OMG, what a fun thread . . and what memories! My first apartment was in 1974 in Deerfield Beach, Florida. I'd gotten my RT degree and had been working in Detroit (New Dawn, we were there at the same time!) at the Children's Hospital, but tired of the hour-long drive back to my parent's home in the suburbs . . not to mention Michigan's cold, gray, slushy winters. One day, I'd had enough and three weeks later I was on my way to a new, exciting job in Ft. Lauderdale as the head of a Special Procedures Department at one of the local hospitals down there. I had no furniture,no dishes, pots or pans; nothing but my clothes, etc. to take with me. I had to buy everything when I moved in. Thank goodness I had a nice bit of money saved! Mine was a one bedroom apt on the third floor of a 3-story building about a 1/2 mile from the ocean. It had a screened-in porch that overlooked the pool area. I found a couple comfy folding patio chairs and a little table at my Publix grocery store for out there. My gram took me to a furniture store on Federal Highway in Boca Raton and I got the prettiest green & white bamboo print sofa, white wicker coffee and end tables there, a big wicker throne chair and a couple of yellow ceramic table lamps, too. I loved it all, as it looked so exotic . . . and so un-Michigan! I had no dining room table or bar area, so I guess I must have eaten at my coffee table. I probaby ate most of my meals during the week at either of my grandparents homes, though! Both sets had retired to Deerfireld Beach a few years before. Gosh, I haven't thought about this for 20 years,at least! My grandparent's lived in a condo on the ocean and their many retired friends were always giving me decorative pieces for my place. They taught me to make all sorts of great appetizers . . . which is what they all seemed to live on. That and Tanqueray & Tonics. I don't mean to infer that they had drinking problems; I just remember a LOT of cocktail parties. One gave me a large framed print of one of Henri Rousseau's Jungle paintings for my living room. I got my queen size bed, and dresser from one of them, too. They were all missing their own grandkids a lot and I became the substitute grandchild to many of them. They were such sweet, wonderful people! I have such great memories of them all. I bought a beautiful green & pink on white jungle print bedspread with tropical leaves and flowers on it. . and I still have it today! It's tattered and torn, but I loved it so much I've kept it all these years. I never did own a tv in my four years down in Florida and I don't recall ever missing it. I spent my evenings during the week listening to music and reading or playing tennis with friend's. Weekend days were ALWAYS spent at our local beach with my friends, swimming, surfing, scuba diving and playing beach volleyball . . . or waterskiing up and down the Intracoastal Waterway. We spent the evenings at the nightclubs in and around Ft.L and Miami. Anybody remember Big Daddy's Brother Jim's in Ft.L? We also spent a lot of time down in Key West, scuba diving and beaching it. I got to know KC & The Sunshine Band when they were just locals playing at the clubs around Miami. Those were a wonderful, exciting and life-changing four years for me. What great memories! Thanks New Dawn :~) Lynn

Oh, wow, I came to update, and was surprised any of you were interested. I'm still in a dither, this time afraid I should have gotten a white sofa, and not able to decide on fabrics for the rest of the upholstered furniture. The Ellen Kennon paint colors are: Living Room: Tulip Leaves, Peridot or Spring Green. Kitchen and Dining Room: Citrine, Sunshine, Buttercup, or Buttercream. I ordered a Bradington-Young Yorba sofa in a light tan (Surreal Masson). I was going to switch to an off-white leather this morning, but they finished cutting the leather right before I called. My leather is a shade or two lighter than this, but the color of what I bought is nothing like the swatch I have: The loveseat, chair, and ottoman I ordered are these (Jessica Charles): I chose the chair because it is big enough to fit my husband. He wanted the H&M Austin High Back Tilt Back w/ottoman -- but it looked like a huge squatting toad. I haven't selected fabric for the Jessica Charles furniture yet. There are two I like, but I think they'd look better with a white sofa *and* I don't think they'd look good with the green wall colors the consultant advised me to try. If I painted the living room Citrine, it might work. OTOH, maybe the fabric would look awful with the sofa. I am going this weekend to visit my mother for 10 days, so I had a couple dozen more fabric samples sent to her house. I'm bringing my set of Ellen Kennon paint chips and all the fabric samples I have, plus my leather swatch. My biggest problem, besides fearing I made a big mistake in not getting an off-white sofa, is that I like two color schemes equally well and cannot decide what to do: #1 is spring green and soft yellow, with blue accents #2 is a medium mossy green and off-white, with soft yellow accents. I think I made a big mistake when I chose the sofa color. Now I have to figure out what to do about it. It looks fine with the Ellen Kennon paint colors the consultant suggested, though. Hopefully, I'll make a fabric decision very soon, because I've already spent 4 months dithering about this. Green (except for dark green) is my favorite color, so it has to stay in the mix. ...

This can't compare to the condition and beauty of the one you found nor is it as long and also appears way too deep but I am sure you will find just the right thing if you don't purchase the other one. DH and I were antiquing several months ago and our architectural warehouse had some amazing pediments that I thought would look wonderful at the peaks of our walls in the living room. Here is a link that might be useful: antique window

Lucky you! I've decorated my beach house that only exists in my head so many times... I love that brick! Of course, it looks exactly like my fireplace brick, so I might be a little partial. And I agree that the granite was way too modern for the house. I think light colored slipcovered sofas would be perfect. I'm talking about the ones where the slipcover is made for the sofa, and the cushions are separate, not under the slipcover. The generic slipcovers you buy to fit almost any sofa always looks messy. But the individually wrapped cushions and slipcovered frame would not look messy. I think. Never owned one, but would get that style. Especially at the beach where you may want to wash them more. Your floors are beautiful. I totally love dark hardwood floors, but I think it would show too much sand at the beach. Medium tone will be perfect. Like others have said, add dark wood with the furniture. Are you keeping the yellow paint? I could see a really soft tan/neutral (BM Manchester Tan maybe?) with the white woodwork. Here is one of my favorite beach houses. It has dark floors, but I just love the soothing feeling of this house (and of course the views don't hurt!). Here is a link that might be useful: Beach House