Our Cottage Remodel: Part II

This little cottage started its renovation under the purview of someone else. An over-ask buyer had won the bid the first day this house hit the market forcing us both to negotiate the deal a second time. There were pros and cons to this arrangement.

The good side was that our over-ask buyer discovered foundation issues during the inspection allowing her to request a tidy reduction off the purchase price to compensate for her troubles – this ultimately showed up favorably on our bottom line as well.

The con side of this ordeal was that our over-ask buyer was an interior designer/flipper, and being a highly efficient designer/flipper, she had already purchased all of the materials to create her vision: building materials, building permits, light fixtures, appliances, flooring, faucets, doors, kitchen cabinets, the kitchen sink, a shower enclosure. . .

Which meant our purchase agreement included the repairs to the foundation, a new HVAC, a few furnishings left from the original owners, all the renovation materials, and a crew of intrepid workers barreling forward on a design I wanted to change.

We quickly re-arranged a couple of walls to create the floor plan I dreamed of, and then I frantically started a search for new light fixtures, plumbing hardware, kitchen cabinets, and flooring in hopes of having everything on site before the workers had to actually ask me for it.

Meanwhile, there were a few trees to take down, a driveway to create, and a porch to build.

A rope was fastened to the tree before the top section was cut off.

The top of the tree was set down in the road, then the rest of the tree cut down and the stump ground up (we have mulch forever). Twelve trees were taken out in all – almost every one dead or dying.

Interior changes included swapping out light fixtures:

When my husband and I went to Chicago last October for my 50k race, the race was not my only priority. It was almost equally important that I take a trip to my favorite fabric warehouse for the perfect drapery material. It was simply unfortunate for me that my husband tagged along. He quickly grew impatient of my 13-room tour of fabrics, and insisted we could find the perfect drapes somewhere amid a collection of hundreds of packages of $8 pre-made drapes. I was determined an $8 drape would not dictate my entire design, but somehow each of the drapes have survived – so far.

Standing in the doorway of the bedroom, a new barn door to the master bath is barely visible on the right. One of the original doors was moved to close off the new master suite, and the public bath is visible just beyond. The little black stand was also original to the house – we think it’s a smoking cabinet that has lost its ashtray.

We created a shower with this fabulous tile I found at Home Depot. It was only after folks told me how ‘brave’ I was to use this tile that I realized maybe I could have used it only on the floor. I still love it.

Days of torrential rain, severe cold, sudden snow storms, and then the holidays have slowed work to a crawl in recent weeks. The valve between the tandem propane tanks was accidentally shut off causing the HVAC to unknowingly stop, and the pipes were frozen for a solid week. There’s a million gazillion little things left to be done on the interior – akin to death by a thousand cuts. It’s a labor of love.

The kitchen in progress. . . (the rooster is original to the house – in that same spot).