Have you heard of the blog REMODILISTA? If you love home, design, remodeling or anything to do with a home you will love this blog. It showcases the best of the best (not necessarily the most expensive!), everything has been researched beyond belief and their finding are amazing! Read more about them here! Not only is this book beautiful, it is chock full (do people still say “chock full” anymore??) of resources from everything you can imagine. Paint colors, kitchen, garden, furniture, you name it! It is a happening book and I’m quite sure you will love it as much as we do! Click HERE to read more about the Remodilista Book!
Page after beautiful page, full of great tips, DIY, the best faucets, sofa, scissors, you name it and they have checked it out!
This is one fabulous book (check out their blog as well, or sign up for their newsletter, what a treat)!!
One more scenic walk in our neighborhood… what a treat! It’s especially nice to catch this view at high tide. I’ll take another photo of this area in a month or two and you’ll see how it changes with the seasons.
Speaking of change… Pipes dripping and ice one week, open windows the next! Charleston has some wildly varying temps, but I have to say I’m happy to see the sun and open windows to warm up the house! Have a great Sunday!
Location. Location. Location. It’s so important when you’re buying a house or looking for a place to rent. I love the area we live in. We don’t live on the marsh but we do live near it. There are several daily walking routes that I take, each seems to pass a marsh or two. The views are always spectacular! So peaceful and ever-changing! Enjoy your weekend!
A pretty cool house for a coastal area, don’t you agree? This plan is on a raised foundation, which you need in this area. Note the french doors that lead to both the living and dining rooms. This is the perfect house for those of you looking for something on the smaller side. This house is approximately 1420 square feet of heated living space. I think it would look nice with wood chip shingles on the exterior and a metal roof… or all white horizontal wood with a metal roof… striking either way. You can search the website HOUZZ.COM for interior shots of some of examples of this plan that were built. I think this house plan would look equally as good on a crawl space if an raised foundation wasn’t necessary! This is Southern Living Plan SL-297/Allison Ramsey Plan C0059
I think I would consider screening the entire porch instead of just the side… only because then the french doors could be opened in the living/dining areas to let fresh air in minus the irritating mosquitoes that hunt me down everywhere I go!
I’m not the best at interpreting house plans. From the looks of this it seems that your view into the living room is somewhat obstructed. I would give up the washer and dryer being in that location in order to extend the kitchen a wee bit providing me a clear site line to the living room… I would move the washer and dryer to the master bathroom. We don’t need a tub, so it would easily fit… I would also be willing to give up a sink. It’s mighty handy having our washer and dryer in our master bathroom.
For many of the interior doors I think some nice pocket doors or, BARN DOORS, if they would work. I love barn doors in a house! The kind that slide back and forth! This plan packs a lot of punch into not a lot of square feet. Efficient as always, Allison Ramsey Architects have done it again!
We headed out on a long walk… tide was fairly low, the weather was pretty nice, just right for a long walk. Had to stop and snap this… the marsh is just so beautiful!
Enjoy what’s left of your weekend!! For some, tomorrow is a holiday (President’s Day) – if you’re off, enjoy!
January’s Second Sunday on King was such a beautiful day. Lots of people out and about. The perfect day to walk, take photos and nibble a few tasty morsels…
Christophe Artisan Chocolatier-Pâtissier is located on Society Street right off King Street… this is a place you don’t want to miss… the best coffee, pastries and the chocolates… oh. my.
Classy guy playing his music in front of the Apple store – he played beautifully… Wish I knew his name… if you see him today, contribute to his college tuition if you can – Charleston is such a cool city! Head on downtown (or remember next time you’re in Charleston!)…
Well, we finally got our Charleston weather back! Can’t complain too much, things were handled well during our cold snap, but it is nice to see temps creep back up! Things are definitely looking up… speaking of looking up… images of Charleston… looking up – I believe a few of these were taken during the last Second Sunday (when the city closes King Street to car traffic allowing people to walk in the streets. It’s a festive time here in Charleston!).
We just have the most wonderful architecture here in Charleston! Love, love, love it!
Little details like that bit of gold make things really stand out!
Fabulous old brick, and the color of that sky! Wow… it was a beautiful day!
Here’s a fabulous little plan (376 square feet) that I saw in a magazine years ago – Does this small bunk house (or boathouse) have oodles of charm or what? The design is simple and perfect. It looks like it has stood the test of time and has remained well cared for. Perfect if you don’t need a large space.
