Southern Living House in Palmetto Bluff and Hilton Head Island

When I saw the 2014 Southern Living Idea House advertised in Southern Living Magazine, I decided we needed to find a weekend on our calendar and discover the community of Palmetto Bluff and Hilton Head Island in the Carolina low country.

 

Last weekend after work on Friday we took the four hour drive from Charlotte, NC to Hilton Head Island, SC. We woke up early on Saturday and started our morning at the beautiful lighthouse in Sea Pines, a community on the South side of the island.

This is a postcard of the canopy of Spanish moss trees all over the island.

 

The postcard we got is a little better than my photography skills.

 

Overlooking the lighthouse and marina are lot's of unique shops and boutiques to browse in and stay in from the humid 84 degree heat.

 

 

The Mystique was so beautifully constructed out of teak and mahogany.

 

 

 

 

On one side of the marina are these adirondack chairs overlooking the marshland...

 

 

...and on the other is this bar of sand that lends a home to all these kayaks.

 

 

Then we stopped for lunch at The Crazy Crab. My hubby feasted on the shrimp boil (ask for the melted butter) and I feasted on a salmon skewer, both are recommended.

 

 

After a nice morning we headed to the small community of Palmetto Bluff about twenty minutes away to go tour the 2014 Southern Living idea house.

 



 

As we drove up to the gated community we were greeted by security and given a visitors pass. The community has plantation style homes with white picket fences and canopies of trees that give it a secluded feeling. We felt like we were on a movie set.

 

This is the postcard we picked up of the back of the house.

This is the front of the Southern Living idea home. There's a crunchy pea gravel driveway that leads to a garage and a carport.

 

 

Behind the slatted gates in the carport were the trash cans, electrical units and a/c unit. If this were my home, I'd grow a vine on the slats to hide them even more, as it's the first thing you see and hear as you walk towards the front porch.

 

Painted by the talented Jeanne Reiner

 

 

Let's go inside...

 

 

As we entered I was wowed by the living room, the two story room was relaxed with a coastal casual style. If you look at the walls closely, you'll see that they were horizontal planks painted.

 

 

 

The coil mesh curtain and fireplace were a focal point. Not my personal taste, and not the most practical for anyone with children or pets as you have to walk through it to go into the master bedroom.

 

 

Let's go into the master bedroom.

 

 

The master bathroom.
 

I had chosen the same soaps for our coastal bathroom remodel. They are from World Market, and smell fabulous.
 

As you step out the master suite, you are greeted with a porch overlooking the water.

 

We both agreed that if this were our home, we'd screen in the porch because in 'real life' there were remnants of dead bugs all over this cream suite of outdoor furniture.

 

 

 

As you step through the blue door, your greeted with the kitchen.

 

 

 One of my favorite rooms, I loved how symmetrically all the appliances are placed.

 

 

Next to the kitchen is the clutter room, adorned with pottery and sewing supplies.

 

 

As you go up the stairway near the dining table, you have a landing with two bedrooms on each side.

 

 

 

The children's bedrooms.

For more "professionally" staged photos of the house, you can view them on Susan's blog, Between Naps on The Porch.

After we left the house, we toured a few other idea houses in the community before heading towards the inn. We lunched on the Maison flatbread at Buffalo's, it was delicious and the service was gracious also.

 

 

­Fold your hands together: Here's the church, here's the steeple, Open the doors and see all the people.

Absolutely beautiful low country scenery, just sit a spell and look at this beauty.

We then returned to our hotel to change for the beach. Hilton Head Island has a popular beach called Colginy with miles of sandy shores. We meandered for miles, greeting several well behaved dogs along our way and walked back while watching the sun set.

After the beach we returned to the hotel to rest and get ready for dinner at The Salty Dog Café on the South side of the island. My hubby feasted on the Alaskan crab legs and I feasted on the seafood pot pie. They served generous portions as you can see.

We woke up early on Sunday also and headed back to Bluffton, for brunch at The Cottage. I didn't get a picture because it was pretty busy. But here's a picture from their website.
 

 

After brunch we headed back home to Charlotte, NC relaxed from a nice weekend away. Our pets did really good, and we had a busy week ahead when we got back, more on that later!

Linked up with:
Coastal Charm #229 Dwellings #77 The Dedicated House #115 Have a Daily Cup of Mrs. Olsen #119 The Dedicated House #29

Master Bathroom Reveal and Weekend Recap




Blue flower watercolor by unknown

Last week went by very fast, don't you agree? This weekend was rather busy as well. Here's a little re-cap so I can remember all that we got to do.

Friday

 

My hubby brought home some lilies.

