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Wednesday, September 28, 2011

Beach House Blues and Jersey Reds

(Wednesday, September 28, 2011)
Last week I shared with you an "inspiration photo"
for our ongoing beach house renewal.
My sister Peggy found the picture:

The house shown, above, is a rental in North Carolina's Outer Banks,
and is bigger and snazzier
and (trust me!) fancier than our beach house out on Long Island.
It works well for inspiration, because our house shares that natural trim
and big casement windows.  We also love the big brilliant swaths of blues and whites.
We're going boldly blue, friends.


Today, I've begun painting this $15 Craigslist buy
-- a butler's tray table -- 
with a Sherwin Williams color called Hyper Blue.  And it is hyper!
We're throwing many shades of blue into our beach house mix.
The UPS man punted a box with two slipcovers up onto our porch Tuesday.
($29.99 each, free shipping, brand new -- eBay.)
Picture taken with my phone -- sorry about the quality.
The colors in real life range from a beautiful royal to a denim to a deep, deep teal.
The creamy white sets it all off just right.
Nautical stripes in blues and white,
for two club chairs already out at the house.
If these slipcovers work, I'll order white ones for the sofa and loveseat.
Blue and white -- it never fails, does it?
Hmm . . . wish we had a fireplace!
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Meanwhile, back here at That Old House, it is another rainy day.
But that doesn't mean Dion and I don't sneak outside between the drops.

We should come up with something different for outside our sunroom door.
Inspire me!  A wet scarecrow isn't terribly glamorous.
 Below, top of the stone retaining wall behind the house -- Husband Howard's potted mums,
and a pot of summer geraniums valiantly blooming away.  And, natch, a pumpkin.   Haha, a pumpkin natch. 
 This must be a special new hybrid -- a menopausal pumpkin.
It's sweating.

On the outside table, atop the lace cloth -- which is really vinyl but ssshhhh -- don't tell! -- is another mum.

Mums, below, getting cozy with Autumn Joy sedum.  I love mums.  Sedum?  Not so crazy about them.
They are goofy looking.  Oh -- there's a nice selection of weeds in there, too.

And what I first thought were wet maple leaves stuck onto the white clapboard siding
of That Old House turned out to be leaves caught in a small spider web.

That is going to be one bitterly disappointed spider.

Back to painting the butler's tray table.
Worst part?  Removing 64 teeny screws to get the 8 hinges off.
Maybe Howard will put them all back for me!  -- Cass

Link parties.
Laura at Decor To Adore sponsors Fall In Love With Your Home ... Click here!
Susan at A Southern Daydreamer sponsors Outdoor Wednesday ...  Click here!
Kathleen at Faded Charm is the hostess for White Wednesday ... Click here!

Sue at It's A Very Cherry World sponsors Today Is Rednesday ... Click here!


19 comments:

  1. I can't wait to see more of the beach house. I miss Long Island and long for the time and money to come back for a visit. Richard from My Old Historic House.

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  2. I have that same butler's table. And I love your menopausal pumpkin!

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  3. I think the beach house is going to look great. Can't wait to see the finish! You can't go wrong with blue and white.

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  4. "Menapausal Pumpkin" LOL! You slay me....

    Bet your beach house room will be lovely.

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  5. Blue and white is going to be perfect for the beach house ! I watched some new show about the Hamptons last night -- "Revenge" -- thought of you and your nifty place.

    Jersey is going to either sink or float away. I'm holding out for the weekend they say cooler temps are coming. I'm worried for our mums.... they're gonna wither in this gross weather : /

    hugs,
    gena

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  6. I really dig the rug in the inspiration image. Are you looking for a similar one?

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  7. Love your "old house" Blue is my favorite color for beach houses too. I am a happy new follower from White Wednesday.
    Laura
    http://imsovintage.blogspot.com/

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  8. You can't miss with the color blue for a beach house. Good luck with your project.

    Love the mum and the big pumpkin. Menopausal Huh? HA!
    xo Jeanne

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  9. I love your menopausal pumpkin...I can so relate!!

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  10. Menopausal pumpkin lol love the leaves...

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  11. But the wet scarecrow still looks, oh so cute!

    BOY IN RUBY

    Boy in ruby, why so shy?
    You are quite a handsome guy.
    There’s no need to hide your face—
    In this world you have a place.
    Take your ruby shirt away
    From your mouth—come out and say,
    “I am not a turtle, no,
    And my name’s not Yertle, so,
    I will be as I was meant—
    As my mom says, heaven-sent.”


    © 2011 by Magical Mystical Teacher

    Red sunset and flower

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  12. I am so proud that you didn't just paint over those hinges!;>) And love the sweaty pumpkin-maybe he's running from the carver?

    You are right- blue and white never fails. We had it at our house on Lake Michigan and it was always crisp and clean looking. I won't tell you that MyHero dropped my good blue leather chair out of the back of a vehicle when we moved because he didn't want to trust the movers to pack it properly...yeah.. xo Diana

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  13. I have one of those tables. I can't wait to see how it turns out.

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  14. Can sympathise with that pumpkin! Loving that blue! Cant wait to see the finished article!! Lovely post as usual! xx

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  15. Oh there is just too much goodness. I LOVE that inspiration room. Can't wait to see your reveal!

    Thank you so very much for linking up to Fall In Love Wednesdays.

    Have a blessed weekend.

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  16. Great post! Yes - blue & white - definitely a winning combination. I love that shade of blue, hyper! Nice Fall decs, too!

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  17. What a fun post for Rednesday! I especially loved all the cute Autumn fun including the fall harvest scarecrow. ;)

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  18. Well, I'm getting a bit anxious of the results of the beach house renovation. Nice choice of colors for that butler's table though.

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