Welcome to paradise in the middle of downtown Savannah, GA

We knew we were in for a treat when we saw the front entrance but we had know idea....

The lot was huge, lush, and incredible

The homeowners were super fun.. They told stories about all the hard work and had a photo album filled with the progress of the gardens over the years.. They shared a really cute story about the pimp daddy and his ladies that occupied one of the homes around them when they first moved in .. 

Let's just say Miss homeowner cleaned up her neighborhood by providing some early morning music with some pots and pans ....  You go girl !!

We could have stayed here forever...

Remember the tour was early spring. I bet these pots are beautiful by now. 

see the opening that they are standing in..

it lead to this beautiful spot 

See how lush ...

and then we had to leave... boo hoo

I said yesterday that I would also be sharing Miss mermaids garden but I didn't realize how many pictures I wanted to share of this beautiful home so will do her another day

I handed this to my girl when I walked in she looked at it for 2 seconds and started chopping ..lol I was scared for about 2 seconds but hey it's just hair and I love my hairdresser so I went with it.. It turned out cute, close to Kim's far bottom right but highlights instead of blond ... 

hugs and happy Thursday everyone, Cherry

The end of our Savannah tour of homes and gardens for 2010

This home had just been renovated. The home owner was fun he was really enjoying showing off his home and legs to everyone. The upstairs was very elegant while the downstairs was like the homeowner colorful and fun.



love those long windows. The upstairs kitchen went on forever with lots of counter and cabinet space.



The downstairs walls were between a lime and an olive green. I loved the faux marble painted concrete floors and the little galley kitchen.

next up ...





The dining area was beautiful the chandelier with the painted bamboo chairs was great. The sitting area was painted kinda of a dark pewter color. I loved it with the blue and chocolate furniture.



The house has a colorful past with lots of tales about murder and evil spirits long before Jim Williams came to town.. This brick wall separates it from our next house. The wall has broken bottles mortared to the top of it. Some say they are there to keep the evil spirits away and some say to keep the evil spirit that lived there in... Me ... I say they are cool and the sunlight shining through them looks pretty .. don't want to piss off any spirits good or bad ..



Our next home had Savannah writer Susan B. Johnson inside signing her book Savannah's Little Crooked Houses: If These Walls Could Talk and I hear it has a story to tell.



We had a wonderful lunch in City Market and did a wine tasting at Meinhardt Winery Which was awesome the guy's running the place were so much fun we tasted 7 or 8 wines and each one was better than the one before .. good thing we had a long walk back to our car cause we were feeling happy ..lol

We also hit the Goodwill on Broughton street where I found a really pretty cut glass mini candle chandelier for 3 bucks and we later saw in a shop for $35 so that was my woohoo find of the day.
It was an awesome day and I'm ready to go again ..

Hope ya'll enjoyed the tour ..

Miss computer is heading to the doctor for a few days she has slowed down to a crawl and has no space left for me to play which is why I haven't been blogging or visiting as much .. So we will see ya'll soon and share all the other fun stuff that has been going on here, like 2 great plant sales and this years Garden Expo that took place this weekend..

I'm hooking up with Miss Mary over at Little Red House for Mosaic Monday
ya'll come on over and see what all the other wonderful bloggers are sharing this week.

Hugs from Savannah ya'll, Cherry

An incredible modern loft in Savannah

I'm sorry for dragging out this tour of homes but the weather in Savannah has been out of this world beautiful and I have been no where near this box ... which is what the hubby calls this computer.....

Our next home is a very modern loft over the Melting Pot Restaurant on Broughton Street
This home was cool! Does anyone but me use the word cool any more ?



here's some of the what I thought made this home COOL !
The chrome celestial sphere chandelier



the dining room chairs, love, love, loved these



the windows and views



the openness of the living areas ( and yes that pictures is crooked )



I would want my couch or bed directly under this skylight so I could lay there looking up at stars all night ...



This room was an office area, it was darker than any of the other rooms. The wood work in it was really nice



Oyster Shell counter tops and back splash .. These were spectacular !! The cream color ones where in the kitchen and if you look back at the very first picture you can see the one done in black which was a little computer area off from the kitchen.



love these ~ cool, cool, cool ...



Guest bathroom ~ Modern meets yesterday ... love the vanity area with all the family pictures .. hey that's my gal friend Bobbie in the mirror ..lol



The commode area was like a princess throne .. lol



ta da .. The master ... this room was simply gorgeous to me .. simple with beautiful furniture and the bathroom had marble everywhere..



the bed skirt was burlap !! WAY COOL ..



a few of the other bedrooms and another great light fixture.