 

Earlier in the day he sent me a message asking me out for a dinner date. We went for dinner at Red Lobster and he devoured the endless shrimp while I feasted on their daily fish special, tilapia with pineapple salsa, with lobster pizza to share. Thoughtful treat.

 

Saturday

 

We started the morning sharing the Mommas Pancake breakfast (with cheese grits and an extra side of bacon) at Cracker Barrel. We left with a coffee to-go and headed to IKEA.

If only it were as glamorous as hot chocolate at Angelina's in Paris. It's all about state of mind, right?

Painted by Carol Gillott

We were looking for kitchen cabinets for our kitchen remodel and decided on the lindigo gray. We asked for white inset cabinets, so if we ever decide to replace them with white doors we could do that rather inexpensively.

 

 

While there we also found a bench in the bathroom section. It prompted us to get more accessories so we could finish up the bathroom. Afterwards, we relaxed outdoors and ate a burrito at Qdoba for dinner.

Sunday

 

We made some finishing touches. Would you like a tour?

As you take a step through what used to be a closet door into our master bathroom you're greeted with a serene seascape picture, our bench seat which holds our scale, freshly folded towels, a basket holding our toiletry rolls, and canisters with our essentials (cotton wool balls, band aids, ear buds). The flowers my hubby brought home I displayed in a glass lantern with seashells on the bottom, that we gathered during our time at Topsail Beach earlier this year.
 

The shower is vastly different to how we found it. It originally had a rusted glass door that was beyond just cleaning it. So hubby took it out and filled in the holes with a fiberglass putty and we scrubbed it down with bleach and some Mr. Magic erasers (yes, they worked) and put on a new rainfall showerhead, which is luxuriating as we have one in our other shower. We finished it with a white curtain, liner and seashell shower hooks.

 

The lavatory also got replaced with a more eco friendly option. I chose it purely because the sides are not open dust collectors. It's SO much easier to clean and my vacuum fits on both sides easily. Also, I hope to put pictures from our time in Topsail Beach in the frames, someday soon. 



 

The vanity area just has one cabinet, unlike our previous home. Our home was built in 1983, and I'm guessing it wasn't as common back then? I do my makeup downstairs, so all we have in this vanity are a few toothbrushes, toothpaste and mouthwash.

Rather laid back and casual like our towel hooks, the mirror reminds me of weathered wood and the chrome light fixture has a contemporary vibe.  

 

 

 

The towels are from Nina Campbell's line, very soft white with a blue edging. Talking about edging, we replaced the flooring and added a more up to date baseboard. We're hoping to plank the ceiling overtime and add something besides the hamper in front of the window, because in "real life" it's back and forth to the laundry room.

 

 

Thanks for taking a peek.

 

We need to relax this week, as we have big plans for next week, so see you then!

Linked up to:
The Dedicated House #113  Dwellings #75 Imparting Grace #121 Have a Daily Cup #117 Coastal Charm #228

Latta Plantation and Labor Day Weekend

We had a lovely, relaxing Labor Day Weekend full of day trips, time together and house projects. Let me recap our weekend for you.

 

Firstly, on Saturday we took a trip to the Historic Latta Plantation from the Revolutionary War era. We were getting a perspective of my hubby's 7th times great grandfather, James Wright.

 

James was born in Snow Camp, Orange County, North Carolina according to records from Cane Creek Meeting House on May 28th, 1753. He was disowned for an un-known reason when marrying his Quaker wife Sarah, on August 27th, 1774 at the Bush River Meeting House in Newberry, South Carolina. He followed the faith and at twenty-two when the Revolutionary War started he moved to the back woods of Tennessee to avoid the war. He was accepted back into the Quaker faith as a member of the New Hope Meeting House in Greene County, Tennessee. With his wife Sarah, James had four sons and seven daughters. He later moved with his family to Martinsville, Clinton County, Ohio in 1808 where they were members of the Center Meeting House where he finished his days.

 

   

 

 

 

 

 

We learnt a lot about that period in time.

 

 

Afterwards, we went and rented a power washer from Lowes, and decided to spend Sunday relaxing around the house and spraying off dusty cobwebs, even though they would be authentic if we'd left them up for Halloween.

 

On Monday we celebrated the fourth anniversary of when we met at a Labor Day Picnic (although it was on the 9th). We have a tradition of getting BBQ food and eating it in the park. Unfortunately, we drove past our local BBQ restaurant and it was closed, so we ended up getting Thai from another favorite restaurant downtown.

 

I'm really getting into the Fall and Christmassy mood this year, and have been pinning lot's of ideas onto my Pinterest boards. And who better to help me prepare for Fall than the lovely Susan Branch. She has reprinted her book Autumn. Luckily I already have an older copy to cozy up to. 

Painted by the lovely Susan Branch

Have a lovely week.

Linked up to:

The Dedicated House #113