Liz and Dave have moved from Washington DC to Eglin Air Force Base in Ft Walton Beach. This happy change has been in the works for about 2 months now. After we all returned from our Cape Cod trip, Liz flew here to my home and we went over to Ft Walton to look at different housing options. She fell in love with the older home on base overlooking the Choctawhatchee Bay with amazing views of Destin. And she knew, unequivocally that Dave would love it too!
When they finally arrived here at my home 2 weeks ago, the U Haul truck was quickly packed up with all their belongings from their apartment in Shreveport, LA. Back in June 09, we moved everything here and put it all in storage for easy access.
I made the trip from here to Eglin driving Dave’s new vehicle, Dave driving the 26 FT U haul and Liz driving her vehicle. It was a busy exhausting week of unpacking, sorting and weeding out things they hadn’t seen in some 18 months. Too many boxes to unpack, lots of temporarily forgotten memories and seeing all their wedding gifts again was at times overwhelming. Then the next day, a moving van arrived with another maybe 30 (seemed like 50) boxes of all their belongings that they acquired while living Walter Reed.
I did manage to do lots of sewing for them. I brought my sewing machine, glue gun, and electric stapler for lots of projects. Here’s a look at some of the rooms, not yet all complete. I’m still sewing here at home for them.
Guest bedroom #1. We decided to use a red, white, and blue nautical theme, reusing everything from their apartment. The navy swag was 2 long panels that I redid to better fit the long window. If you look close on the window sill, you’ll see the nautical candles from their wedding. And their white oars that all the wedding guests signed. This window looks out at the Bay. Liz decided to put bed on the wall so guests can fall asleep to the beautiful lights of Destin at night and wake up to the gorgeous sunrise in the morning. Just amazing!
This is their queen sleigh bed and…
matching armoire that used to live in my bedroom. I miss it but now can find something fun to replace it. This armoire was the only thing that got damaged in the move. One door broke off when my hubby drove it in the virtually empty U Haul from our house, 1 mile to the storage unit. HA HA! We made him fix it when he arrived here at Eglin AFB later in the week. And Dave drove it 206 miles without any issues. Yea Jim!
The Ralph Lauren nautical pillows used to be in their old guest room with twin beds.
Wedding votives made with white nautical rope and navy grosgrain look perfect on this long window sill.
Guest bath….I had this Amy Butler Nigella Wood Fern Olive, it made a perfect valance for this window. It looks great with the Walter Anderson painting and other touches of aqua in the bath that I didn’t get in the picture.
2nd guest bedroom/office. Again we repurposed everything Liz and Dave had from their old apartment. These 2 swags were 3 times 2 long panels in their old master bedroom. I simply sewed them together, and pinched/gathered them.
For now Liz has her 2 twin beds in here (some how, we lost the bed frames for these beds.) She plans to get a trundle bed and store the box springs so the room is not so crowded but still can accommodate guests. This room has a soft beachy theme with the sea shell sconces, the beach and sailing signs, and the new sea shell fabric Liz picked out below.
I used it, as well as some oatmeal linen to make a skirt/cover/hide things under a folding table. The skirt has 2 ties in the front to open it up and have easy access to what’s hidden underneath.
The table is big enough for their large printer, laptop, and some writing or work space. We put a long shelf above with a memo board.
The little sea shell lamp I made
Painted the round mirror a soft aqua over green.
On to the living room, Liz and Dave got some awesome new furniture, my pictures don’t do them justice.
Miller quickly found his snuggle spot on the new leather sofa….great view advantage looking out the front windows at all the neighbors passing by.
The Mississippi picture by Pam Marshall
The ALLIGATOR by Walter Anderson that I painted, hubby had yet to arrive to hang it. Don’t you just love Liz’s blue and white collection sans the box of tissues? And there’s Dave’s prized signed baseball from Uncle George … I think a winning Yankees team with Babe Ruth’s signature! And the Hitchcock rocking chair from hubby’s family.
Making a new slipcover for this chair in oatmeal linen, I had this chair in my home and made this slipcover for it here. POST SCRIPT wow, I just looked at this old post from 09 and I correctly predicted that I would recover this chair in linen for you, Liz and Dave, and that you might/would live at the beach. How's that for a Mother's intuition?
Miller, blending in, one of his exhausted moments after lots of barking, exploring, and too much company. See Jude’s beautiful hand thrown bowl sitting on the Lilly Pulitzer book on the coffee table? Dear friends of Dave and Liz’s from Walter Reed that helped them through many difficult days.
Ahhhh….my view while sewing….looking out at the Bay and beach towards Destin. Wonder how I got anything done? Yes, Liz and Dave’s home is about 50 feet from the water. Also, you can see their huge screened in porch where they will spend most of their time. It is awesome.
A view of their kitchen
looking into living area from their kitchen, lots of blue and white
Still a work in progress since I was sewing and had all my stuff in the way.
Now the master bedroom….Liz and Dave got a new king size bed so they started all over here. We decided to continue the use of the oatmeal linen, since it is so neutral, easy to get more yardage, goes with everything, and can be re-purposed later on. I had 5 yards of Amy Butler Nigella Primrose olive material that Liz liked so we decided to use that as the accent material that would bring a little spark to the room. While I was still there I sewed a king sized dust ruffle from the oatmeal linen. We plan to make headboard with nail trim using the same linen. Now, back at home, I working on pillow shams, curtains, round table cover, etc.
Here’s the oatmeal linen, the Amy Butler and the oatmeal ticking strip that Liz found that looks AMAZING with everything.
The oatmeal linen and ticking stripe are so neutral that they can be reused anywhere if Liz and Dave tire if the Amy Butler Primrose.
Here’s the oatmeal linen table skirt and Amy Butler table topper I made since I’ve been back home. It drags on the floor since Liz’s new table is taller. I ordered this awesome table from Tables ready to cover …great storage with those two shelves.
I’ve got lots of projects going on here, I need to sew some slips for me! Going back to Liz and Dave’s for Thanksgiving, hope I get all their projects done plus mine!
