As long as I live, I will never forget our trip out to Sliver Island.
It's not really called "Sliver Island"...but that's what I call it.
It's actually called Little Tybee, but because the part we explored was only about twenty five steps wide, I decided to call it Sliver Island instead.
Obviously, because it's an island, you can only reach it by boat.
And while the very thought of being able to go somewhere that was uninhabited, unattached, unplugged, and unbelievably beautiful instantly intrigued me, it also sort of scared me.
For starters, I'm kind of a worry-wart. (Okay, I'm a full-blown worry-wart, but don't tell anyone.)
And I'm not the best swimmer either. (When I was a child, the swim instructors at the YMCA actually handed me back to my parents and said, "Sorry. She doesn't float.") So traveling anywhere by boat is guaranteed to raise the ol' anxiety level a couple of notches.
That being said, I knew I'd regret not going if I chickened out, so I put on my game face (or maybe I should say my "game brain"?) and hopped in Captain Rene's boat like it wasn't nothin' but a G thang.
And even though my anxiety level was initially slightly higher than normal when we pushed away from Fisherman's Walk, the trip turned out to be quite an amazing, and non-scary experience after all.
On the way out to Sliver Island, we saw TONS of dolphins. Some even came right up and under the boat! It was amazing. We saw Osprey, and their huge nest. We saw sunlight dancing on top of the waves, and lush green grasses wiggling in the wind the whole way there.
(Me and Mom, pointing at dolphins)
It was an fascinating ride, and I really did enjoy it.
Once we got out to the island, we jumped out of the boat and started scavenging for souvenirs among the sea grass and weathered bits of wood.
I immediately found the biggest sand dollar I had ever seen outside of a shell shop. I felt like the luckiest girl in the world!
And as for the island itself, well, I will never forget standing out there on that little sliver of sand, below a sky full of swirly, silver-lined clouds- all drifting and shifting wherever the wind decided they should go. The Sea crashing on one side of me, and miles of winding salt marsh on the other.
Simply. Spectacular.
A giant tree had washed ashore, and for some reason I could not take my eyes off it.
It was truly a bizarre and beautiful sight.
Seeing it there reminded me of how unique and small we all really are.
I must have spent twenty minutes studying its gnarled roots and daydreaming about its history.
Where did it come from? How did it end up in the Sea? Did it float here, or did it travel along the Sea floor all this way?
I wondered if it would be there the next time I visited Sliver Island.
I wondered if I'd ever have the chance to visit Sliver Island again. (?)
I sure hope so.
It's definitely the kind of place that fills you up, and makes you think.
And any place that makes it impossible for one to stop smiling is definitely worth a temporary spell of heightened anxiety, don't ya think?
Wanna see the video we shot that day? (Make sure you hit the "expand" button in the lower right hand corner of the player, if you want a closer view of the dolphins!)
Well, I wanted to film a video of our latest junkin' excursion, but somebody with blonde hair, whose name rhymes with Kayla, forgot to charge the video camera battery the night before, so unfortunately this is all we got...
BUT, we did have our regular camera with us, so we did manage to get a still shot of the vintage childrens schoolhouse table we got from a junk shop in Savannah...
Isn't it great!?
The top needs a little bit of work, but we'll have that big guy lookin' a little bit lovelier in no time!
I say "big guy" because it measures six feet long, but two and a half feet wide. I think it's gonna make one heckuva killer coffee table in the living room!
We also settled on each rooms "color story" this past weekend too.
We'll be using lots of rustic reds, pale yellows, and various shades of blue and green.
I want the place to have a "farmhouse fresh/summer cottage by the sea" feel- so I think those colors (along with lots of chippy patinas, worn woods, and galvanized metals) will do just the trick!
Jane took me to her office the other day, and while we were there, she let me dig through her massive storage closet. Boy oh boy did I find some great fabrics to use in the cottage!
Here's a sneak peek at a few of the palettes we're going with...
Kitchen...
(Bird-patterned fabric: Thibaut, discontinued. Red & White Stripe fabric: Sunbrella, discontinued)
Remember that hidden doorway I told you we recently discovered in our dining room...
