Kid Stuff at Sassy Seagull!

 There is something magical about being a kid at the beach. Times of hanging out with cousins or friends having fun. Sleepovers.  Resting by playing board games or reading a good book after a long day of riding the waves and building sand castles. Ice cream outings in the evenings after supper. Simple pleasures.

I wanted to design a room at the Sassy Seagull cottage just for kids. There was one tiny bedroom in the cottage that seemed like just the spot. Here are the "before" photos...

There was a closet in the wall that adjoins the front master bathroom. I decided to steal it for the master bedroom/bathroom side and close up the wall on the bunk room side. There will be hooks and drawers for storage in the bunk room instead.

Part of the floor had to be pulled up because there was some rotting and there were also some foundation issues under the house needing repair.

And then we had to steal a few inches in order to widen the next door bathroom to fit all the fixtures back in. Those few inches made a tiny room even tinier and I had to rework the arrangement of the bunks. But it will be functional and cozy.

Once the wall was framed out and the plumbing and electrical were completed the walls were clad in paneling to match the rest of the room.

Then the floors were sanded and stained and the room was painted.

Finally the the light fixtures were installed. I love to give each bunkmate his or her own reading light with their own on/off switch. It gives them a measure of control over their personal space and kids seem to love it! I found a fixture at Lowes that has a grille over the cover that helps give it a nautical look.

I loved this starfish flushmount light at Shades of Light and thought it would be perfect for the ceiling!

Now all we need for this bunk room is bunk beds! I'll save that for my next post! Thanks for stopping by! See you soon!

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!

A Beach-y Master Bedroom!

Thanks so much to many friends who have asked how our Tybee cottages came through when Hurricane Irma blew in recently! I appreciate your concern and am so grateful to report that both Doc Holiday Cottage and The Sassy Seagull are doing great! We feel so blessed that they were not damaged by flood waters or high winds. 

It's been a little while since I shared what we did to make Sassy Seagull live up to her name. Let's get back to it, okay? 

Today--the Front Master Bedroom! Here's a peek taken while standing in the living room...can't wait to show you more! 

This is what the room looked like before renovations began. Not sure why that square of paneling was left unpainted. 

The walls and trim were painted the same color with Martha Stewart's MSL 8002 "Glass of Milk" in a semi-gloss finish. And I decided to have the painted floors sanded, stained and finished with satin polyurethane.

I wanted a medium brown colored stain--not too red and not too black.

And the winner was Minwax Provincial 211...

I selected a chandelier made with oyster shells to give a beach-y vibe to the room. It is available on several websites but I found the best price on Wayfair. It is gorgeous but only has one 60 watt bulb so it needed to be located in a room where we could supplement with  lighting from lamps.

Finally came furniture and accessories....I went with a metal "iron" bed since I needed to place the king size bed in front of windows and didn't want to block the light any more than necessary. I only used a headboard because adding a footboard would take up space visually and make the room appear smaller.

The bedding and lamps came from Home Goods and the striped orange pillows as well as the fish pillow came from Amazon. 

The chair was a family hand-me-down and the nightstands were flea market finds. Michael's was the source for the chair side table. After these photos were taken I purchased a chest of drawers painted in a greenish blue. 

And that's the front master bedroom at The Sassy Seagull!

"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!

Happy, Cozy and Comfy Master Bedroom!

Coast Awhile Cottage has some pretty gorgeous bedrooms thanks to my collaboration with designer Jane Coslick and her assistant (and designer in her own right)  Anna Speir.  Those ladies are sooo creative!  If you haven't picked your favorite yet then take a look at these...

• A "Makes-You-Smile" Bunk Room 

• Nautical and Nice 

• Anna's Magic Touch 

• A Room For Dreaming

But wait to pick your favorite until you see this last bedroom.  It is the upstairs master bedroom and adjoining sitting area.

I'm crazy for the iron bed--a Craig's List find that I picked up for a song!  This is what it looked like when I picked it up.

 

It's amazing what a little white spray paint can do!  The dandelion print pillow was made from a $1.99 scrap of fabric scavenged from Fabric World!  Anybody want to make a wish?

This little dresser came from a flea market as well as the little lamps on top.  The mirror was a cast off from Coral Cottage which we painted white and then distressed to give it 

an antique look.

Leonard Miller, a Savannah artist, painted wonderful window art for this room using an old window salvaged from Coral Cottage. 

Jane Coslick gave him the inspiring words which call the reader back to the freedom of 

simpler, happy days of childhood.  These are some things we need to hold on to.

 

The bedroom opens up to a sitting room... 

 We wanted it to be a cozy spot in which to read, talk or watch TV.  The TV can be angled for watching from the bed as well (my favorite).

Like it?   Tell me--which bedroom is your favorite and why?  Which bedroom would you choose for your own if you were staying here at Coast Awhile Cottage?  (See the links at the beginning of this post to view the other bedrooms.)

My Favorite Bedroom--No Foolin'

Lots of work went into making an appealing and welcoming room in the largest master bedroom at Coast Awhile Cottage.  It took months to get everything in shape but we will compress the time and show you how things turned out with some before and afters of a few different angles...

Before

 

After

The sitting room area....

Before

 It looks very different with the closet and fake wood flooring torn out and beadboard walls instead of wallpaper.

 The white paint (Martha Stewart Living #8002 Glass of Milk) makes a huge difference!  There's nothing like crisp white walls to create a great background for cottage-y decor.  Because the budget was tight, we painted the floor with deck paint in lieu of adding more hardwood to match the other half of the room.

After

Next time I'll show you the decor...this bedroom is my favorite in this cottage!

 

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!