Peek Inside a Colorful 1932 Beach Cottage Filled With Salty Secondhand Finds
Bonus: This charming Tybee Island home is available to rent!
When Tybee Island, Georgia-based author Mary Kay Andrews is not writing (her latest page-turner, The Homewreckers, is on our beach reading list), cooking, or both (she's written a cookbook too), she's scouring estate sales and cruising curbsides for antique and vintage finds she gives a stylish second chance in her coastal cabin. Take a tour of her charming 1932 abode, Ebbtide, filled with beach house decorating ideas you can take home.
Living Room
While the house came furnished, the couple wanted to add their own personal style. "Fortunately, I'm an antiques hoarder, so we had plenty to choose from," says Mary Kay. "I've been known to ship my dirty clothes home when I'm on book tours so I have more room for the junk I buy." She loves buying art—especially landscapes and seascapes. "Tom is forever yelling at me about nails, so he built the ledges above the sofa, and we just continue to add and move things around."
Take-Home Idea
Bucket Lamp Bases: Turn galvanized ice-cream containers into beach house-friendly lighting!
Dining Room
Mary Kay had been on the lookout for a Sunbeam sign for years and, to her delight, it actually came with the beach house. Another loafing-friendly favorite: the two cozy arm chairs she found at a yard sale. The red-and-blue color scheme for the whole house was inspired not so much by Old Glory as by her collection of Oriental rugs—another antiquing soft spot. A toolbox functions as a centerpiece when filled with small vases of seasonal blooms.
Kitchen
Inexpensive gingham fabric inspired the room's red-and-white palette, which is reinforced with a cardboard grocery sign Mary Kay found at an antiques mall in Concord, NC. Tom added the frame. "I'm in charge of research and development and acquisition," she says. "Tom takes care of the engineering and implementation."
Porch
The enclosed porch, with its bright turquoise floor, was a major selling point. Mary Kay filled the space—a favorite spot for both writing and enjoying beer-garitas—with furniture found at a variety of estate sales. It's also home to a vintage Coke sign that she brought via Craigslist. "I emailed back and forth with the guy, and we decided to meet in a parking lot about 40 miles from my house. It was kind of freakish, so I asked a girlfriend to go with me," she says. "Sure enough, he lifted open his trunk, and there was this great vintage sign. My girlfriend said afterward that she never thought she'd see the day that she was a ride-along on a Craigslist Coke deal!"
Take-Home Idea
Olive Basket Light Fixture: Transform a galvanized bin into a rustic chandelier.
Bedroom
Mary Kay filled her bedroom with an assortment of found furniture, including a four-poster bed from Craigslist and a bench and side tables from a salvage store. "I removed the side tables' bottom doors, painted them, and added new pulls," she says. Mary Kay also crafted the curtains, pillows, and bed skirt from fabric from the Ballard Designs Outlet in Roswell, Georgia.
Guest Bedroom
When it comes to styling, Mary Kay says she gets inspiration from vignettes at antiques shows. "I snap a picture, and I think, 'With my stash, I could do this!'" Proof: the casually crooked vintage nautical charts that hang above a vintage twin bed, which was gifted by a dear friend. The antique quilt was an estate sale find.
The Homeowners
"My junking feeds my creativity," says Mary Kay, pictured with husband, Tom Trocheck. "A dealer will tell me a story about an item, and I can use it in a book. Five of my novels are set in Savannah, and a main character, Weezie, is an antiques picker. A lot of story lines I've given her are things I've experienced."
Love this home? It's available to rent! Visit tybeevacationrentals.com to find out more about the Ebbtide cottage.
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