FRENCH COTTAGE BATH

For those of you who may be new to my blog-

I shared this bathroom last year-

where it began -

and just how far it has come since

when we first found our house.

I just recently changed a few things around,

brought in a new piece

and took out some of the others...

so sharing the bathroom story again...

as well as it's new look.

The Good.

The Bad

and the (REALLY) Ugly.

(Picture heavy post coming your way!)

Our house was never lived in full time-

it was just a little vacation cottage in the country.

It was dilapidated, vandalized and neglected for over 50 years.

It was beyond really bad.

It would have been easier to tear down and rebuild

But there was something about it.

I fell in love with the original details that were there.

The knotty pine walls. The large fireplace.

The old kitchen with original cupboards and hardwood floors.

The gorgeous property that it sat in the middle of.

I am an old house romantic.

(Before photos taken part way during the destruction -

that was fun- NOT!

and from original post found HERE )

Where there was a a neglected rotting house with broken windows...

I was seeing potential- it just needed to be uncovered and polished up a bit.

Okay, well maybe A LOT.

Let's just say,

I don't know that I would take this house on again

if finding it for the first time now.

(A wee bit older and wiser now!)

The original bathroom was only about 5' wide x 8' wide

and had 6 different tiles in it.

Red, orange, brown, gold and brown spotted, white spotted with brown and plain white.

'Eclectic style' maybe?

We ripped every last bit of the 2500 (lol) types of tile,

old fixtures, knotty pine boards, flooring and sheetrock

out of this bathroom.

We were left with a floor open to the basement,

a ceiling open to the roofline and basically a big. fat. mess.

and a clean slate.

I had a vision for this crusty little space.

I knew what I wanted it to look like.

I wanted a vintage bathroom-

but in a good way.

A charming space with a raised up beamed ceiling

Bead board wainscoting and wallpaper

A crystal chandelier above a new bathtub

Two pedestal sinks and a huge window looking into

the backyard for lots of natural light.

So

a lot of sweat,

a few tears

and a bit of blood later...

Here's how it came out.

We took out the old dropped down ceiling

(which was in the original bathroom)

and created a faux beamed angled ceiling in it's place

with bead board and 2x4 beams.

We added 2 pedestal sinks

(one in the original sink spot and the other where the cupboard was)

three vintage inspired sconces to light the area and

placed a dainty commode from Ross in between the sinks for storage.

We did all the work ourselves with my dad -

who is a contractor/builder and who helped immensely with the new plumbing

and overseeing to make sure everything was up to code.

The shower got a makeover with a beautiful pale grey marble tile

and we went with a taupe and cream tumbled marble

checkerboard pattern for the floor.

The ruffled shower curtain is a drape panel from Target.

The room was doubled in size by taking space from the laundry room

We used a large beam where the wall/doorway used to be between the original bathroom

and the water heater area-

the tub faucet is now where the water heater is in this photo.

The large beam runs across the door opening.

I love the mix of the rustic shabby beam ceiling with the elegant wallpaper

and French armoire.

I am big time bath girl...

Love love love to take long, hot baths

so a bathtub was top on my list of wants (and needs!)

Opening up the space and adding another 6' in length to the

size of the bathroom allowed for my Jacuzzi tub.

The crystal chandelier brings a bit of romance and drama

and was a thrift find for $15.

The French armoire is wonderful for storing everything.

It's original pale grey finish is a favorite of mine.

I took the doors off to use it as an open cupboard.

Loving it.

My little old iron flea find chair

holds a wooden candle lantern for a little ambiance

next to the tub.

I love to relax in a hot bath with the fountain trickling outside the window,

the chandelier dimmed

and a little Puccini on my ipod.

It's Pure Enjoyment.

Joining
One project closer

CARRIAGE HOUSE

Well, in keeping with the spookiness of Halloween

and all things SCARY ,

I decided I should share the exterior of our little guest cottage.

It was really pretty far beyond scary when we purchased our house...

it was downright FRIGHTENING!!

The now so- called Guest Cottage or Carriage House

at that time was a large aprox. 450 sq ft room and 450 sq ft garage

built together with a door inside between them.

It sat in the hillside, with the top section or room sunken into the earth a bit.

So it is warmer in the winter and cooler in the summer for the most part.

The bonus of this guest house and our house is that they were built sturdy where it counts.

Foundation, framing, concrete work all done incredibly well.

This house was made when 2x4's were actually 2" x 4".