There was a lot more to this loft but we where told to stop taking pictures. Some of the guides in the houses allowed us to take pictures and some didn't. In this home the guide in the front of the house was cool but the one in the back of the house wasn't cool .. lol

There was sunlight streaming in from everywhere. You could feel the energy of this great city while staring out at all the hustle & bustle of one of the busiest streets in downtown Savannah.

There is one wait maybe two more house to share.. and I promise to rap up this tour this week ..lol .. Thanks for stopping by sure hope ya'll enjoyed this cool loft as much as I did ..

It's Mosaic Monday so how about following me on over to Miss Mary's at Little Red House to see what all the other wonderful bloggers are sharing today.. Miss Mary's Mosaic's today are of crab apples in bloom .. and they are BEAUTIFUL !

hugs ya'll happy Monday,
Cherry

if this is your first time stopping by there is lots more goodies to see so checkout everything including more of this years tour of homes and last years tour.

Next stop on our tour

This home was one of my favorites it sits on Liberty street and not only was the home and garden charming but it felt quaint and personal. It felt like one of those homes that you could slip right into.



The master bedroom had really large windows that let in the morning sunshine and breath taking views of the city. You can see The Cathedral of St. John the Baptist , St Vincent's Academy, little shops, trolley cars and horse drawn carriages. The home owner had a sitting area on one end of the room where she works on her crewel embroidery ... which was a really pretty piece with sea shells on it.



The master bath was very spacious and how about that green paint color. It was very pretty in person.



There were 2 more bedrooms and another bath upstairs and a tiny little stair/ ladder that went to somewhere very special .. we just don't know to where. It had a sign on it that said ... Very private even our tour guide was itching to sneak up and see what was there ...lol



not sure why I didn't get a better shot of the kitchen it was filled with beautiful pieces of copper. See that painting ... it is of the home owner in her garden when it was in full bloom .



The garden had it all... This great seating area which sits up a level so you can view the entire garden while sitting under cover year around. The garden was completely closed in so it was very private.



it had little spaces filled with pots of flowers, ferns, greenery and isn't that monkey a cutie .. lol



herbs by the kitchen door...



and how about this butterfly bench ... OH my goodness this bench was stunningly beautiful the patina was gorgeous it is huge as you can see if you look back at the painting in the kitchen .. and do you see the little one on the side table it's a planter ..



the lanterns, plantings, paths and seating areas made this courtyard garden not only charming but one that you could tell the home owner truly loves and spends a lot of time in ..

more of our tour later so stop back by
hugs, Cherry

75th Annual Savannah Tour of Homes & Gardens

Bobbie, Beth and I did this years tour on Thursday with was in the northeast quadrant of the Landmark District it included 9 stops . You could not have asked for a more beautiful day. There wasn't a lot of things blooming yet because of our cold winter but it was still worth seeing.. and of course any day spent with my girlfriends is always a perfect day .. love ya both bunches !



Let's start in the White Garden it is a circular courtyard of Savannah Grey bricks centered around a 19th century lead fountain. The garden had containers of white orchids that glowed against the backdrop of English ivy covered walls, it also included impatiences, hydrangeas, camellias, a white tulip tree and azaleas .. How about that fireplace !



I bet this garden is stunning this week. I think every thing that can bloom is blooming right now in Savannah. I don't remember us having a spring this pretty in a long time .. I guess all that rain and cold I kept fussing about really was worth it .. lol



The home that goes with this garden is undergoing extensive renovations right now it is a 1855 Greek Revival townhouse that was the childhood home of Conrad Aiken, Poet Laureate of the 1950's.



76th Annual Savannah Tour of Homes & Gardens will be March 24th ~ 27th 2011 if you have ever wanted to see Savannah then mark your calendars. This event is a great way to not only see some of the beautiful homes and gardens but with it being a self guided walking tour it allows you to see Savannah at a leisurely pace so you can take in all this beautiful city has to offer.

There is events offered on all 4 days other than just the tour.
This year you could have had lunch in one of the private dining rooms at The Lady & Sons restaurant or attend a complimentary welcome reception & worship service in Johnson Square across from Christ Church.
There was also seminars ~ Southern girls love their pearls .. Antique furniture 101 or The gardeners walking tour with Georgia certified plant professional Roy Heizer who has a brand new book out Savannah Gardens which I did get to peek at recently at another event but I haven't got to buy it yet. It is a beautiful book filled with lots of yummy pictures.. and speaking of new books our very own Miss Paula Deen has a brand new design book out called Savannah Style which looks better than yummy it looks simply scrumptiously !!



