Wine Bottle Chandelier

I was going to show you all the cool things my

girlfriend and I found while away....but my camera

isn't downloading pictures correctly today...so i'm

going to share with you something else we found...

There is this really beautiful store on

St. Simon's Island located in the Redfern Village...

it's called Viola's Market

I about fell over when I walked in and saw this!

They took wine bottles, cut them near the top

and placed a light kit inside...then hung them up

at different heights along the length of the table!

How awesome is that!

Now maybe I have a use for all those

empty wine I mean Pellegrino bottles

I have lying around!

Wouldn't those be great

hanging from a tree in a garden!

Let's talk shop...shopping that is!

While on vacation we did lots of shopping!

It's always fun to shop with a good girlfriend

And shop we did....garage sales, estate sales,

gift shops, clothing stores, decorating stores

You name it we shopped it!

One place I was so excited to shop at was

The Paris Market & Brocante

in Savannah, Georgia

it was so awesome...so I took lots of pictures!

Prepare yourself for picture overload...

You just can't go wrong with a HUGE chalkboard..can you?

All the pictures I took (except the above) are

in the downstairs portion of the store...it was

hard to take pictures upstairs...lots of shoppers!

 I'm not sure what excited me more...this beautiful cabinet

or all the silver in it.



After our trip I am now official in love

with Driftwood mirrors!

This piece was WAY out of my budget..but isn't it cool!

A skeleton head with blue butterflys coming out of the top...

might have to remember that for Halloween...

for everyday use maybe not!

More views from the outside...

If you find yourself in Savannah,

you really should stop in here..

and it's just around the corner

from The Lady & Son's

you know...Paula Deen's restaurant!

I'll have to tell you about that story another time..

I did a major faux pas in there..and for a

moment thought I was going to be shown the door!

I could have crawled under the table I was horrified!

Next post i'll show you all the treasures

we found and maybe tell you my restaurant story...

maybe....



Sea Island Georgia

Boo Hoo....

do we have to go home??

That's how we all sounded on our way back

from vacation with family and friends!

We've spent the last week at

The Cloister in Sea Island, Georgia

with our friends...and it was really-really

hard to come back home!

It is one of the most beautiful spots on earth!

We even got to spend a day in Savannah..
and you know how much I LOVE Savannah.

I took over 200 pictures...and while I won't

bore you with them all, I do want to share some with you!

I'll start with the place we stayed...then in the next couple

of days i'll share with you my pictures

of Savannah, shops and other stuff...

We even made it to The Paris Market...woo hoo!

This is The Cloister where we stayed...



This is the inside...

And this is our room...

(we stayed at the beach club on Cloister grounds)

the pictures are not the best...sorry

the living room...

The kitchen...with sweet husband in the background trying

to fix my camera...I still need to develop those..hopefully

I took a few good pictures on the 35mm!

The view from one of the balconies,

every night I left the door open just so I

could hear the waves...it was so wonderful!

And this is the bed that is making me want

to go out and buy all new sheets and pillows...

it was soooooooo comfortable!

Kids room...

Here is the Spa at The Cloister...

I kid you not...it is beyond beautiful

and there are so many nooks and crannies

for you to sit and relax in...mineral pools,

hot tubs, gardens, labyrinths, you name it they have it!

The place where the "boys" hang out!

This is The Lodge...where some serious golf is played!

The lone bagpipe player who plays at sunset...

I mean really, can you imagine a more beautiful spot?

The Chapel at The Cloister

I have so many more pictures to share with you..

but that's enough for today!

To read about the history of Sea Island and The Cloister

click Here!

P.S.....

To Garv, Sondra, Matthew, Jerry, Enrica,
 Frank and Ramona

Thank you for the wonderful time spent with friends...
the memories we made with all of you will last a lifetime! 

XOXO

(great pictures are courtesy of The Cloister...not so great pictures are from me)

Who Chooses Who?

How do we choose

the houses we live in?

And why do we choose

 the ones we do?

Is it the money,

the location, the space,

the curb appeal

or is it a feeling?

I believe there are

certain tangible things

that lead us, but it's

the feeling you get when

you walk into a house

and know your home

that truly makes our decision!

Which leads me to who chooses who?

Do we choose our house or does it choose us?

I knew this was our house just by reading the ad...

it said "house surrounded by big oak trees"

Sounds PERFECT! 

Sweet husband said I was cracked.