So, despite the obvious way beyond neglect for 60 years...

the bones of the house were in good shape.

The siding was old half log siding and was patched with pieces

of plywood where woodpeckers had pecked away, or it had dry rotted.

The windows were old original wood frame double hung

& the doors were regular old cottage interior doors.

The garage door on the front was a later addition but was dented badly and not very usable

& the cottagey old green shingles that were on the roof were rotting away.

I will never forget when my husband and boys decided to tear the roof off.

We were having a party for my daughter's birthday and as the party was coming to a close, everyone left but a couple friends who were straggling along

and they got to chatting about that oh-so-lovely roof across the lawn.

Right there and then,

they decided it was time for a work party

and started pulling shingles.

I thought the green color of the shingles was quite charming but they were way beyond usable and we had to tarp one room for a season due to leaking.

Underneath the green asphalt were old cedar shake shingles.

As much as I tried to make the siding and dilapidated appearance of the building work until we were ready to re-side and re-roof~

it was not happening.

I painted the tan/brown/blah half log siding cottage white-

I put the old screen door from our house against the side in the garden

and hung wreaths on it.

I planted tons of cottage garden flowers where there were none to homey it up a bit...

and added a meandering path through the plants.

But, the crusty look overwhelmingly stood out.

Luckily, I have good vision.

If I hadn't I would have turned and run from this house

from the moment my car drove into the driveway!

I knew that the house and small cottage could be something so much more than

what was before my eyes...

I saw a sweet little house

with cottage lap siding and a creamy white paint.

Paned windows with painted shutters and detailed trim.

Single french doors in place of the regular to add light and charm.

Cedar shake siding accents to warm it up.

Dentil moulding, cornices & hanging baskets.

I saw something charming and inviting and adorable.

View from driveway.

 A bank of four new windows

and a row of window planter boxes filled with geraniums and ivy.

Faded by rain and sun-

the cedar shake shingles we dressed the bottom of the cottage with

are turning grey.

The siding, shingles and trim on this side of the cottage

was done in one weekend- mostly by myself with help from my boys

while my husband was at work.

(this is where my 18 year old lives now- yes- he turned 18 a couple weeks ago!

I am officially the mother of a legal adult!)

(New roof on!)

I had such a hard time using a regular skillsaw-

they are too heavy, too big for my fingers to be able to hold the safety and

start buttons at the same time, etc.

So I bought myself a cute little baby skillsaw and went to town on the siding!

Did I mention that I LOVE construction?!

In order to tie in the cottage to our house exterior,

we wanted to incorporate some cedar shingles.

The bottom several feet of the cottage is foundation and concrete,

So we started shingling.

The window boxes ( 8 of them!) are made to match those on our house-

out of cedar fence boards.

I had to find something else to use for the guest cottage brackets since the ones on our house were made by my dad years ago out of a broken fence.

I found hanging plant brackets at our local Ben Franklin

and used those to set my window boxes on.

This is the first thing you see when coming up the drive way.

The old cement bench we found in the yard and moved here for a sitting area.

One of the spirea I planted in the cottage garden area.

It is turning to autumn colors already,

but during the summer they have a gorgeous

chartreuse green and yellow color

that I absolutely love!

We aren't finished totally yet with the outside-

we have some shingling in the

peak of the top room to do and a few other things to finish up,

But the overall exterior is done for now.

It has been A LOT of work, but so satisfying to get it done!!

The guest cottage now looks nothing like the decrepit forgotten building it once was.

I think it looks quite adorable now when pulling into the driveway -

instead of frightening.

It has the appearance of a charming little cottage in the woods.

When the hanging baskets are in full bloom and

the window boxes are overflowing with flowers cascading down,

it is a very welcoming petite maison!

linking toFrugal Friday

Metamorphosis Monday

transformation Thursday

Before and after

FRENCH COTTAGE KITCHEN UPDATE

When we bought our house- there were two doors right kitty corner to each other. One was padlocked, one was a regular lock.

The padlocked door opened into the kitchen.

The room was dark, grooved knotty pine walls, dull flooring, little natural light.

but I instantly loved the tall original cabinets that stretched to the ceiling and could envision a french cottage kitchen.

Worn, crusty linoleum covered the floor- in marbled brown with green trim details.

A stove, with an upper oven and around a strange jut out

corner, was a small fridge next to the hallway that led to the bedrooms.

There was a hole in the wall next to the stove where an old pipe used to run out and up through the attic and a weird couple of wires dangled from the middle of the wall.

