Happy Birthday Claire McCluskey!

Since I have only (4) brothers, my cousin Claire is all the more precious to me. Today is her birthday, so I thought I'd post images that will mean a lot to her... really, only she will actually "get" them, but they are kind of cool, so I hope you like them too. These harken back to our childhood frolicking on the Gulf Coast and in Savannah.

Happy Birthday Claire!

Amie's wicker couch... now happily in Claire's

adorable home in Savannah

Amie and Bompoon, so very long ago, on

Coffee Bluff in Savannah

great aunt Kate's chapel in St. John's

Cathedral in Savannah

carved detail from the fireplace in the dining

room of the house in Apalach

chandelier in the dining room of

the house in Apalach... we used to watch

as the bugs got trapped in the points of

the glass and the housekeeper had to

empty them out every week!

the fort named for our grandfather in Apalach

a peek inside the fort shows this old,

crazed mirror where girls used to check

their appearance before going into the

WWII era dances

I know Claire would love a bed like this!

and living by the sea, she would adore a

table made from seashells

Claire loves blue and white

Claire, you know who this is, you and I will end up striding

by the sea just like her when we are 93 too!

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Love you lots on this

very special birthday

of yours!!

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beautiful beach house decor by Anne Selke

found here

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Do you have someone special to you

whose birthday is coming up?

How would you celebrate that person?

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thanks for visiting...! Kit

A Little Southern Beach Cottage...

...would be a lot fun right about now... a tall icy drink, palm trees swaying in the breeze, the screened-in sleeping porch, laughter and dogs barking in the distance... these are the things of the endless summers of my childhood. Although our cottage wasn't quite this adorable, it was the real thing... wooden cottage on stilts set back in the dunes in the palmettos at Indian Pass Beach on the Gulf Coast, with a wooden walkway leading to the front screened porch. With the sun hot overhead, as children we were not allowed outside between 10 am and 3 pm, so my four brothers and I played endless games of monopoly and cards, built forts and put on plays and art shows.

Those summer vacations are now more a state of mind than anything else. Wanna come play?

colorful vintage beach pails

pale seafoam breadboard walls trimmed in

white are the quintessential beach look

simple shelves made from found beach wood

cooling blues and whites among the mossy beach oaks

Fifi Flowers painted this very cottage; you can

buy this at her etsy shop here!

painted floor screened porch with colorful rattan furniture

is charming; the porch ceiling is painted blue to scare

away the spirits... of course!

the adorable cottage above is

one of the Mermaid Cottages on

Tybee Island, Georgia, near
Savannah where my dear
cousin Claire lives and

my mother was born

halfway between

Saint Vincent Island

and Cape San Blas

lies Indian Pass Beach

where we spent long

summer vacations

the incomparable white powdery sand of my

childhood summers on the Gulf Coast

St. George Island

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Thanks for visiting!..... Kit

Small Joy

If there were any way at all to ease the suffering and burdens of those in our tornado-ravaged South, any of us would do just about anything.

While searching for wallpaper for a new client, I came across this charming, small group of paper that reminded me somehow of the South in days long gone by. These lighthearted wallpapers and fabrics could bring a little bit of cheer to our weary souls, even for just a sweet little moment in time, even if we just look at them and remember simpler, happier days.

"Brocante" from the charming Brian Yates collection

from the Gustavian collection of Zoffany

"Chinese Rose" from the charming Brian Yates collection

"Chinese Rose" from the charming Brian Yates collection

"Early Bird" from the charming Brian Yates collection

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Thanks for visiting! ... Kit