Frederick Stroud. My other half… the sweetest man in the world… truly the love of my life! Yep, those statements all describe my husband! He’s the nicest guy with the biggest heart.
Love at first sight… and today is his birthday!
Happy Birthday to you!!
Happy Birthday to you!!
Happy birthday de-aaaar Fre-eeeeed!
Happy Birthday to you!!…
…and many more!
Oh, how I love those blue eyes and that gorgeous smile! Happy Birthday Fred! Wishing you the best birthday ever! xoxo, me
Look at this gorgeous sky reflected in the water… kind of Halloween’ish isn’t it? This photo was taken while out walking… nothing fancy, it was the reflections that really caught my eye!
We see some magnificent sunsets in Charleston, SC. This one was no exception. I wonder why the sunsets in October seem to be over the top? This particular sunset had people pulling over to snap photos… gorgeous!
This is a fabulous cabin style house plan with a generous screened porch. I think it’s reminiscent of something you would see on Sullivan’s Island, back in the good old days… the cool, old cottage/cabin with character. This is the Porch Cabin house plan from Architectural House Plans and it is Plan ID Number DM-001, designed by Dale Mulfinger, FAIASALA Architects, Inc. I can just imagine how much time we would spend on this porch. Every waking moment… I would love to plop this on a nice piece of land where we would be on the water and see gorgeous sunsets. Heaven on earth!
This plan is roughly 1,879 square feet with 3 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms, as well as a host of fabulous details… Keep in mind with these photos, this is one person’s home, but the possibilities are endless… I happen to like it just the way it is! This home was originally designed as a vacation home near a lake in Minnesota. Nice, huh? It is a favorite among a lot of people and has been built all over the United States. It would fit in beautifully in Charleston, SC…!
Mudroom, pantry, fireplaces… ahhh, the “things I love” about this plan are getting mighty lengthy. It’s a perfect size to use as a house or a vacation home. The fact that there is a place to take off your shoes and coat, especially in colder climates is wonderful. A pantry off the kitchen… LOVE IT! That would be a dream! Fireplaces upstairs and down make this one cozy house in the winter. Here are a few images of the interior of one house that was built…
Can you imagine how wonderful this porch would be? Grab a book and a hot tea, sit and look out over the yard, or the water or wherever you may be situated… Gorgeous!
I KNOW! Gorgeous, right? Just look at that fireplace! So cozy. This plan has got so many wonderful details. It really helps to see an interior image… some of us aren’t so great at visualization!
Fabulous kitchen, great light, wonderful in every way! Remember… pantry is around the corner! I might extend the kitchen into the dining room, maybe put a larger island, and have a smaller table or eat at the island… I like my counter space, but that’s me…
A garret is another name for a loft or attic… I certainly wouldn’t call this an attic… When I showed my husband this plan, he said, he would probably leave the top floor off, having two bedrooms would be great… until I showed him the next photo! Then we decided it would be our bedroom as long as we could walk up and down the stairs!
Culture: 84.5 Friendliness: 84.3 Atmosphere: 86.4 Restaurants: 86 Lodging: 82.1 Shopping: 75.1With “sand, sun, history, good food, and friendly people,” Charleston is a consistent hit with the travelers who venture to this “gracious and beautiful” city (in fact, it’s taken first place our list of Top 10 Cities in the United States for three years now and been rated as the friendliest). Nearby beaches and impressive architecture draw visitors, but it’s the “insanely nice” locals who enhance “magnificent” bed and breakfasts and “amazing shopping.” “The charm of this city brings me back every year,” praised one devoted fan. “The food, history, architecture and people are wonderful,” said one reader. “A bucket list city!”
New Vintage Lowcountry SL-1831New Vintage Lowcountry (SL-1831) is a 2,735 square foot home with 3 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms and 2 fireplaces… this is an exclusive design for Southern Living by Group 3 Design. This plan is larger than most that I feature… it’s not too big, and the space is well used. This home looks like it could be in a quaint village where it has lived happily for many years… it takes tact to design a home that is new that doesn’t look so new. This home has charm and character… Lets take a peek…
Main Floor
This is a nice open plan. I like the way that the kitchen looks into the great room, and I love the office near the kitchen (with a separate entrance!). When I’m cooking I run back and forth from the computer (with my recipe) to the kitchen and its handy that way!
