Doc Holiday Is Stylin' In Cottage Style Magazine!

Today I got an exciting text message from Jane Coslick, a designer and historical preservationist who collaborated with me to restore Doc Holiday, our family's cottage at Tybee Island....

The exciting news was that Doc Holiday is one of the cottages featured in Cottage Style magazine's Fall/Winter 2018 issue! 

This is the cover of the magazine (not our cottage)

The photoshoot took place over three years ago and I had begun to wonder if the pictures would ever make it to publication. And finally they did!

When I heard the news I asked my husband to stop at Publix on his way home and pick up a copy for me. I hardly dared believe it was true until I saw for myself...

And then there it was...

There are several other pages in the feature that I'm not showing but I couldn't be happier with the beautiful layout and the wonderful article that accompanied it!  Lots of talented people were involved to make it all happen.

I know I come across as kinda starry-eyed and not exactly chill. But y'all. I can't help myself. I'm excited! We had the A Team working on this project and I love it when a plan comes together!

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...

He Sells Seashells!

Last week one of my favorite blog friends, Julie, asked to see a close-up of this mirror that was shown from a distance over the seahorse stenciled chest that I posted about here. 

I promised her a closer look at this absolutely fabulous seashell-encrusted mirror and so here we go!  It was my big splurge (an anniversary present from my hubby) when I was decorating Coast Awhile Cottage....and when we sold the cottage, the mirror stayed with its mama (me-a)!
 
I can remember the day that it arrived.  It had been crated up within an inch of its life in a big box made of hunks of styrofoam and then that was packed in sturdy cardboard.  Henry (my husband) tackled the job of unpacking it.  He saw it first and when he came to tell me it was ready to view, he was clearly in awe--all he could say was something like "Whooooaa...Woooow--you've got to see this!"

Can you imagine all the time and talent involved in placing and gluing each shell so precisely?

 Not to mention the patience you would need?

 

When I consider all the time and skillful work--not to mention the material involved in creating this piece I can understand its hefty price tag.  The first time I saw a picture of the mirror, I loved it but I was sad because I just couldn't work it into our budget for decorating the cottage I was currently working on.  Coast Awhile Cottage was big and required a lot of stuff to fill it up so we had to stretch every dollar.  Story of my life :)

  
But you know me, the shopper.  I had a dream and I didn't want to give up the idea of having a beautiful shell mirror.  So I began regularly searching eBay for a shell mirror I could like just as much but the results were disappointing...until one day!!! 
 

What was that?  It looked just like the one I wanted and it was sold by "Larry the Actuary"!  It was the mirror--my mirror!  And it was listed for a much better price--an eBay starting bid price!  Imagine how thrilled I was when no one bid against me and I was able to have this mirror I had dreamed about!  I wish my picture did it justice.

 

If you'd like to see more from Larry the Actuary, a gallery of his work can be seen at his website,  Covered With Shells.  Take a look--it's quite a treat!  Larry's actual name is Lawrence Steinert and he is an amazing artist!

Have you ever had the experience of waiting for a purchase you couldn't afford and then having it provided for you in another way?  It doesn't happen every time but it has happened to me so often--I think it is a God-thing!  I don't deserve it but out of kindness He just up and surprises me from time to time!  And I think it is so neat to see that God cares about such small and inconsequential things as decorating a cottage--probably because He knows 
it's important to His child.