A Nature-Inspired Cottage
This house was tired, unloved and on it’s last legs, yet something about it stole my heart. It was easy to envision a small country cottage, charming and tidy, behind a white picket fence. So to aid the design decisions, I created a story around it about a 19th century small family who might have made their living off the land, perhaps by farming or raising cows, sheep and pigs. They worked hard and were well attuned to the seasons of nature.
The paint palette, then, would be earth-toned: walls, whitewashed or painted cows-milk cream with accents of green, gold and brown. Inherited time-worn furniture, made generations ago from carefully chosen old growth trees would be found in every room. In the kitchen there would be wood countertops and a big farmhouse sink, maybe even a wooden bowl on the counter full of apples from their orchard. Gathered cotton curtains with tiny flowered prints would flutter in the breeze at every window - you know, nothing fancy just simple and pretty. After a hard day’s work there would be big leather chairs for reading around a fire and plenty of wool throws to curl up with a cup of tea. Nature would have assisted in the decor, of course. A stuffed owl, bird nests under glass, deer antlers found after last winter’s rut and fresh flowers from the field could be discovered around the house here and there. This house just said to me “I need to be a well loved home - simple, charming and cozy”. And so I believe it is.
Property Concerns
Stains and Smells
This was a drug house, so you can imagine the debris and floor stains we had to deal with. The solution to urine stains: 3% hydrogen peroxide, a squirt of dish soap and a bit of baking soda. Dead mouse smells can be cured by placing open containers of coffee grounds around the house to absorb the smell. Both worked pretty well.
Very Old Kitchen
We ripped out old cabinets but kept cabinet shelves to use as open shelving in the finished kitchen. To reduce the cost of cabinets, we built a European-style kitchen vent box, made of 2x4s and drywall. The hardest part of this kitchen reno? Opening up plaster walls embedded with steel mesh! This house must have been built to withstand earthquakes and hurricanes!
Window Glazing & Tuckpointing
Old wood windows were too expensive to replace, so they were taken apart, scrapped and sanded, re-painted and re-glazed. It was a labor intensive and painstaking process indeed. I’d recommend new windows if your budget allows. In addition, the exterior foundation and chimney brick had loose mortar, so extensive tuckpointing repairs were needed.
Mismatched Floorboards
The kitchen had an attached breakfast nook addition whose linoleum floor didn’t match the kitchen’s painted hardwood floors. So we ripped up the linoleum, cut plywood strips to match the width of the original kitchen floor planks and painted them both the same color for a cohesive look. Couldn’t even tell it was plywood!
Racoons
While tearing out the kitchen ceiling we found a mama racoon and two babies nesting in the rafters. A scared mama can be dangerous, so we called the county pest control who caged and safely removed them to the countryside.
Broken Bathroom Tiles
The upstairs bathroom was covered with dark gray tiles from the 1940s. Most of them were in good shape, but 7 of them were cracked and needed replacing. We looked forever to find locally sourced out-of-stock gray tiles and finally gave up; ended up replacing the whole darn room with new tiles. We picked the hottest day of summer to sledge hammer and crow bar the tiles out. And behind the tiles? More steel mesh reinforced plaster walls! Two strapping young guys sweat it out in a very small, hot space. What a job!