“Knights Armor” by Olympic/Painting by Ken DeWaard
It’s time to change paint color! This room has been the same color for years and years, while virtually every other room in our house has been painted different colors… numerous times. Do we have a problem? Maybe ;) Something as simple as paint can change a room so much… We’re living with different colors a little at a time… If you have a great color let me know about it! The brownish wall color is KUBA by Ralph Lauren (no longer made). The new darker color is called Knights Armor by Olympic. We were thinking about a gray… not sure if this is too blue gray for us or not… only time will tell… Note: See bottom for important update ;) from Feb. 7, 2014…
Here it is with the brown cropped out of it… What do you think? We have painted rooms a creamy white… our art work didn’t stand out to us? But we aren’t sure this is THE color… we will most likely go through a few more samples before we find the right one… UPDATE: After living with this for a few days we think that this is too blue and a bit too dark for us… hmmm, not the one… darn it!
View from Living room to Study. Paintings in living room: (over fireplace) Marlee Brown, on the left hand side, upper is Carol Marine and lower is Daniel Corey. Painting in opposite room is Betty Anglin Smith.
Here is the view from the living room (a more updated brown) to the study (the old Kuba color)… so need to pick a color that flows… as well as a color that looks great in a room that gets bright sun…
Painting by Ken DeWaard
Gorgeous painting by Ken DeWaard. This is a treasure we will have forever and ever. What an amazing guy, and just so talented. Ugh! It’s pretty inspiring to be around someone who can whip out a brush and literally paint absolutely anything that he sees.
Warm Stone by Sherwin Williams
This color (Warm Stone) looks so good in our guest room (which doesn’t get as much light as this room does), but I’m thinking it’s too washed out in this room… and even more so when the sun shines through… but later in the day it looks much nicer…
I think since we still have some walls to cover, we’ll try a few more samples… Maybe something similar to Warm Stone (above) but a wee bit darker… or something totally different like…
Do you have a favorite color for a bright room? Let me know!
Warm Stone/Sherwin Wms (guest room/long pink sticky), davenport tan or whitall brown (the two browns with stickys) or Beacon Hill Damask/Benjamin Moore? (Pink little sticky’s)
PLEASE chime in with any suggestions? What is a happening color that isn’t too cool… we’re not thinking gray any longer… I. Don’t. Think.
Am I fickle? Ugh. Probably… need help!
UPDATE: Feb. 7 (Fri)
Ok… I have gotten some cool comments, and some that have me looking back at my fan deck (that may be the death of me, ha ha)… I am intrigued by the 5th comment… what do you think of these colors? I’m leaning towards the HYDRANGEA FLOWERS (on the left) I think the CORAL ESSENCE may be a bit much for me. Actually, I’m not sure, I’m intrigued… this is not safe territory for me, ha ha… for years its been variations of brown. Let me know what you think!
Middle color on left is HYDRANGEA FLOWERS, the middle on right is CORAL ESSENCE. I’m liking HF better… if we were to go something like this… what are those freaky wrinkles in my hand!????? Good grief!
And just for a point of reference… this is the rug in the room we’re wanting to paint… I see bits of Hydrangea Flowers (Benjamin Moore) in the rug!
Ok, today is 2/8… after visiting some friends who just painted their bedroom a dark gray shade… and with a few of the comments, we are now leaning more towards the dark. Just hung a painting with a silver frame and… P. O. P. ! Hmmmm…
I. Remain. Fickle… any suggestions/comments are most welcome!
Doesn’t look too bad, especially if you’re used to a cold climate. But let me tell you… things are different in the South. We aren’t used to snow and ice (I’m from Michigan, but have lived here almost 25 years, so I do know about snow/ice and all the fun that goes along with it… as well as all the beauty!) it just doesn’t happen here very often. Maybe an occasional dusting of snow ever once in a great while (the last time it snowed was years ago, snowed and then quickly melted). But this time there was ice. I’m sure you’ve heard about it on the radio. How Atlanta was crippled by the deep freeze. We were lucky here in Charleston. Officials dealt with it well keeping most people off the roads. Smart. You just don’t mess with Mother Nature!
We took a walk in our neighborhood, Charlie’s first snow, he was thrilled… was going full speed ahead looking for every single puddle and loving it! Crazy beast.
Charlie and his beastcicles…
We headed to the bakery, well, because they were open and it was something to do! It was nice to be out, and Charlie was having a blast, but his adventures in the puddles quickly turned to beastcicles on his body… time to get back home! Ha ha…
Make the best of the time you have… make everything an adventure and it will be less of a hassle ;)
With schools out and work closed we spent a few days at home. It was nice. We just hung around, didn’t really go out except for a walk to the bakery. For a short time it was snowing HUGE flakes. This is Charlie’s first snow, and he was absolutely amazed! He just stared out the window… its beautiful and it does mesmerize you. But then the snow stopped, cable/internet went out, and I’ve decided we’re way too dependent on it. Ugh. Time to catch up on magazines, see what there is in the freezer to bake (that doesn’t count calorie-wise)! Thankfully I found some homemade peanut butter cookies that I hadn’t baked yet… If you haven’t frozen cookie dough before, let me tell you what a treasure it is to find! I’ve done it with chocolate chip, peanut butter and oatmeal! Yum!
