- Aug 15, 2021
- 6 min read

Furnished and Fabulous

Friday was the day we had been looking forward to for months. Lucky Friday the 13th was the start to a very exciting weekend. I love design and decorating. Decorating brings the design to life and to me that’s so much fun! Best of all, we spent our first night in the house as a family. It was wonderful!

Moving Day(s)

We rented a 26’ Uhaul Friday morning and loaded it full. We had our personal truck packed full as well. My parents were in Mentone again this weekend to help. We needed those extra hands and were so thankful for their time and hard work. I’ll also add that it’s going to be so nice to have our home back. You can imagine if we filled a 26’ Uhaul from our home, we had boxes and items for Lazy River Cottage coming out our ears at home.

Friday I called the furniture store to verify all our furniture was in. We were waiting on one side of the sectional that was supposed to ship last Wednesday. We were hoping it would make it by Saturday when we planned to pick up the furniture. Everything was in except for the one piece of the sectional. It’s coming, but since the dates change every time they check the manufacturers’ website, we chose to go ahead and bring a sofa and loveseat from home, just in case the sectional piece doesn’t make it before September 1. We picked up the beds, nightstands, living room chairs, and ottoman on Saturday morning.

This weekend was long, like 16 hour work days long, but the house is beautiful. The pictures give you a general idea what it looks like so far, but rest assured the pictures don’t do the house justice. It so much nicer in person!

Update

The granite went in this week and it is beautiful! The tile backsplash was supposed to be finished this weekend, but that one is completely on me. I managed to be short about 6 tiles and these tiles were custom order. I frantically called the tile store and they managed to get me 2 boxes shipped FedEx from the manufacturer. They are supposed to be in on Tuesday at the latest. As soon as they arrive, I’m going to get them to our contractor so the tile guy can finish up. I feel awful that I held it up, but we’re making the best of it and continuing to move forward. The kitchen tile may not be completely finished, but it is beautiful and we look forward to seeing it with grout next weekend. The appliance installer came last week and installed our dishwasher, washer & dryer. We put them both to good use this weekend too. We brought the refrigerator and microwave Friday so the appliance installer will finish up on Monday.

Living Room

We absolutely love how the living room turned out. In spite of the missing sectional, we managed to make it functional and beautiful. If you wonder what the sectional will look like, it will match the leather ottoman in the living room pictures. The blue accent chairs are a favorite of our daughter already. She says they are “so comfy” and we agree. We‘ve always loved the fireplace. The rock surround is now flanked by the 2 large deer my dad gave us from his trophy collection. One from Franklin County Alabama and one from Texas. He loves going on hunts and like all trophy deer, these came with stories as well. Our daughter said now the house really looks like a “Mentone house”.

If you’ve ever moved into a new house, you know the first weekend everything is not usually in its final spot. Due to appliances sitting in the middle of the kitchen floor, the kitchen island is also sitting in the living room currently. You can just imagine the pictures without it. We’ll post more next weekend with a pretty kitchen and island free living room.

Dining Room

This room, along with the downstairs bedroom, was ground zero for clutter, tools, and anything that didn’t have a place yet. I was determined to get it cleaned off so I could share it with you. We love how it turned out. The dining room is spacious. This part of the house was designed to fit my old square farmhouse table. A lot of sanding and elbow grease, fresh stain, and poly and this table is a beautiful piece of furniture once again. We found the white table against the wall at our favorite stop in Fort Payne, Myrtle Jane’s. We rarely leave without buying something. The photographs on the wall are of the dam at Desoto Falls and fall foliage on the water just in front of the house last fall. They bring just the right splash of color to the room.

Since our guests begin to arrive in September, I decided to go ahead and put out a small fall display in the dining room. I don’t decorate big for any holiday other than Christmas. Christmas I go all out though. I can’t help it. It just makes me so happy to see all the lights and garland. You’ll want to book your Christmas getaway with us for sure with the house all decorated.

Downstairs Master Bedroom

This bedroom is massive and has furniture to fit the scale of the room. This bedroom set was heavy. Really heavy, but boy is it pretty. The mirrors above the nightstands were some we had in a closet waiting on the perfect time to be displayed again. I knew this bedroom was going to be the perfect place to showcase them again. They look so pretty with the bedroom set. There is a white chest in the room too, but it was a cluttered mess of cleaning supplies and boxes so we’ll have to wait until next weekend to show it to you.

The master bathroom’s faucets are so cool! I knew they would be, and we loved seeing them installed. Unfortunately, the mirrors I had purchased ended up being too wide and looked bad. Not to worry, I have a plan and a mirror picked out to go in there. I‘ll track them down this week and plan to show you updated pictures next week, with mirrors.

Sleeping Loft

We made a few changes to the sleeping loft since last week’s pictures. I bought better bedskirts, my mom found the cutest wooden buoys for the space. We hung boat paddles & a very special map of the area from the early 1900s that I‘ll share more about with you after we get everything finished up on the house. You won’t want to miss that blog post.

Queen Bedroom & Bathroom

This room turned out so pretty. The red tartan plaid rug anchors the space and the local black and white photography really help make this a special room to stay in. I love photography. It’s a hobby I’ve enjoyed since childhood, but the beautiful scenery of the Mentone area make it easy. Other than ordering the wrong size bed skirt, this room is finished! I reordered a queen bed skirt so there will be updated pictures of this room next week. Our daughter has claimed this room as hers. She loves it!

The bathroom is looking great too. I have a little project I’m working on for all of the bathrooms with our scrap cedar. We’re hoping to get them installed next week along with towel racks and toilet paper holders. There’s only so much time in a day. Until next weekend.

Upstairs King Bedroom & Bathroom

Of all of the bedrooms this could be my favorite. The bed is stunning and we love the shape. This room also has a pine highboy that is probably considered an antique these days. It was mine as an 8 year old and my daughter has enjoyed having it in her room as well. We thought it would be just what this room needed, and we were right. This room also features a photograph of Desoto Falls after a big rain. The falls are always pretty, but they can be spectacular after lots of rain. The bathroom turned out beautiful as well.

Outdoors

We didn’t forget about the exterior of the house. We spent hours cleaning off the porches and putting out 75 bales of pine straw. We are so thankful for all the help from my parents and our kiddos. They were all troopers and helped get it done. The kayaks are in their storage area on the sitting deck ready for our floating dock to be installed. We didn’t forget about working outside, we just failed to take any pictures. I’ll plan to do better next week.

Final Items

We have one more long weekend of work left to knock out some final items then we hope to get to enjoy a weekend on the water with our family one weekend before our first guests arrive.

There will be new pictures next weekend. Check back for more pictures or follow us on social media for sneak peeks between blog posts.

Check out our website at www.littlerivervacay.com for more information about Lazy River Cottage in Mentone, AL.

We are now taking reservations for dates beginning September 2021. You can find us on VRBO and Airbnb.

Vacation Rental Mentone, AL