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The old mister, his brother Bob and I drove down to Tybee early Friday to do a walk-through of the house. We thought the carpentry inside would be completed, and that our painters could get started. But we were mistaken. No single room in the house was complete, which was a disappointment. Still, there was big progress. The kitchen sink is in! The old mister gave me such grief over that old sink. It won’t fit. It’s too big. It’ll never work. Blahblahblah. He was sooooo wrong. The sink looks fabu, as you can plainly see. Can’t wait for the plumber to install the cool retro chrome faucet I picked out. In other news, the painters actually had started work. They’d patched all the bazillion nail holes in the 1×6 plank walls, primed the dark wood ceilings and even painted the ceilings in the two back bedrooms. Love, love love the ceiling color. It’s a Benjamin Moore shade called Morning Sky Blue, and we have used it in our Atlanta house. It makes ceilings look high and cool, like, well, a morning sky. And in such a small house–the Breeze is only 1,750 square feet, we wanted to maximize ceiling height. I finally found a wall color. Jane Coslick, who is the design whiz behind the most wonderful cottage restorations on Tybee, (and many of the Mermaid Cottage rentals) and who has been consulting on the Breeze, insisted the only suitable white was a shade called Glass of Milk. One problem—it’s a Martha Stewart for Sherwin-Williams color, and it’s out of production. Martha has changed paint houses twice since SW, and I couldn’t find anybody who’d share the formula. Luckily, the folks at the Benjamin Moore dealership in Savannah, on Waters Avenue, said they had an equivalent–called Moonlight White. How poetic does this sound? Moonlight White walls and Morning Sky Blue walls. With a dash of Shimmering Lime on the kitchen walls. I’d planned for all the other rooms to be Moonlight, but when I saw how pretty the Morning Sky Blue ceilings were, I changed my mind–and now our master bath walls will be that pretty blue. I love the idea of lolling back in my old clawfoot tub, looking at Morning Sky. The outside of the house, currently painted in a hideous combination I call Safety Yellow with Smurf Blue trim, is going to be painted a soft blue-green called Aquatint, with white trim. At Jane’s suggestion, all the exterior doors will be painted a hibiscus pink color called Blossom. On Saturday, the weather was unbelievably beautiful–74 and sunny. The guys went out fishing and I went hunting. For sinks. Yes. Again with the sinks. I bought an old metal washstand at an estate sale months ago, with the idea of installing it with a sink in Boomerang Boy’s bedroom. It’s an old Tybee beach house tradition to have sinks in bedrooms. My friends Ron and Leuveda have such an adorable sink in their Garner Cottage guest house, and I decided to copy it. But my washstand has two problems. It’s short. Boomerang Boy would have to get on his knees to brush his teeth in it. It needs to have five more inches added on. No problem-o. I found a welder who said he could easily do the job. Problem 2. The opening for the sink is only 14-3/4 inches. The smallest sink I could find anywhere in Savannah is 17 inches. So now I will have to turn to my friends at Sandpiper Plumbing Supply to see if they can hunt me up a weensy little sink.
My other sink search involves the ideal sink for the laundry room. Of course I want an old sink, the kind with the porcelain over cast iron finish, preferably with a drainboard, so that Mr. Mary Kay can clean fish in the laundry room, instead of splattering fishguts all over my pretty shimmering lime kitchen. But the sink cabinet is 36 inches. Closest vintage sink I’ve found so far is 42 inches. Ah well, the hunt will continue. In January, I’ll hit Scott’s Antique Market and look up the guys who sold me my other sink and clawfoot tub. Speaking of Scott’s, did I mention that Katie and I are going flea marketing there with mon amour Eddie Ross in January? Eat your hearts out, fellow junkers. But in the meantime, when we pulled up to the house Friday, I discovered that we have a rosebush in the front yard. I guess I overlooked the puny little stick last time I was there. But this time? Our rose–creamy yellow with peachy pink centers, was in full bloom. Five days before Christmas. I call it an omen of good things to come. P.S. To take a gander at one of Jane Coslick’s genius cottage restorations, check the Jan.Feb. issue of Coastal Living for their piece on Luscious Little Cottage.