There were red lucite hexagon knobs on the cupboards which were really charming.

The ceiling was unfinished... again...!

All the ceilings in this house were unfinished or missing as it seems the owners were replacing them.

In process, the crown moulding was removed, leaving the wall boards stopping near the ceiling and about an inch short of it.

Then there was this incredibly lovely fan.

I am not a 'fan' of fans in general but definitely am not liking them in the kitchen-

especially when they look like this!

Hanging from the pull string on the fan was a not so charming plastic beer bottle.

(Now...had it been a wine bottle, it might have been acceptable! :-) jk!)

But... I could see past all the yuck.

I saw the original painted cabinets and charming details including

a shelf above the sink that curved graciously and matched the sides of the cabinets.

I saw a large space, room for an island and plenty of cupboards for storing everything.

Tall ceilings and great old wood walls that would be gorgeous covered in a creamy paint.

(concept)

So the work began.

The linoleum floor became hardwood once again and is now finished in a rich java color.

The 70's tile counters were out and my husband put new granite countertops in their place-

Both windows were replaced, enlarged width wise as well as height wise and bumped out to make them into garden windows with extra deep sills for placing potted plants and what not on.

Right now, I have lavender and rosemary by the sink.

The knotty pine walls were coated in shabby paint and I made a wainscot for the bottom third out of door skims and trim.

The fridge moved, the hall was closed and a wine rack and set of cupboards went in it's place.

The stove moved to where the old hallway was and my husband built an arched hood out of plywood for me. I stuccoed it and then we put a 'mantle' shelf on it.

Four large drawers on one side of the sink were taken out and made into shelves with baskets.

I store garlic, onions, potatoes and squash in them.

They were trimmed in fluted trims and rosettes.

Four drawers on the other side of the sink were removed for a dishwasher to go in.

We put beaded board panels up on the ceilings- most everywhere in the house.

The first round of ceilings we held the panels up with our heads (OUCH!) while pounding the nails by hand...

then my dad brought up a nail gun when he came to visit ...

Wow!! What a difference that makes!! We haven't been without one since!

We discovered we gained another inch by pressing the ceiling up to secure it to the frame and added crown moulding to the room as well as the top of the cabinets.

The ooh so lovely fan was replaced with a beautiful chandelier found at a consignment store

and the second matching chandelier was put in recently!

We found the second chandelier at a different thrift store probably 2 years after finding the first. They are both the same vintage 1960's chandelier-one was missing some of the crystals, though.

I am loving the two chandeliers up together!

They light up the space beautifully and the dimmer is fantastic!

The kids love that we can make it look like the Haunted Mansion at Disneyland just by moving the switch.

An upper cabinet on each end of the original cupboards got a new look by removing their doors, exposing the shelving and adding arched detailing at the tops.

(before)

(after)

They work perfectly for displaying my red and white transfer ware.

I added in some flea market find silver- and pieces of the Gainsborough china collection.

The creamy color of the Gainsborough really works well with the red and the new shades of white paint in the kitchen.

Where the old hallway was that led to the bedrooms and another bathroom, there are cupboards and stove area.

The sign reads

'Set another place at the table'.

My Husband is Italian- so gotta have some Italy love in the house!

The old original banks of cupboards- tall, stately and simply detailed.

The ends have little curves, there is a built in shelf above the sink

The base cupboards are old original as well.

The drawers drive me crazy- no slides and no room to add them in

and

the counters are not standard depth to fit todays appliances.

I found a few stair balusters that we are going to cut in half to frame around the stove to help it to 'fit' better.

Such are old cupboards in a modern world.

~

Originally the hall was a laundry/what not area on the way to that oh so lovely bathroom

I showed in a previous post.

You can see it here if you missed it.

There were doors leading to the laundry area as well as the living room.

The doors were removed and the doorways became openings.

The boys helped drop one of the newer added cupboards down so that it matched the height of the originals more and create a little display area at the top.

They built the box for the top, cut the arch, and then added the new faux side to hide the two sections.

(Ryan hard at work)

It came out beautifully!

It's not near finished yet...we have a few things that are on the list...

remove the light fixture above the sink, fix the old vent in front of the sink, etc.

The kitchen transformation has been coming and going for awhile-

every now and then I get another idea, or another thought

that should come into play and drive my husband crazy.

(seriously!)

Hey, nothing is ever really 'done' in a decorators house, right?

:)

linking to

Metamorphosis Monday @ BNOTP