House Tour! Let's go to the BEACH!!!

For this house tour we are going to Donna's (The previous house tour) sisters lovely home in Bethany Beach.    Carole's home is awash in creamy whites from the vanilla milkshake walls to the pristine white marble counters veined with grey. This is all grouped into a wonderful melange when the warm shades of natural oak floors all the way to deep mahogany of antique dressers dance against the many shades creamy whites making for a delight to the eyes and a very welcoming home.  

Carole has an affinity for slip covered anythings and marble topped tables!

Let's begin the tour on the top floor.  The fluffy slip covered couches beckon you to curl up on their soft cushions and wrap your self in a throw while you enjoy a cup of coffee and a good book.  The room is swathed in golden sunlight from the numerous skylights on the beautiful bead board ceilings and the plentiful french doors and wide windows.  The area also boasts a delightful turret room that has a wonderful natural wood pedestal table perfect for family game night.  On the other side of the room next to the kitchen is a generous farm style table that can feed a crowd!  Now the center of attention, the kitchen!  It's a LOVELY kitchen with extra tall glass fronted cabinet doors that house Carole's everyday ware.  The part that I find unique is that the kitchen seemingly has an island within an island.  There is a large semi-circle counter height grey veined white marble counter that has many counter stools separating the kitchen from the family room yet still allowing it to be the center of attention.  Within this generous area is another marble topped island.  This island was made by Carole's brother in law Glen, Donna's husband and is assembled from a reclaimed farmhouse table and chair set.  It's all brought together beautifully with several coats of a rich white enamel paint imported from Europe.  It's the same paint I mentioned that Donna used in her House Tour of her delightful cottage in Bel Air Maryland.  

This lovely natural wood console leads the way to the turret room.  It is adorned with various  objects d'art and antiques.  

This fabulous ironstone compote holds years of shells from many shell contests that Carole and Bob would have every summer with their grandchildren.

One of my favorite objects are these delightful antique glove

molds that adorn the extra bathroom mirror and cupboard.

This upper floor also houses the master bedroom with an en suite and another bedroom with a communal bathroom.

The entry level also boasts an additional family.  This family room also has soft cotton slipcovers on it's couches which are perfect to curl up in a quiet spot with the latest decor magazine. There are several very impressive pieces of furniture in this room.  This antique roll top desk is truly a piece of art!  I can't imagine how organized you'd have to be to work at it!  There is also this lovely hall tree.  I am particularly taken with this stack of wood boxes that I'm sure each have a delightful story to share.  

As I mentioned Carole loves marble topped tables.  Many of these adorn the 4 more bedrooms on this level.

We've come to the piece that I wanted to smuggle out with my suitcases.  Carole says it's a French antique and it too has a story to tell.  In one of the many houses Carole has had the mirror had an extremely unfortunate accident resulting in the demolishing of the gorgeous gold leaf surround.  She carried it with her from house to house for many years because she couldn't part with it.  Finally she came upon a craftsman that would be able to resurrect it to it's original splendor.  Unfortunately it came with a hefty price tag of over $700 but Carole feels it was worth every penny.  

This is just a little sneak of the surprise party that brought us all together at the beach house.  My dear friend Tina was about to celebrate a birthday.  For Tina this is a monumental thing.  In November of 2010 she was diagnosed with stage 4 breast cancer and wasn't given a year to live.  Because Tina is: special, courageous, tenacious, lovely, kind, brave, unique and funky she is still here.  We thank God for her every day!  Come back to the next blog entry and celebrate her birthday with the recipe for a delicious Lemon Meringue Cake!
Join the fun... I also joined at commonground-do.com