Early happenings at the Cottage

It’s been over a month since I last posted.  In that time we’ve been very busy, but also very relaxed! 

Mornings are my very favorite times on the lake.  We see the sun rise, and then I will often sip my tea on the deck overlooking the lake while reading.  We have no internet there currently, and no way to stream (keeping me on my phone far less and the kids off their iPads!) and we are loving the technology breaks.

In between all the fun and periods of relaxing, we have also been busy with small projects, removing and adding furniture, making plans and talking to contractors.  Lots of contractors. 

I’ll quickly run through a few of the updates here, but some things, like future plans and contractors, will get their own posts. 

This isn't the best picture, but the rainbow Adirondack chairs were the first thing I purchased for the cottage – even before we closed.  I swore I wouldn’t buy anything else until we closed (and I didn’t!), but I love these chairs out by the fire pit in the evenings. We’ve already had a lot of fires out there and roasted quite a few s’mores!

The first real project I did at the cottage was prime and paint the master bedroom paneling.  It was so dark, and the room so tiny, that I felt like I was in a dungeon very time I was in it.  I painted the walls with Kilz primer, and happened to have a gallon of Benjamin Moore Iced Cube Silver from a kitchen painting idea-gone-bad a few years back.  Because we already had the primer and paint, the whole thing cost me nothing more than a new roller.  

As a reminder...the bedroom when we purchased:

During priming:  

And after: 

A blowup mattress was also added - the mattress HAD to go.  (Ewww!) 

Not great photos and certainly nothing special, but lighter and brighter which I am happy with. The paint color made the ceiling look even more yellow (didn't think it was possible) and this is by no means a permanent solution, but it's nice to be able to see in there now.  At some point I'll share our plans for the entire house, including this room.

I’m totally ready to dig in to some bigger projects, but based on some current contractor bids, our renovation money may not go quite as far as we were hoping.  We still have a few more contractors (SO many contractors!) coming and giving bids, so once that process is complete I’ll do a whole post summarizing it all.