Walking to the bakery…
We took the long route to the bakery and it was nice to get out. All the kids were playing in the street/making snow angels. You could hear cheers of joy when it was snowing, ahhh, fun times!
Icy Palm Trees – Charleston, SC
This was right near Normandy Farms Bakery (YUM!!)… icy palm trees… the weight is heavy, look how low they are! All this will quickly pass… this weekend is supposed to be so nice, and 70 on Monday! Woot woot, I do love Charleston winters!
There is a beautiful cottage that we have rented several times in Port Clyde, Maine. It’s called the “Periwinkle” cottage and it’s situated right on the ocean. I would call it rustic (no heat), but there is a fabulous fireplace and the view is earth shattering! Truly!
Today’s house plan… is the periwinkle. We always thought it would be so cool if we could build a house similar to the Periwinkle, but a little less rustic, and a little less space. Maybe 1 guest room upstairs, a 3/4 bath and a storage room/room for treadmill… something that would still give it this overall appearance from the outside. There were a few areas inside that weren’t useful spaces… those I would love to redesign to make useful. This plan is amazing. Fred and I are no architects (trust me, ha), but we kind of drew out the plan on our last visit, here it is…
Periwinkle floor plan – first floor
The ocean is located on the side of the house with the living, dining and bedrooms… big windows, wide doors all make sure you don’t miss the gorgeous view!
You come in the house between the mud room and bathroom on the other side of the house. The mud room used to have a washer and dryer, and could be used for that again. I would also add a wash tub that could accommodate a dog bath easily. From that room you can walk into either the kitchen or the living area.
This is the door you come in… door to the right is a bathroom. Then there is built in storage for pretty much everything which is handy… if you go to the left you head towards the kitchen…
Entry door… mudroom…
There is a large wasted space that has an old furnace in this area, I would use it maybe as a pantry and eating area off the kitchen…
Kitchen
I would keep wonderful large windows in the kitchen, have drawers instead of cupboards and possibly try to do away with some of the upper cabinets (replace with windows?). I wonder, wonder, wonder if you could lose that wall on the left and have it open to the existing dining room, meaning… OCEAN. VIEW.!!!
Dining Room
You then walk down a short hallway to the dining room. Beautiful expansive windows on two sides. I would probably make this into a reading room, with my desk, some great chairs, lamps. There are built in’s along the wall to the right. I would be willing to part with that if I could have the wall gone and open to the kitchen… Could be quite nice!
Cabinets below, shelves above, useful for displaying and storing. This view of the dining room is taken from the living room…
Living room with fabulous fireplace!
Great fireplace in this house… totally makes this living room, well that and the windows that look out upon the ocean…
Wide door that goes out onto oceanside porch
Big, wide door so fabulous! When you open it you get such a fabulous breeze! Large windows throughout. One large center pane that is stationary and then two smaller windows on either side that open.
View standing near dining, looking through living towards bedroom… See stairs that go to 2nd floor…
Great floor plan, I’m telling ya!
Bedroom – Excuse the bad shot!
Bad shot… when we checked in they had not made this bed… and I didn’t take a photo after we made it, ugh. Note the 9′ wall behind the bed. This is one of the most unique features. You are in bed facing the huge window with the ocean view. That little doorway on the right side of the bed… goes to a closet/storage area if you were to walk straight ahead. If you turned after you passed the wall, you would see hooks on your left and built in dressers on your right. Brilliant!
Storage area if you go straight
Two closets with great storage…
If you were to follow the short hallway on the other side of the bed, it led to the master bathroom, but if you turned right after the wall behind the bed, you would see this:
Built in storage in wall behind bed
It was so nice. We could put our suitcases on top of the ‘dressers’ and hang stuff on hooks on opposing wall. Such useful space!
I love windows like this!
This is my mom in one of the upstairs bedrooms… Such great light comes through those windows! AND they have such character!
These windows open out (and they have screens)… fabulous!
Ocean Side View
This is the ocean side view… that sometimes looked like this…
Sometimes, all you need is a nice hot cuppa love… like this one from Black Tap Coffee in Charleston, SC (70 1/2 Beaufain Street). If you haven’t been there I highly suggest that you go. They do not disappoint. Ever! The coffee is different. It’s good, very, very good. The atmosphere is very with it and you will leave with a smile on your face!
Here is an image from their Facebook page (Black Tap Coffee) to give you an idea what a cool place it is:
Gorgeous, right? One day Fred and I were walking in our neighborhood (Windermere) and the nearby area (South Windermere), and we saw a house that was empty and on the market. It had undergone a complete restoration by a high quality builder in our area. This is the backyard… Low tide… Gorgeous, isn’t it? I think these two adironack chairs and the view may sell the house!
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