Our Breeze Inn Vacation in Tybee Island

We spent six nights at The Breeze Inn in Tybee Island, Georgia, and every day I would find something new that I hadn't seen the previous day. I didn't want to leave!

I originally learned about the house from the Better Homes and Gardens article last summer. In many of the articles in home decor magazines, the featured homes are carefully staged and lots of outside props are brought in to improve the story & photos. I was a little concerned that the Breeze Inn was slightly over-hyped in the article. Boy, was I wrong! The home is exactly as it appears in BHG.

You can find photos of The Breeze Inn on BHG and on the home's own website. Instead of repeating those fabulous photos, I wanted to show some of the thoughtful details in the house, along with photos of the stuff that I wanted to steal. You can poke around in Mary Kay's blog archives to read about the full renovation of the house, starting with her initial purchase of the home.

Instead of using store-bought hollow doors and cheap-o knobs, Mary Kay scored some antique doors and an array of doorknobs for the house. I didn't realize that the doors weren't original until I re-read her blog archives.

Here's the drying rack hanging above the huge farmhouse sink. I will certainly be on the look out for one of these - I never find them in this smaller size.

This aqua cement sea horse is to die for. I need to ask Mary Kay if she painted it herself, or if it came in this color.

The upstairs hall bathroom has a window and shower curtains made from yards and yards of barkcloth with a pattern of flowers and dancing folks. (I cropped out the toilet in this photo, because I don't want to remind you that you need to go to the bathroom. Because then you might get up from the computer and forget to come back and read the rest of my post.)

This was on my top of my "Must Steal" list:

These boat paintings caught my eye, because I realize that I never would look twice at one of these if I saw it at a flea market by itself. But they looked so cute with the beachy decor of The Breeze Inn, particularly because they were grouped together.

Here's a pair of bird prints. There's another matching pair on the other end of this wall.

And a colorful painting featuring seashells in one of the bedrooms:

That green metal sconce, and its twin on the other side of the bed, would have fit perfectly in my suitcase. Mary Kay has bedside wall sconces in all three bedrooms, which is something I've never tried in my house. I am always worried about attaching something to the wall (hardwired or not). What if I eventually move my bedroom furniture around, and then I would have two holes in the wall? But, how often do you move your bed? Not often, dummy, so just try it.  (Sorry - that's how I talk to myself.)

Chrome lamps in the master bedroom:

Brass bedside lamps in the kids' room:

Did you catch the walls in those last few photos? No drywall to be found! All of the walls in the house are either white-washed horizontal boards, or vertical beadboard. The walls add that special touch to the house that makes it extra cozy and warm.

The back porch was a fun place to hang out after coming home from the beach. Here are three generations of Allison men having a laugh:  (there's that green glider that I threatened to bungee-cord to the top of our minivan.)

These bookshelves fill up a whole wall in the family room. Can you spy the three vintage globes? It was a good thing that I already had them in my own collection, or else I would have been tempted to commit a crime.

My mother-in-law had never read any of Mary Kay's books, but she grabbed Blue Christmas from the HUGE assortment of novels, cooking and home decor books and started reading it. Now she is planning to buy it, because she didn't get a chance to finish it while we were there. That's quite a sneaky sales ploy, Mary Kay! I recommend that my MIL just steal the book, but I guess she has morals and ethics and stuff like that.

Here's Finn at the bottom of the stairs. I don't know what Mary Kay calls this room, but it has a stacked washer/dryer in the corner, all of the sun hats and beach bags, a beautifully-painted turquoise daybed and access to the back porch. The stairway walls are covered in old photos of sunbathers. And look at that vintage hanging light!

 

I love that Mary Kay left the original plank ceiling in the master bath unpainted. (Be sure to look at the BHG photos of the sink and built-in shelves, too.)

This mirror in the master bedroom dressing area is just stunning. STUNNING. It is about 3' high by 4' wide, and the frame was bordered with one-inch square mirrored tiles.

I bet some of you think that I stayed at The Breeze Inn in exchange for this gushing post about the house. Well, of course! I mean, really, why on earth should I have to pay for anything? Country Living pays for my groceries. American Pickers pays my mortgage. And Antiques Roadshow sponsors my weekly cases of Cupcake Chardonnay.

Alas, I made an exception in this case, and we did pay for our stay. It was worth every penny. We were only a five minute walk to the beach, where the kids spent a few hours each day.

Savannah was about 25 minutes away, and we visited there nearly every day. We ate at The Distillery & Uncle Bubba's, took a trolley tour, ate pralines, did a scavenger hunt among the city squares, visited a national park, and shopped at The Paris Market & Brocante. I could go on and on about Tybee and Savannah, but I will spare you. Book a trip there now! That reminds me, I need to get the Georgia Tourism Board to sponsor me for something. Oh - maybe a trip to Scott's Flea Market in Atlanta?

"Okay, kids. Smile nice and pretty next to the tombstones!"

 UPDATE! Here's what we bought on the drive home.

Comments

[mary]

colleen,

i loved your post!! i was visiting family in jacksonville at christmas and we went to savannah (i had been before). if i ever move south, that will be the place. soooo in love with it. did you by chance have any beignet's at hueys??? god i could eat those all day long.
i drove out to tybee island, and fell in love with it...even though it was december and cold. now you have given me a place to go and stay..this place is fabulous!
was at the yard sale at the antique store on sat., was too late, everyone was packed up. ah well, next time!

[Dana @ circadee]

I was waiting for this post. You did not disappoint! I want to stay there!

[Jill]

Fun post! Thanks so much for sharing all the details. I'd love to make it to Savannah one day. I was just in one of my pet B&B's in Provence Monday and had the same idea about posting detail stuff. Thanks for trailblazing the idea!

[Ellen]

What a great post - it was like having a backstage pass to a concert! I have that same red parrot print! Picked it up at an estate sale. How fun is that?! Thanks for the tour - I knew I wanted to spend a week at The Breeze Inn... but now I'm pretty sure I wouldn't want to leave... ever...

[Mary Kay Andrews]

Colleen, I always squee when one of your posts shows jup in my rss feed, but I double squee-ed this morning when I read your sweet post about the Breeze. So glad you enjoyed yourself, and that the intense inventory I did after your departure didn't show up anything missing. Altho--who am I kidding? I've got so much crap, er stuff, I'd never notice...altho, yeah, i'd notice if you swiped the glider. Thanks again and come back soon! MKA

[June Newsome]

Absolutely loved seeing the pics and hearing about The Breeze Inn. Mary Kay Andrews is one of my alltime favorite writers and you just happened to be in my favorite city in the whole world so this article is just about perfect!!

[Donovan]

"Smile nice next to the tombstones" indeed! Did they take advantage of the park right next to the cemetery? I went to SCAD and spent a lot of time in and next to that cemetery.

[Bethany]

I discovered The Breeze Inn via Mary Kay Andrews's FB page and immediately checked it out. I am so jealous that you got to spend a week there! Hopefully, we can book a week to stay sometime in the next year or two. I just found your blog this evening, and I am so glad that I did!