Category Archives: Beach House

05.23.13

Palm Beach Fabulous: The Tyson’s Corner Lilly Store.

In our quest to update our beach condo, we decided to make the little girls room Palm Beach fabulous.  This was a difficult task on many levels:  1.) Our Budget.  2.) We are renting the place out a few more years, so it had to be durable.  3.) My sister and I are collaborating on this project (with Dad having overriding approval) and we could not have two more different styles.  So,  in my search for inspiration, I had to look no further than the Tyson’s Corner Lilly Store. So inspiring– this place is right up my alley; bright colorful and over the top.  Love it!
 

While I pulled HARD for pink, I lost- 2 to 1.  The walls are a celery-ish green color. I am not in love with the color, but pink will prevail.. there will be pops of pink throughout the room.  I’ll be sure to share some pictures after next weekend.

05.14.13

Spread Thin.

I am one of the worst offenders of spreading myself too thin, but last weekend took it to a whole new level.  My family has a beach condo in Bethany Beach.  Without a doubt, it’s my favorite place on Earth.  I used to spend my Summers there with my mom when I was a teenager.  My dad would come up on weekends and go back to DC for the work week.  I know-  I am totally spoiled.  I get it.  My parents renovated the condo back in 1990 and not much has been done since.  After Mom died, my Dad started renting it out, and on top of the pink and seafoam green decor, the place got uber gross, fast.  So, we were tasked to renovate the place, but because it is still being rented, we had to stay on a budget.
So, my sister Karen and I have been designing and buying for months only to spend last weekend scrubbing, purging, moving and painting to get this place ready for the rental season.  We only had two days, so naturally, we worked through the nights….
 .. and rainy days.  (I found this old rain coat of my dad’s in the closet, reminiscent of Long John Silver.)
There were many trips to the dump….
 as well as two soggy truckloads to a donation center.
Lots of cans of spray paint were used.
To help pull everything together.   This picture will give you an idea of what we were working with before.  (I swear, these pictures were only taken a few years ago.) 
I love my father dearly, but an interior designer he is not.  He is also SUPER.. how shall we say???…. Frugal.  Dad tried to update the kitchen on his own three years ago….  I can’t convey my level of distaste for the poop colored paint job and this granite combo.  (Unfortunately, we are stuck with the granite, but I think we were able to work around it.)
 Styling began.
And we designated placement for lighting, which by the way, we got all of our sconces from Home Depot.
But there is still a lot of work to be done, so we will be heading back in a week and a half to finish what we started.  CRUNCH TIME.  The first renter comes on June 1.
And by 7:30 am Sunday, we were on the road headed home to see our babies for Mother’s Day.  This mommy spent her Mother’s Day in bed with the pipsqueaks.  In two weeks we will lather, rinse, repeat.    I can’t wait to finally enjoy it.  I’ll be sure to share some photos of the finished product as well as some really inexpensive decorating ideas!

07.20.10

Beach on the Brain…..


We’re baaaack. We had a fantastic time in Corolla. The house that we rented was amazing, and it was so nice to catch up with our family. The girls loved hanging out with their cousins. I still have beach on the brain, so I would like to share the following post.

When I received last month’s issue of House Beautiful, I could not stop drooling over the pages of this California Beach house. I absolutely love the use of color, and ample furniture. Designer Krista Ewart loves to use bold patterns and bright colors. Her belief is that it makes a space look larger- I agree! The other design philosophy that we share is to add a touch of green to each room. Green is a happy color- it brings a touch of life to each space. This house makes me smile.

07.19.10

Capturing Summer.



I absolutely love this. What a great way to capture memories of your children’s first swimsuits. Totally beachy. Totally sentimental. Two of my favorite things. I would like to create a wall of all of the grandchildren‘s swimsuits for our family beach house.

07.02.10

Bunk Rooms.

I have been seeing bunk rooms pop up more and more lately. A great solution when you have a lot of kiddos, and not a lot of space. As you can see there are a lot of great storage ideas here. I especially love the beds that are built into the wall. This also works well at vacation homes. I may have to get Mr. Salmon cracking on having more babies, just so that I can have a bunk room of my very own!