Back to Tybee to meet up with Jane Coslick...

We decided to at least give Jane a call to explore the possibility of getting her help in renovating and decorating our Cottage. We called and she agreed to meet the next weekend...so off we went. It felt great to be able to get away for the weekend and actually have our own place to stay. About all we had was a bed and a couple of chairs but compared to some of our tent camping trips we were in " high cotton " has Granny Hogan used to say! We were already discussing Cottage names and hadn't settled on anything. I wanted some feedback from Diane at Mermaid Cottages and from Jane before we decided on a name. All of the Cottages on Tybee have names. My favorite was 99 Steps...that one belonged to Jane and the cottage is only 99 steps to the Beach. Others we liked....Breeze Inn, Fish Camp, and of course Fiddler on the Creek. Breeze Inn is owned by Mary Kay Andrews...yes the best selling author! I had recently read one of her books and it was set in the Savannah and Tybee area...thinking now that she may have planted a seed deep in my brain that just now sprouted! Ummm....another coincidence.

We were excited and nervous about meeting with Jane. We had never worked with a designer/decorator before...heck we usually did all of our own painting, cleaning, rehabbing etc...so we as the SuperWonderfulGrandBoy says...didn't have a Clue! Jane called and said she was running a little late but was looking forward to meeting us at the Cottage. She arrived an hour or so later. She pulled up and jumped down out of a sharp looking White pickup truck. It looked huge next to Jane. I am 5 foot 2 or used to be on a really tall day...probably a bit less now. Jane was about the same...so we had that in common. She had on jeans and a white blouse and flip flops and was carrying a huge tape measure and notebook. She made us feel comfortable immediately...she is warm, funny, and clearly loves what she does. We walked around the Cottage both inside and out so that she could see what we had to work with. Jane suggested that we purchase all new high quality beds. The most important thing about a Cottage according to Jane...everything HAS to be comfortable...so comfortable that you don't want to leave. She thought we needed a king for the Master suite and queens for each of the other two bedrooms. We had been planning on twin beds for one room but Jane pointed out that if we put in twin beds there would not be a wall left for a dresser...duh...she was already ahead of us! She wanted us to get the feel of a real Tybee Cottage so we agreed to follow her back to her 99 Steps Cottage. Well it was pretty amazing and I wasn't the only one that thought so. It had been photographed for Coastal Living Magazine! I keep lots of the back issues...and I was pretty sure it was sitting in the stack back on the mountain. I wanted to work with Jane by the time she got out of the truck...I think Mike was hooked after seeing her Cottage. We chatted about time lines and budgets and she wanted to spend some time thinking and would catch up with us soon. We were hoping to get decorated and ready to rent by Memorial Day or perhaps a bit sooner.

We enjoyed the rest of the weekend and caught up with our kayak friend John and we were able to go out to dinner at A.J.s on the Creek for some awesome shrimp and grits. A nice evening. Sunday dawned and we enjoyed watching the sunrise from a swing on the North Beach near the lighthouse. We spent some time with Eric and discussed some of the renovations he was helping with and then we had to hit the road...work tomorrow...but we were already looking forward to our next trip back. We were wondering what ideas Jane had for the Cottage...we had told her we wanted it to be pet friendly and that we wanted to keep the large boardwalk type ramp...I have some issues with steps and lots of other folks do to...we also mentioned we loved biking and kayaking. So we were rolling all of that around in our heads with thoughts of the decor and a name for the Cottage. What would Jane come up with...?