Tuesday, April 14, 2009

Masters at Merv's

Each year our friend, Merv, from Waynesboro, GA hosts his own Masters tournament in his front/back yard. This semi-professional event keeps growing each year (19 years and still going) and each year it does not disappoint. This tournament is complete with a green jacket ceremony, a champions dinner hosted on Saturday night (with live karaoke), pimento cheese sandwiches are served on Sunday and in keeping with the rules of the Masters, women are not allowed to compete.
Since Merv knew I was coming and he knew of my love for transforming spaces, he gave me a budget and room to decorate over the weekend.
Merv's house was a working farmhouse built in 1848. Late antebellum, maybe early Victorian, still holds many Greek revival features in the house. This house has great bones.
Meet Merv:
Merv is a free spirit. He's lively, spontaneous, knows how to gather a crowd and is quite possibly the most hospitable person on this earth. His front doors are always open and people trek through his home non-stop. Merv's also a bachelor, so without a woman in the home, decorating and cleaning are not a priority.

Enter me.

We arrived in Waynesboro on Friday night and after previewing the course (the men) I put people to work. First step, remove all furniture, remove window treatments (and dispose of them) roll up carpet and scrub down mold. This is what the front parlor looked like before:After 7 hours of work with 2-8 helpers at any given moment, we trimmed all baseboards, doors, crown and windows with Sherwin Williams 7012 Creamy, re-painted the cedar checkered board ceiling with standard white ceiling paint and applied 2 coats of Sherwin Williams 6108 Latte to the wall. I also pulled random pieces of furniture and accessories from his house and the barn "clubhouse". I ordered curtains from JCPenny which will be added upon arrival. I give you the results: Here are a couple photos from the tournament on Sunday: And here's my Tony: look at that swing! maybe next year you'll get a green jacket and your name on that trophy.

7 comments:

Whimsy World said...

Loved the transformation. Isn't paint the most wonderful thing! I love it!!!

lisa said...

aw, you had your very own room to transform? merv knew you would love that. i'm sure even he didn't know he could like the renovation as much as he did. you're a talented artiste!
thanks for sharing the pictures.

The Husband said...

You did a great job, even though it was probably more work than you bargained for.

Unknown said...

I just love what you did!! I'm jealous of all the fun you had deciding on colors and what to use for decor! I don't know if you met Loren Barnhart on Sun. but I am his wife. I'm sure Merv is thrilled with the finished room...he sent us this site!=)

Denise Cornwell (Merv's cuz) said...

Thank you so much for doing this. I love my cousins house but I'm am saddened whenever I go inside and see the potential it has screaming to come out. Hopefully he will let you do more until the house is finished.

Gabe said...

Yours is a masters touch, transforming the mundane into true classical style. It was a pleasure seeing you and tony again this weekend.

paula said...

great job with the transformation:)