Beach Cottage in Florida

Last post I showed you guys my buddy Connie's house from the outside....

NOW

I'm going to start showing off the inside.

This house was published in Traditional Home in March 2007, so it's not as old as a lot of my other magazine stories.....

although Chris and Connie are old!!!!!

Sooooo.....

Some of these pictures, I took.....

and some are scanned from the magazine article.....

I will be sure to let you know which is which is which is which.......

As you enter through the front door, you step into the entry way!!!!!

That's 'cuz that's where you enter!!!!!

Traditonal Home March 2007

(This shot is on the cover of my color and pattern book....)

I love the look of crisp white against color.

Originally, the walls weren't wallpapered.

If you've been following my blog for a while,

 you may recognize this paper as the same bamboo I have on the walls in my Flerida home.

I will come back to the entry, 

but right now I want to take you into the living area.....

I took over this job from a local decorator.

At the time I didn't have a home in Florida,

and Connie thought it would be easier to use someone local.....

(bwa ha ha ha ha ha ha!!!!!)

Soooooo......

the original plan with the original decorator was to have painted walls.

But after I took over, and we had installed all the furniture....

Connie said to me.....

"The house isn't cozy, how can we make it cozier?????"

Where upon, I answered.....

"Do you want to know what I would do if I lived here???

I would wallpaper everything that isn't moving!!!!!!

Here's a shot before the wallpaper.....

There also wasn't enough stuff on the walls for me.

Connie was trying for a cleaner crisper look.

That's all well and good.....

but it's not cozy!!!!!

So I found more stuff for the walls for her.

And added wallpaper.....

And more pillows.....

Connie's favorite color is coral, 

so that is the predominant punch in the main living/dining/kitchen areas.

The previous designer had chosen the pink color of the kitchen cabinets, so I used that as the jumping off point for the rest of the room.

I was able to salvage some of the furniture from the previous designer....

The white sofa, club chair and two woven seagrass chairs were left pretty much as she had ordered them.....

BUT EVERYTHING ELSE HAD TO BE CHANGED OR REPAINTED OR MOVED TO A DIFFERENT PLACE IN THE FLOORPLAN!!!!!

Below is a shot going towards the kitchen, without the wallpaper, and the hutch painted in an old yellowy color.

This shot shows the room after the wallpaper and changing the hutch color.

Now let me break the room down for you in bit by bit by bits.

I had decorated Chris and Connie's Vermont home in a classic American cottage style,

but Connie wanted a cleaner slightly more modern feel for her Florida house.

We started with a more streamlined look for the main upholstery pieces.

Having an exposed leg helps to give the sofa a more modern edge.

Then I chose the contemporary classic gourd shapes for the lamps...

These shapes are a wonderful way to bridge traditional and modern.

We also used more contemporary art on the walls than I had used in Vermont.

I will do a whole post showing the art and how we chose it, and how we hung it, 

but not today!!!!!

Today was just a taste of things to come.

It's nice to look at a house in warm Flerida,

since I'm stuck up here in Massachusetts.....

Later, Gator