How a Savannah restaurant inspired my trim

Savannah is a favorite place of ours. Years before my brother in law was stationed there we chose this as our honeymoon destination and have since visited many times, both to see my sister and because it always feels like a home away from home for us.

Outside of the classic seafood joints on River Street, new eateries are popping up making use of old historic buildings and the growing interest in tourism to the city. I have only a couple of pictures I took years ago inside a favorite spot we had brunch at with my sister and her husband but it inspired a whole change in my attitude towards some of the scrap piles in our yard. Let me explain…

There was just something about this chippy white trim mixed with an ordinary brown stained crown that struck me. Mixed with the aged grey wood and the angle iron corners it is warm and eclectic. I often take a vibe or sentiment from a trip and end up spinning it into a design feature, sometimes subliminally. Looking back I am convinced my color scheme for the upstairs trim might have been influenced by this New Orleans gate picture:

Or that the decision to go black on the trim in the bedroom with the wallpaper mural was inspired by the color of the buildings from our trip to Salem Massachusetts.

Either way, tying decor in your house to a visual of an amazing place you visited certainly isn’t a bad idea. Especially if you strive to live in a home that reflects your collected life.

But back to the trim at hand…when we built the addition over the garage I knew I wasn’t going to have the same time worn thick old trim with layers of paint to give it a lived and layered look. New construction is great and all but my house isn’t…new construction. So I was on the hunt for ways to give the bonus room it’s own character. The debris from the house demo had been outside through a few seasons now and so it began to show a natural patina I decided could be perfect for a few projects.

Old frieze board, once painted solid white, became the jam wood between the old and new part of our house:

I scraped the loosest pieces with a wire brush and used a clear coat to encapsulate the remaining crackled paint so that flakes can’t fall off.

Another distressed piece of trim from the exterior of the house made it into the backboard of the custom couch in the bonus room. Once again for safety reasons all loose paint particles have been removed. This one really emulated what I loved about the Prohibition walls because it mixes the stained wood of the new piece and bull nose with a painted finish and a weathered cedar.

We are in the process of adding more of this whitewashed trim under the bull nose headers of all the doorways in the bonus room. Besides adding some texture, I like saying that we salvaged it from the outside of our old house. I was lucky enough to find a place for it before it ended up as kindling in a bonfire. There is something satisfying about giving these materials another chance, and even more gratifying when the new purpose outshines their original one.

Enjoy a few additional photos of this Savannah restaurant:

Inspiration from these pictures that you can expect to see me steal for my coming projects will be the textured glass, tin ceiling and brick bar wall. Stay tuned!