the way it turned out! The shower curtain came from Bed, Bath, and Beyond.

I found an oyster shell mirror on eBay. And we even had room to squeeze in little built-in shelves to hold towels in between the vanity and the closet.

And one other thing...Check out the towel hooks. This was made out of repurposed wood. I found it at a flea market in Nashville.

So happy with this bathroom! 

Now where did I put my rubber ducky? I need a good soak...

Making A Plan!

In my last post I showed you the first of two master bedrooms at The Sassy Seagull. In this post you'll get to see the adjoining bathroom. Before.

This is what we saw when we set eyes on the room...

The room was on the small side and very dated but it had one feature that we were excited about! How about that old clawfoot bathtub!?!  Yay! Here it is once the occupant's possessions were gone...

So here was the plan I came up with for this room: 

1. Remove the old linoleum flooring. If there is a wood floor in good condition underneath, sand and refinish it. If not, tile the floor with something appropriate to the age of the house that has timeless appeal.

2. Get new fixtures for the tub since the ones on there currently are kinda grungy. 

See what I mean?

3. Remove the sink and vanity as well as the wall cabinet above the toilet. Replace with a larger new vanity and new sink. Put some paneling on that wall that matches the other walls.

4. Take the closet space from the kid's bunk room next door and use it instead for the master bathroom/bedroom. It bumps into the room already (see where the wall hooks are) 

 but it doesn't need to be quite so deep or wide--allowing more room for a larger vanity. 

5. Get new vanity lights, an overhead vent/light, and find a gorgeous beach-y mirror and a cool towel bar or towel hooks.

Sooo...that's the plan. I'll show you how it went down in my next post! Thanks for 

stopping by! 

"Before" At The Beach Part Two!

Last week I posted the "before" pictures of the common areas at our little beach cottage.

Now I want to show you each of the three bedrooms and the two bathrooms--how they look before any work is done.

There will be two master bedrooms--each with an adjoining bathroom.  There is one other very small bedroom that we plan to turn into a bunk room.

Front Master Bedroom

The front bedroom is off the living room (living room is through door on left) and is fairly large for a vintage Tybee cottage.

You can see what the paneling used to look like before the previous owner painted. Wonder how they missed that spot? 

The door in next photo leads to the bathroom.

Bathroom adjoining the Front Bedroom

Don't you love the claw foot tub?!?

The bathroom is long and skinny. Part of it was closed off by the previous owner to make a closet for the bedroom next door.

Bunk Room

This room is off the kitchen in the middle of the house. The door leads out to the kitchen.

Here is the closet that goes into the front bath.

It will be a challenge to make the most of this cozy space so that its occupants have a relaxing space with some storage for their belongings.



Back Master Bedroom

This bedroom is more compact but it has wonderful windows!

Tybee cottages are known to be a little funky.  There is a water heater and a makeshift closet on this wall. The door leads to the backyard.

Back Bathroom

This long, skinny bathroom does not currently connect to the next-door back master bedroom. We are hoping to find a way to connect them. Talk about funky--check this out! 

I guess they built the room around the appliances because there is no way the washer and dryer fit through the door! And check this out--only about 18 inches between the sink and the dryer. Not much room to stand...

Looking back in the other direction...

So that is a "Before" tour of the bedrooms and bathrooms at our little beach cottage. We've doing a lot of thinking and planning and now it is time to roll up our sleeves and get started!

I hope you'll join us on the journey!

Little Things Add Up!

Coast Awhile Cottage has been a huge project!  It's such a big house that it took lots of time to handle all the little details that make it special.  The last space I have left to show you in the main house is the upstairs master bathroom.  It ended up like this....

...but it started out like this....

Yes, I know---ewww.  

This is what we did...we started out with a brand new tub/shower and added new white tile to its walls and ceiling.  The tiles were inexpensive but I had them applied at a diagonal for a little more pizzazz.

The walls were covered with bead board and eventually painted with white semi-gloss paint.

We tiled the floors with white and black hexagon tile to keep the vintage flavor.

A new toilet and a new vanity were installed as well as a new light fixture.  You can't see it but we also installed new towel bars.

Then it was time for the fun stuff.  We found this cool mirror at Home Goods and an inexpensive but colorful shower curtain at Wal-Mart.  Good design can also be a good bargain.

And last but not least Target's Room Essentials collection has wonderful fast-dry towels and bath rugs at a great price point and in so many colors!  I liked these sky blue ones.....

My designer, Jane Coslick, always says that you can't have too many hooks on the walls of a beach cottage.  My sister Crystal sent me some really fun ones--the crab hook is shown...

And there you have it right down to the last little thing!

I am always amazed at each layer of decorating and how it adds to the whole.  Careful attention to detail can be a powerful thing.  

Makes me think of one of my favorite quotes which I heard attributed to missionary Amy Carmichael..."A little thing is a little thing, but faithfulness in little things is a very great thing."  I used to stress this to my kids when they were young and still living in our home.  It's a good lesson for all of us.  Think about it :) 

Yes Sir, That's My Baby!

Some of you may have clicked on this post expecting baby pictures of our granddaughter who is taking her time to arrive.  Her parents, Meghan (our daughter) and Tom, are still patiently awaiting the birth and I can't wait to show you pictures of baby Piper when she finally decides to make her debut.  In the meantime... 

Sometimes when writing this blog I wonder whether or not to show you the "before" pictures of a remodeling project.  To be sure, I don't show you everything but I loved my little cottages "before" and it is fun for me to remember how things changed and developed...sort of like parents enjoy looking through their kid's baby pictures....is that weird?

Well at the risk of being "that" parent, I have some more "baby pictures" of Coast Awhile Cottage today to show you today--the upstairs master bedroom with it's add-on sitting room and adjoining bathroom.

Once again (as in the rest of the house) there is wood paneling on the walls and ceiling and there are hardwood floors.  There is also a nice big window that is original to the house.
Come on inside....
 

 The wall on the right when you walk in was where the former owner had a bed.  I decided to put a king size bed in this room and it won't fit along that wall so we will take down the light fixtures before we paint.  The king bed will go on the window wall.

 At some point in the past the master bedroom was expanded to add more space, a larger closet and a bathroom.  We have decided to remove the closet and make this area into a sitting room with a TV.  Henry photobombed this picture---you can see him in the closet mirror!  We were both trying to take pictures :)

Here's a closer look at the sitting room...

The flooring is a low quality fake wood that comes in sheets.  It will be removed along with the wallpaper and the air conditioner unit.   We will install central heating and air as well as beadboard on walls and ceiling.

The bathroom adjoins the sitting room.....

Dare we look inside?

Needs a total redo!  We'll roll up our sleeves and get to work next time!