Well, today I thought I'd post the video we shot the night we uncovered it.
(Warning: The following video contains un-styled hair, an un-made up face and creepy lighting conditions. Those with weak stomachs may wanna skip it.)
Ta Dah!
Whaddya think?
Wait! Before you answer that, keep in mind, I'm not done accessorizing yet. I still need a couple of these frame risers...
I'll use them on these two frames...
...which, by the way, will be centered in the nooks they're currently sitting in, not resting on the ledges they're currently resting on.
And the driftwood sailboat up here...
...will go back into the guest bedroom, and will be replaced with a shorter one that has a white sail, and an oatmeal-colored flag.
And I still need to figure out what to put here...
And I also need to switch out some of the photos inside some of the frames- but the wall should be done by the time we need to take everything down because it's time to refinish the hardwood floors.
(Am I the worst, or what?)
If you like the way our "wonder wall" looks, but don't have horizontal planks hiding beneath your drywall- it would be pretty simple and inexpensive to replicate the look. All you'd need are some nails, some lumber, and some construction adhesive. Just figure out how you want to space everything, and go to town!
We actually like the look of it so much, we're considering doing something similar on the headboard wall in our master bedroom. It would wrap around the windows...
If we do decide to do it, we probably won't do the short horizontal 2x4's between the vertical ones. But don't quote me on that!
We figured it would only cost about $120 bucks to do the whole wall, and it would really make our newly-added on bedroom feel more like the older part of the house.
As for the rest of the dining room, well, we've still got a bench to paint, some rattan chairs to re-do, some pillow covers to purchase, and some new curtains to hang up- but once we've got it all together, I'll post some new pics of the whole shebang!
Now, if you'll excuse me, I better go see if Kevin needs help demo-ing the Kitchen.
We fiiiiinally took the time to seal our new butcher block countertop over the past couple of days.
Yesss!
We didn't stain it, (we're going to have natural-colored hardwood floors in the dining and living rooms eventually) and we don't plan to use it to chop or prepare food on, so we just used two coats of Tung Oil.
Of course we had to document the process on video.
I should forewarn you about this particular video though. Kevin edited it while I was at the salon, and although I love him to death for putting together a super sweet video for us to look back and smile at one day, this one's not super-informative folks. (Sorry!)
But, since we're not real good about printing, dating, and organizing our photos in big, beautiful photo albums, or burning all of our video footage onto DVD's and storing them in pretty file boxes for future reference, I'll probably be very glad we created this "interactive diary" of ours when we're too old to dance a jig, or smooch through protective masks because we're sealing a countertop with stinky oil.
I am curious about one thing though.
Should I/can I do a top coat of Waterlox?
I just read a couple of fabulous blog posts about staining and Waterloxing your wood countertops, and now I'm starting to think we may want to do it to really create a super-durable surface that doesn't require any re-coating throughout the years.
Vanessa from "This and That" wrote a super-detailed post about the staining and Waterloxing of her butcher block countertop...
And Kristi from "Addicted 2 Decorating" also wrote an awesome post about staining and Waterloxing her butcher block countertops...
Those gals are smart as whips, I tell ya!
Maybe I'll call Waterlox on Monday and ask them about it. I'm guessing it'll be okay because Waterlox is a combination of Tung Oil and Resin- but I'll let you know what I find out!
As for the wall above the countertop, I'm going to use this photo as inspiration when designing our "free-floating hutch"...
Our hutch won't be quite as "feminine" looking, but the overall concept will be the same.
And maybe the inside of ours can be painted a different color than the outside is? (The outside of our hutch will be painted "Alabaster" white to match the upper cabinets across the way.)
(Not this particular color, but maybe something fun and blue-based?)
Or maybe I should back it with some more mirrors, to reflect the natural light coming in through the window over our kitchen sink?
I'm also gonna install a couple of wall sconces like they did in the inspiration photo above too. Maybe something like these?
They're $18.00 at Lowes, and I've always liked the way they looked.
What do you think of them? I'd love to hear your thoughts!
Well, there's a nasty storm rollin' into town- so I better shut this thing off for the night before the lightning shuts it off for me!
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