“With a little help from my friends”
This beach spot needed to come together in a hurry and I was able to do that with a little help from my friends and family. I’m fortunate to have some talented friends and family and I look around this place and see them everywhere. My father’s artwork, my great grandfather’s woodworking skills, and my friends who are artists and designers are all represented here in some way!
The Living Room
The living area all began with this Art Deco rug from Paige Albright Orientals. This is a rug I already owned and I love the fun energy and joy that comes from the clear hues in it’s color palette. I wanted this beach place to be full of color and not just the typical white-washed beach house color scheme. So I started with the rug, and went from there. The large tobacco basket on the wall came from the Parish side of Parish + ExVoto at Rosemary Beach. My partner, Ashley Gilbreath, has so many great ideas for objects that become art for the home. The gallery wall needed more than just framed art, and the tobacco basket added texture and dimension to the grouping of art from my father, Phil Coley, Nashville artist, Craig Greene, and local 30A area artist, Liza Snider. My good friend, Whitney Rietz Eller of Whitney Rietz Design in Charleston, directed the recovering job of the club chairs which I inherited from my parents. These chairs have been a part of my life since day one, and they have lived many lives as I have recovered them more times than I can count! A good chair never dies!
The Dining
A huge painting from my father circa 1978 anchors the dining area along with the farmhouse table built by my great grandfather. I stripped and sanded and refinished this table for truly YEARS to try and get down to the beautiful wood underneath layers of paint and shellac. The white pottery bowls were made by my friend and Birmingham artist, Ennis Everette, and the blue marbled bowls are by Melissa Bridgeman of Bridgeman Pottery in Memphis, TN. The green and white and black and white bowls are more items sourced from Parish. The white, feathered Juju hat on the back stairwell wall is from Paige Albright Orientals.
Porch
My mother had this fun palm fabric stashed away and pulled it out to make pillows for our porch furniture which I had covered in an outdoor fabric for easy maintenance. I sourced the green drinking glasses from the local Goodwill in Santa Rosa Beach.
The Bedroom
A print my father made in the 1980’s hangs above my bed and it is almost as if it was a commissioned to match the Turkish textile I sourced from my friend at Paige Albright Orientals. I teased my father that he had an alter-ego in Turkey who was weaving on his wave length! Rug, pillows and luggage all from Paige Albright Orientals and the super soft throw blanket is from Marguerite’s Conceits. Both Paige Albright and Marguerite’s Conceits are in Mountain Brook Village, right down the street from our Birmingham shop. The photo frames holding fun family memories on our bedside table are from Parish by Ashley Gilbreath, and the ExVoto jewelry I have been wearing on repeat (Scarab Earrings and Semi-Precious Stone Bracelets) can be found on the bedside table as well.