House Tour... A Cottage In Bel Air. This post will also be known as "I'm BACK BABY!!!!"

So I haven't posted in several months.  I won't get into the whys and stuff but let me tell you this...I REALLY missed blogging!  With that said, I'm now back and I will be blogging on a continual basis! YAY!!

I'm going to start out with a little house tour of a friend of mine.  I've blogged about one of her homes before, a LOVELY seaside retreat in Bethany Beach Delaware. That home was featured in a couple magazines and also a book called Waterside Cottages. Donna and her sisters Carole, Ellie and Vicki all had a store in Bethany called The Shoppe of the Four Sisters.  Donna recently moved to my town and has completely renovated a home here.  It's not complete and she was all a flutter because the house isn't done and all the special touches like art and photos and those kind of goodies are not up yet.  In fact she still has some moving boxes here and there.  Frankly, I just couldn't help myself.  This home is too darn cute not to show you even at this stage plus I think it's cool to show you later when it's complete.  On to the goodness...

This view is sort of what you see when you step out of the foyer.  To the right is a comfy cozy sitting area with a gorgeous fireplace and a huge picture window.  Straight ahead you can see into the kitchen and a little peek of the sun room.  If you look to the far right of this room you see this cool wall shelf and lovely painting of white roses that Donna painted herself!  Glen, her super handy husband made the majority of the shelves and frames and even most of the tables in the house!  Their son Kurt was the contractor of the job.  And my dear friend Tina (her house tour was here)  and Donna's sister Carole helped out occasionally with the decorating decisions.  Although Donna is a decorator extraordinaire!  You may remember the post about the store she and her sisters had in Bethany Beach.  If you haven't see that post check it out here. (Carole's Bethany Beach house tour is going to be in an upcoming post very soon!  You will love it!)

This half table was made by Glen and resides in the foyer.

I love the retro yet shabby feel this vignette has.

The walls of the home are a lovely light pewter that seems to change depending on the light of the room.  I'm in love with this shade, it's gorgeous!  The over sized woodwork GLEAMS with a glossy white imported enamel.  

Fabulous dining area to the right of the kitchen.  Glen made this enormous table from reclaimed elm.  That's the Sun room peeking around the corner next to the lovely Tina.  The bit of door way you see leads to Donna and Glens bedroom suite.  I'm saving that for the final tour of the house.  Believe me, it will be worth the wait!

As you walk into the cozy sitting area you can't help but notice the gorgeous fireplace surround that originally was made by Glens father and graced the fireplace of his home.  I love how the woodwork on the fireplace and the shelf across the room are reminiscent of one another.  Repeating patterns is always good design!  Custom washable slipcovers adorn almost every piece of furniture in the home.  Great idea when you have 4 grandchildren, Lucy the boxer and numerous cats as very frequent guests.  

A lovely clock overlooks the sitting area off the kitchen.

The kitchen has a lovely bank of windows overlooking a gorgeous landscaped backyard with a Divine heated pool.  I adore this kitchen.  There are so many details I love from the light flowing in, the farmers apron sink to the subway tiles surrounding the island that houses 5 stools!  And lets not forget the glass fronted cabinet, I'm a sucker for them every time!

These schoolhouse pendant lights are perfect! Notice the french door leading downstairs.

In the family room downstairs there are gorgeous built in shelving and lovely board and batten walls.  A board and batten 1/2 wall separates the family room from Donna and Glen's work area.  I snuck this photo in, she won't be happy when she sees it.  Remember they are not even all the way moved in so not everything is picture perfect the way Donna likes it but this area is too cool not to show.  I LOVE the grey slate tiles on the floor down here.  They almost look like wood.

Going back upstairs to the main floor, I'd like to show you the sun room off of the kitchen.

Isn't this the perfect spot to curl up with a cup of coffee in the early morning with a good book while the rest of the house silently sleeps?  

When in the main sitting room on the first floor there are stairs to the right and stairs to the left off of the main room.  The upstairs is split into two separate wings for extra privacy.  It gives the areas such a unique quality!  The stairs to the right lead to another cozy family room for the kids with a great table for games.  There is a lovely little bathroom up there and a bedroom that sleeps two.  

This pop of duck egg blue looks perfect on this round  game table that Glen made.

I will show you the bedroom and kids family room the next time when I do the final house tour.  Currently custom bedding and slipcovers are being made for the beds and the furniture in the kids family room.  Now we are off to the opposite upstairs wing.

This is one of the grand children's rooms.  He's a movie buff.  I love the contrast of this deep red with the glossy white on the built in cabinetry.  There are two more bedrooms on this level that I will show you next time.  But I will give you a peek into Tina's bathroom and a snippet of her dressing room/walk in closet. 

These period doors are perfect for the house!  Truly makes it seem like it's always been this way.

This partial barrel vault above the sink in the bathroom is gorgeous!

Tina has a thing for antlers and she drapes a few of her necklaces delicately on them next to the sink.

A peek into Tina's dressing area.  We all tease and call her the Princess so this sign is apropos!

I hope you enjoyed the tour of this lovely renovated cottage in my town.  The next tour will be Donna's sister's lovely home on the ocean side of Bethany Beach Delaware.