But how can a house be bad if it's

surrounded by big strong oak trees?

We haven't regreted our decision yet

Throw in some Spanish moss...and you have me!

(this is our street)

I love the lines from this song....it makes

me think of our little house..

"And my house it's not much to talk about,

but it's filled with love that's grown in southern ground"

(okay so south florida is a bit of a southern stretch...but i'm still a Georgia girl so it counts)

someone should really trim the hedges....are you reading this sweet husband???

While we are on the subject of houses....

i've been internet house stalking this morning

Take a look

thehouseplanshop.com

aroomsomewhere.net

heritagebuilt.com

southernliving.com

flickr.com

OOOOHHHHH...Lanterns!

My favorite!!!!!!

I would choose any of these houses

any day!

"Every house where love abides

And friendship is a guest,

Is surely home, and home sweet home

For there the heart can rest."

~Henry Van Dyke

Dream Kitchen

While flipping through the

recent edition of House Beautiful

Magazine...my heart skipped a beat!

I do believe I am completely and

totally in LOVE with this kitchen!

Sorry the picture quality isn't that great

I couldn't find it anywhere on the Internet

so I had to scan it...



True Love......

from the marble counter tops to the glass door refrigerator!

Look at the french door...LOVE the hardware!

It's hard to tell from my poorly scanned picture

but there is chicken wire on the cabinet doors

Seriously, what is not to love in this kitchen? 

Dear owners of this house,

if by some miracle you read this blog....

and if I ever make it to San Francisco

I am so going to be peaking through

your windows to get a better look at your kitchen!

It's Gorgeous

picture from June 2011 House Beautiful Magazine

Designer Ken Fulk

Nice Job Ken...if I ever win the lottery i'm giving you a call~

Porch Inspiration

I am in need of serious

inspiration for this

next project!

The Back Porch....

Anytime we try to re-do it

a little it never turns out

exactly like I envisioned..

So this time I intend

to research and plan!

Here is a picture of our back porch currently...
well minus the candles hanging from the ceiling!
They had a tendency to drip on unsuspecting
dinner guest...sorry again Dad!

I would really like to paint the ceiling a blue color
I think it would really brighten up the back porch

(shelterpop.com)


And lighten up some of the dark furniture....
by painting a few things and changing the
color of the cushions on other things

(countryliving)

(countryliving)

And of course add lanterns!
I am completely obsessed with them right now~

(southernliving.com)

Put back the curtains....

although I think I would like white

ones better this time

(megmcghee.wordpress)

Now if only I could change the view from my

back porch to this view...i'd be all set...sigh

(veranda)

It's going to be a big project! 

Wish me luck!!!!

Estate sale treasures..now what to do with them??

So I told you how on Mother's Day

we happened upon an Estate Sale..

Well I found some really cool things!

Now I just need to figure out what

in the world to do with them...

Big jar of old keys....some I will use to make

pendants and stuff with. 

 But that's a lot of keys....

Look how cute this is....

(gadgets.boingboing.net)

That would be really awesome to do with the keys...

but I would need to find a few more skeleton keys.

We also found 40 glass insulators...

you should have heard sweet husband suck wind

when I asked the lady how much for the whole lot...

it was kinda funny....thank goodness it was

Mother's Day or else he might have told me no



Two people stopped and asked me

what I planned to do with them...

okay folks...i'm not that smart...I have no idea

But I bought them anyways...

Sweet husband suggested making lighting out of them

Sounds good to me....

(betsyanco.com)

Love Love Love these....

really need to have a bigger kitchen first though

(theinteriorevolution.com)

We also found this old wooden rocker for $5

I think it will look great once it's sanded

& painted or maybe stained dark.

Our next project is fixing up the back porch

so this will fit in just perfectly!

This stuff always comes in handy for something.

Then on our way out I saw this trunk....

It turns out that this trunk belonged to the man who

lived in the house.  He had passed away and his

children were holding the Estate Sale....

sometimes Estate Sales can be sad. 

Anyways...this was his foot trunk from

when he was in the Marine's during

World War II.  It went with him to Iwo Jima.

Isn't that incredible....

I love that I know the story behind this trunk

and that I was able to meet his family.

And I am very honored that they allowed us

to bring it into our home.

We will always cherish it.

"Among the men who fought on

Iwo Jima uncommon valor

was a common virtue"

Fleet Admiral Chester W. Nimitz

16th March 1945