Tybee Island Tour of Homes Photos

Last week I had the pleasure of being a Docent for the Tybee Home Tour.  This  was the 17th year for the tour, all  for charity.  This year the money raised went to the Tybee Island Maritime Academy, the food pantry the Rising TYde, and the summer sleep-away camp for children, the Fresh Air Home.  I was excited to greet the visitors to The Oyster Gardens, home of Diane Kaufman.

"HERE'S WHAT I WORE"  The Bermuda shorts are by Lilly Pulitzer in the 'Cabana Pink Sunnyside Chipper' pattern, with a Lilly P polo, Augusta National pony cap, Lilly P bow belt, and Lilly P pink mules.

Diane has a fabulous home {it's really a compound with a main house, guest house, dock house, and double garage} on Tybee Island...where the Atlantic ocean meets the back river.  The property was originally an old oyster house {used for receiving, shucking, processing, and packing oysters}. In 1895 the Goette family of Savannah bought the property for $7.50 on the courthouse steps. Mr. Goette signed the property over to his wife.  After Mr. Goette died, the mother raised their four children--the two sons lived in the main house and the two spinster daughters lived in the guest house. Mrs. Goette left the property to her spinster daughters. The spinsters then left the property to their nieces. The nieces left the property to their children and those children sold the property to Diane Kaufman.

This is a photo of the main house, which has a kitchen, den, bar service area, 2 bedrooms, full bath, and laundry area.  The main house has a screened-in porch and overlooks the water.

This is the guest house.  Of course, guests are welcome here but Diane also uses this home as her winter home, because it's all warm and cozy!  The guest house is two levels--the first level has a screened-in porch, a kitchen, laundry area, and a den/dining area. The second level has a bedroom and bath. 

I could go on and on with tons of photos of Diane's home...it is all perfectly restored and decorated in a classic vintage, coastal style.  I'll just feature a few...

The first two photos are of the kitchen in the main house at Oyster Gardens.  This is where Diane prepares the meals for her fabulous soirees!

Diane's den overlooks the back river through a screened-in back porch.

This is one of  the bedrooms in the main house.

After working at Diane's, it was time to visit the other 8 homes on the tour.    My friend Joy drove her golf cart on the tour for easy parking options...

Porch living on Tybee is a full-time activity.  We saw so many fabulous porches, but these were my favorites:

This homeowner has a fabulous ocean view and their back porch is the perfect spot for porch entertaining and  porch sitting.

Of course, all the beds were fluffed up for the tour and here's a few cute ones:

A Bed and Breakfast was on the tour and I snapped photos of their fabulous kitchen, parlor, and dining room.

After a long day of looking at fabulous homes, Oyster Cottage friends were treated to a fabulous dinner at Diane's.  Roe shrimp, fresh off the boat was the main course.  Oh my goodness y'all, these were the best shrimp ever.  Diane and friends are all relaxing at sunset on the porch of Diane's dock house.

I hope y'all have enjoyed the tour.  If you didn't make the tour this year, I hope to see you there next year.