I have to say I really would enjoy the nice screened porch off of the great room. Wow, what nice air flow in the nice weather months… open all those doors and let the fresh air in! It would be dreamy to have a fireplace on the screened porch… get all comfy in your chair with a good book, a roaring fire and a cup of hot chocolate… ahhhh, life is good!
Upper Level
The upstairs is nice, but for just the two of us, I would probably make the study a bathroom, and make the two bathrooms into storage… and then have one bedroom with the treadmill for bad weather workouts and the other bedroom for guests! Either that or pick a bathroom and work around it…
This is the first time that we met Charlie… November 2009… he was scared of people (we were told later)… especially men. Hmmm, not sure what happened to the little guy, but someone didn’t treat him right… He went from this scared little puppy… to this wild little beast in no time!
We’re so glad he’s home with us… he’s on the mend! Pancreatitis is a tough thing to watch your dog go through… Scary! Life is good…
Our visit with Charlie at Vet Hospital in Mt Pleasant. This is the first day that he ate!
Written Wednesday 11:30AM
For those of you who aren’t on Facebook… Charlie has been sick. Very sick. We took him to the emergency vet at 11:30 Saturday night and had to leave him at 2:30 AM, he was such a sick dog… vomiting, weak. He hadn’t gotten in to anything that we could think of. He was his happy self on Friday night, we went to bed and he hopped right in… we all slept. Saturday morning we woke up and normally he runs to his food dish… not this morning. No food. Later in the day he vomited… and that night he started and couldn’t stop… we took him to the er vet, they said he was in pain. Ugh…??? Their thought: Pancreatitis. Normally dogs who are given fatty table scraps are the dogs that get that. Charlie gets very limited table scraps and we don’t eat fatty… he eats mainly frozen green beans, carrots, lettuce and his dog food… but he does get a little smidge of cheese now and then…
They got him through until Monday AM where he was transferred to the Internal Medicine group. They did an ultrasound on him and confirmed pancreatitis. IV fluids, pain meds, anti-nausea meds, Pepcid. He hadn’t eaten since Friday at 3PM… he took his first bite, yesterday (Oct 8/Tuesday). He seemed so great when we saw him yesterday, a big difference from the night before. They’ve done an ultrasound each day, and the vet noticed that the lymph node near the pancreas is getting larger each day… not good. We just got the pathology report back and it showed no cancer cells! However, she said that cancer cannot be ruled out, so he will still be monitored and if the lymph node doesn’t start getting smaller then they will biopsy it.
We let him know that his future diet would consist of low fat food, and he is ok with that…
He had a slight fever last night, but is otherwise doing great. Because of the fever we can’t bring him home this morning… We call at 3PM today (Wed) to see if we can pick him up!
LIFE IS GOOD!
WRITTEN THURSDAY, OCTOBER 10, 2013 7:30AM
UPDATE: Charlie came home yesterday (WED 10/09) We all camped in the living room and he did well, he is eating on his own this morning (YAY!!) got all his meds and can feel all your well wishes!
WRITTEN THURSDAY, OCTOBER 10, 2013 8PM
Charlie had a good first full day home! This morning he woke up raring to eat which was fabulous… then he kind of fizzled a little… no fever YAY! He rested all day and was very perky by evening… he’s now curled up sleeping unless someone walks down the street… then he needs to check things out, then goes back to sleep… he’s a happy little beast!
Thank you so much for all your good thoughts, prayers, vibes and anything else you’ve got! You’re all the best!
I love this cool building located in Wiscasset, Maine. I would like to live there! Right in the heart of town, a short walk to Treats for a chat and a cup of soup, a tasty sandwich and maybe a treat or two!
This is currently a business, but would make one heck of a house! Do you ever have dreams of packing up and moving on? We are usually ready to jump ship in the heat of the summer… swearing that we’ll move to Maine soon! Then winter comes and the weather is beautiful and we say to ourselves… HOW could we ever leave THIS? A tad fickle perhaps?