Which you can read more about over at the Mermaid Cottages blog Miss Diane has several homes featured in the new book .. It looks like Miss Paula is making Savannah and our wonderful little Tybee island shining stars once again .. and speaking of Tybee the Seafood fest starts tomorrow. This year they are having a carnival like the one that was set up during the filming of THE LAST SONG this past summer .. which is in theaters right now so go checkout our beautiful little Tybee on the big screen ..

OK got a little off from our tour but come back tomorrow and I will share another one of our stops...

I'm linking up with Miss Susan over at A Southern Daydreamer's blog for Outdoor Wednesday ya'll come on over and see what all the other wonderful blogger's have to share today ..

Happy Wednesday ya'll
hugs, Cherry

The end of our tour !

This was my favorite home on the tour it had drapes to die for beautiful art work and each room was a designers paradise. The bathrooms were grand mirrors everywhere. In the parlor they had 2 beautiful crystal water coolers one was filled with strawberries, fresh mint, water and ice the other was filled with cucumber slices, water and ice not only were they very refreshing they were stunning to look at.

Magnolia Hall
Adjacent to Savannah's magnificent Forsyth Park is historic Magnolia Hall, the guesthouse of the Savannah College of Art and Design. Built in 1878, the three-story, 13-bedroom mansion offers well-appointed private quarters, verdant gardens and airy verandas affording sweeping views of the 21-acre park and surrounding Victorian neighborhood.

Rehabilitated by Savannah College of Art & Design, Magnolia Hall reflects the college's leadership in adaptively reusing many of the city's architectural treasures. These architectural icons are located throughout the National Historic Landmark District and Victorian districts of Savannah.

Designed in 1878 by New York architect Abraham J. Snedeker, Magnolia Hall was built as a single-family home for cotton magnate Jacob Guerard Heyward (1844–88). Raised in Beaufort, South Carolina, Heyward attended school in Charleston and served in the first artillery battalion of the Confederate Army. Following the Civil War, he married Pauline de Caradeuc, whose personal diary from the years 1863–88 was published as A Confederate Lady Comes of Age. Heyward later became one of Savannah's most successful cotton factors.

In 1984, the home was transformed into an inn. Several noted literary figures have been associated with Magnolia Hall, including Pulitzer Prize-winning Poet Laureate Conrad Aiken, who was born in the house in 1889. Novelist John Berendt made the residence his adopted Savannah home in the 1980s while writing the New York Times best seller Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil.
SCAD acquired the inn in 2005 for use by visiting artists and other guests of the college.
You can read the entire story here on the schools web site.

SCAD has given Savannah it's downtown beauty back we are very proud they chose Savannah as their home back in 1978 what they have accomplished in the years since is simply amazing and a true gift to our city.

and then we had to walk through Forsyth Park



Did you see the huge Oak in the slide show ? it is almost 300 years old .
Here's some great info about it. Savannah off the beaten path

Now I would like to ask what you think about these three gardens you can kinda see the third one in the picture behind the hot pink bench. These homes are side by side and were all built in the 1850's so they have very similar facade but checkout how different each yard is landscaped.. Personally none of them appealed to me and if I had too see that hot pink/orange combo every morning I would scream .. lol
It was fun to see but you can touch that hot pink vase on the balcony from the front door of the other house .

This is what makes Savannah so great you never know what you are going to see !

From Collages

From Collages

Ok that's it the end of our tour sure hope everyone enjoyed it as much as Beth and I did there is another tour that starts tomorrow it is the NOGS tour along with the Savannah Garden & Antique Expo We won't be doing this tour because we will be to busy enjoying the show and trying to make more space in the car for all the stuff I know we will be buying .. lol

Oh Bobbie I'll see you in the morning ... are you ready to shop girlfriend ???

Wisteria House

This is the first stop on our tour of the
2009 Savannah tour of homes & gardens

I can remember always wanting to go inside this house even as a young girl when we would come to Savannah to visit daddy's family so I was very excited to see it . It is a private residence, it was built in 1897 it is a Queen Anne style home which was popular in the 1880's till the early 1900's. The rounded front porches are topped with copper turrets.
The back courtyard is small but they made it family friendly by adding a small pool and deck.

I love how the garage opens up to the pool for extra play space and the creeping fig that is climbing all over the garage.

Beth and I were tempted to just sit in the swing and forget about the rest of the tour .. lol but we couldn't do that we had to see what other treasures we could find there was 9 stops on the tour plus all the beauty of downtown Savannah so there is LOTS of pictures to share so I will get them all up as quickly as I can.

Don't forget click on any picture to enlarge

We did not know till we got there that we could not take pictures inside any of the homes for safety reasons, so sorry I sure wish I could have shared the entire tour with everyone.