HGTV Dream home in my dream location!

Growing up my family spent every summer for nearly a decade vacationing at Kiawah Island, SC. source It was a hidden gem back in the day. It didn't take long for people to start to notice the possibilities of the island and the when the Ocean Course hosted the Ryder cup in 1991, our secret island started to get some attention. More people started coming to our favorite Island on the East Coast. I have fond memories of spending the day at the beach, digging in the tide pools, finding sand dollars and climbing the dunes.  We would spend time walking the boardwalks, watching alligators in the lagoons, riding bikes on the paved trails {usually to the ice cream shop} and crabbing and shelling in the tidal creeks. Kiawah Island is about a half an hour drive from Charleston and a day would always be spent exploring that beautiful historic city.  Hymans Seafood was always our dinner spot in Charleston.  It seems to have gotten a bit more popular too!
When my husband and I were married nearly 15 years ago, we honeymooned at Kiawah Island. We had a fantastic time lounging on the beach, riding bikes on the trails and once, my new husband even skipped a rock onto an alligators's nose!   It was no surprise to me that the HGTV dream home this year is in beautiful Kiawah Island. Kiawah Island is a place I haven't visited in 15 years, but was such a part of my middle school and teenage years.  I would love to go back some day!  These pictures take me back to the beautiful landscape around this low country. The marsh area in the backyard is what so many of our rental condo's looked upon through the years. It wasn't uncommon to be eating breakfast outside and keeping a count on the various birds, jumping fish and alligators that you could spot. Know what I love about this front porch? It isn't the deck chairs, though they are beautiful. It's the grand live oak sitting softly nearby with a story all of it's own from years of residency. I love everything about the great room {well, except maybe the gate on the fireplace...that I just sort of like} I love how open and airy this room is with views from all sides. It's a room that is comfortable and classic without being stuffy and over designed. I'm not usually a big fan of contemporary design, but the way the designers used a mix of classic and contemporary touches in the kitchen just seems to work. The dining area is just off of the kitchen and the long table would be great for large family gatherings and crab nights! The laundry room and pantry are tied for my least favorite rooms. The contemporary design was attempted in the laundry room again, but this time instead of making it work, the cabinets just look cheap. The pantry is a fantastic size, but I think that the designers could have sprung for some cabinet doors instead of this trellis style fabric skirt. The master bedroom suite seems small, but I love the neutral tone with the touches of blue throughout. I love how the rug draws you in. I love this whitewashed coral mounted on the linen mat. The master bath carries out the neutral beachy tone. My favorite thing are the coral shadowboxes. Probably my favorite spot in the whole house is this bunk niche. I love the nautical stripes paired with bursts of apple green. Just off of the bunk room, the loft beams are an amazing focal point of this room. The guest bedroom is amazing. But the thing I love most is that in each room, there is some painted furniture that not only gives the room a bit of surprise, but also some much needed color for the muted color palate. The twin bedroom painted in turquoise screams east coast beach. I love all the subtle hints of color mixed all throughout the room. When I came to the island as a teenager, I know this would have been my favorite room in the whole house. Now as a mom of a teenager and a pre-teen, I know they could spend hours after sun drenched days, swinging, chatting, and playing ping pong. Seeing the HGTV dream house in Kiawah Island has me all kinds of excited to win. And yes, I am entering the contest twice a day. Fingers crossed! What's your favorite thing about the new HGTV dream house?