I would like to start by saying that Allison Ramsey Architects are brilliant. Their website is over the top fabulous for those of you thinking of building a home one day. They provide so much information, photos, links… You MUST check out their site… amazing is all I can say! AllisonRamseyArchitects.com – I would also like to thank them for use of their images… This house was built in Beaufort, SC and images of the interior are on their site at AllisonRamseyArchitects.smugmug.com. Wow, does it help to see actual images of the inside of this house. Not everyone is good at picturing the floor plan in their mind.
The windows upstairs make this the most charming house ever! I love how they open out, just like the old cottages that you see that are in pristine condition. It isn’t easy to tell if this house is old or new. It has wonderful detail and charm, something missing in a lot of today’s house plans. The Bay Point Cottage is a clear winner! It boasts a heavenly porch, screened porch, Master bedroom downstairs, and an open plan in terms of the kitchen, great room and eating area. I’m not at all concerned about having a formal dining room. It’s not a priority to me… we would rarely use it. We can always repurpose a room when the need arises instead of being saddled with an unused dining room all year long (if it’s not your thing).
This floor plan is roughly 2300 square feet with 3 bedrooms and 2.5 bathrooms. It is in Allison Ramsey’s “Carolina Inspiration Book I” Page 35 (C0058).
Contact the architects at info@allisonramseyarchitect.com or 843.986.0559 to verify square footage, house dimensions and additional information or to purchase a set of plans. Their house plans show how their attention to detail time after time makes them a great architect to choose!
This house plan is from a company I respect so much. GOLogic. It is our dream once Fred retires to build one of their homes. We’re always looking at the plans and trying to figure which one would work best for us. Why not save money (and the environment) all while living in a beautiful, efficient, well thought out house?
Just look at all the standard options, the construction, and the overview… this company truly has their act together! It’s a house you can feel good about building! See a plan that you’ve fallen in love with? Check out the Process of Buying a House link…
Here is the plan, via the GOLogic website. If you’re interested in building one of their plans, here’s the link… there is also a separate link if you use your own contractor and you want to purchase plans only. Personally, I want the people who have done it time and time again with great results to be the ones to build my home one day…
It’s so nice to have a mudroom, a place to store all the shoes, jackets, etc and keep them out of the way! A small powder room down stairs is perfectly tucked in the corner. I love the open kitchen/living/dining spaces… and the exterior of this house… whoa! Good looking! Did I mention the windows? Read about them… they’re gorgeous, but they’re also about as efficient as you can get!
This plan has all bedrooms on the upper level. There are variations of this plan, and one has the master bedroom downstairs. Since we’re planning for our next house to be the last house we build, we would probably opt for that plan. Check out the other plans available, they’re fabulous!
I swear Coastal Living has some wonderful house plans on their website. This featured plan is called the BLUFFTON (SL-594) and it’s an exclusive design for Coastal LIving by Hall and Hull Architects, Inc. A beautiful plan that can be used in different ways, which is so nice these days! Proves that when you have a good plan you can fit a lot of living into a 1,435 square foot space!
Just look at all the wonderful porches! It’s nice to have French doors in the family room… let the cool air in (well, as soon as we can open windows!)… One thought, it might be a good idea to screen the back porch, that way the French doors could be opened without mosquitoes getting in the house, as well as sit on the porch without being “bugged”, hee.
It’s so nice when a house plan can be versatile, and this one is. There is a lovely dining room off of the kitchen, and while many people enjoy a formal dining ensemble, some of us just don’t use it. So personally, I would put my desk, a few wing backs (ours aren’t formal, they’re slipcovered in white duck cloth), maybe a neat old table that we could use if we had people over for dinner, but otherwise would put books and a lamp on it. I would maybe even tuck one of those cool (and compact!) wood stoves made by Rais (love this model!) in the family room for the cooler months. Heat and fire add such ambiance, and they take off the winter chill! Elegant, a bit modern and useful!
![New Vintage Lowcountry SL-1831 [Image: Southern Living House Plans]](https://artfoodhome.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/hp-new-vintage-lowcountry-by-southern-living-sl.jpg)
