Tybee Island Dreamin': FiFi Flowers

I just realized that my first three posts were very yuckily "me" oriented. I promise this blog won't be all about me...it's more about finding who you are through what you love to do and realizing that something like decorating a little house with the things you love in ways that are cheap, easy and fun can actually lead you down a life path you never even imagined.

So, in the course of this little mid-life journey I'm on, and with the help of my Tybee Island vacation, my discovery of designer Jane Coslick and her restored Tybee Cottages, and the wonders of the internet, I stumbled across a fabulous artist/designer in L.A. named FiFi Flowers. I discovered that she had done a series of paintings of Jane Coslick's Tybee cottages and some were for sale on FiFi's website http://www.fififlowers.com/.

Her art is happy, whimsical and very girlie (like me), so I bought a little booklette of Tybee paintings and added FiFi as a Facebook friend. That led FiFi to look at my Tybee vacation album, and she told me that she loved my photo of the Palm Cottage (an adorable Jane Coslick rescue and design) where my family stayed. She said that the Palm Cottage was one she hadn't painted and she would like my permission to use the photo as the inspiration for one of her paintings. Of course I said, "Yes!" and I ultimately commissioned her to do the painting for me. (You can see all of my Tybee Island Vacation photos by clicking here.) Below you can see the evolution of the Palm Cottage painting from photo to first coat painting to final painting to hanging on my dining room wall (the final painting is also the first photo at the top of this post). I also subsequently bought her Tybee chairs painting, which is also in my dining room and I framed several of the smaller paintings from the booklette which are now happily at home on my mantle (which I could never figure out how to decorate!) and my little hallway. I hope you love FiFi's work as much as I do and I encourage you to follow her blog and buy some of her work. I promise your house (and you) will be happier for it!

The photo I took with my Samsung Moment smartphone camera...

FiFi's first coat of paint...

The final painting at home on my dining room wall...

The Tybee Pier on my mantle...

And last but not least, the Tybee Chairs on my other dining room wall...

FiFi, thanks for letting me bring your happy vibe to my happy little house!

Welcome to my sweet, humble, cozy, and very girlie little "beach house" in the heart of Charleston, West Virginia. For years, my friends and family (and my heart) have been telling me that interior design is my true calling. I do know it's one of the few things I do where I lose all track of time and I never grow tired of the possibilities. My recent vacation in Tybee Island showed me that there is a place where my design style is right at home and inspired me to see if I can have a second career in design...

I call this the "Peace Sign Table" because, above this little painted chest from Home Goods, hangs one of my all-time favorite finds: an eco-friendly canvas peace sign bag from http://www.dogeared.com/. The table is also home to my three favorite photos from our 2010 vacation in Tybee Island. (More on that later.)

I call this the starfish table. It's a Lloyd's wicker table I picked up years ago at an estate sale for $25. After a little refurbishing and duty in 4 different houses, it's become a perfect resting place for my seashells, starfish and fresh-cut hydrangeas.

My dining room table is an old flea market find. I just painted it pale periwinkle blue, added some glass knobs to the drawers and paired it with my Pottery Barn wicker dining chairs and vintage crock bowls for an instant dose of beachy charm. See the painting in the background? It's one six FiFi Flowers paintings of Tybee Island that have found a new home on my walls. They are the most recent and prized additions to my Piccadilly St. cottage. (Closeups of the paintings coming in a future post.) In the meantime, go to http://www.fififlowers.com/ to see more of her work.

This is the "Mirror Table." The table itself is $20 flea market find in its original chipped finish and charming state of general disrepair. The lamp, shade and magazine storage are Simply Shabby Chic from Target. (Willie the Stray is resting comfortably in the corner.)

The kitchen is by far my favorite room in the house. It's like making dinner inside a giant wedding cake (and you know I love cake!). When I bought the house in 2005 the kitchen was an exercise in bad 80s decor..."country blue" wallpaper and matching border (ugh), dark-stained oak cabinets, and a beige vinyl floor. Talk about drab at its drabbiest. But the room had loads of potential...a block glass window above a vintage 42" stove with double ovens, for starters, and all the cabinets needed was a few coats of white semi-gloss and fresh knobs. The new floor is vintage-style, commercial lineoleum in blue and white laid on the diagonal and purchased at Lowe's. The metal-top table is one of my all-time favorite estate sale finds from an old house on Charleston's East End. It's been with me in all four of my houses and always looks perfect no matter where it resides. The shelving to the left of the stove is a Simply Shabby Chic bookshelf from Target. Oh, and the pink metallic percolator was a gift from my dear friend, Julie. Not only does it look great, but it also makes the best pot of coffee you've ever tasted.
The bathroom...o.k. let's just say that salmon pink and black tiles would not have been my first choice, but they were in such great shape I decided to keep them around for old-time's sake. The walls are painted In Her Eyes Blue (Benjamin Moore) (took me three tries to find a color I could live with next to the pink tiles), and the vanity is another great Home Goods find for under $200. Similar models were sold at Restoration Hardware for $1,000 and up. I covered the original black, honey-comb vinyl flooring (it was sucking all the light out of the room) and replaced it with a did-it-myself peel and stick marble look tile from Lowe's. The materials cost me about $35 but my back still hasn't fully recovered!
My bedroom is painted the palest shade of pink, (actually it's Dogwood White from Sherwin Williams). I recently added the white bed from Ashley Home Furniture and, once again, the bedding is Simply Shabby Chich from Target. The vintage wicker lamp was a $50 flea market find, and the rug is Dash and Albert.
I have made a few decorating mistakes along the way, like thinking a yellow denim couch was a good idea. It wasn't. I almost immediately had the couch (an investment piece from Wells Home Furnishings in Charleston) recovered in white denim slipcovers. Much better! I'll never have anything but a white couch, ever. The big pine coffee table is another Home Goods find under $200. The vintage table lamp was from my mom's old Tell City collection, painted white of course. And the little wicker table next to the slipcovered chair is from Simply Shabby Chic at Target. The old hoosier style cabinet is home to some of my collection of vintage McCoy pottery.
Above my kitchen table hangs a collection of vintage stoneware floral plates picked up at various thrift stores, estate sales and flea markets over the years. The mirrored medicine cabinet is a favorite piece I found at a Huntington flea market years ago (and painted it white of course). I think I paid $20 for it. A medicine cabinet in the kitchen great storage for spices and nice place to display a few more pieces from my McCoy collection.