The Seafarers Cottages- first look

Happy New Year! As you might have guessed we had a quiet one last night as we were pretty exhausted. The last of the three Seafarers Cottages was rented out to holiday makers yesterday afternoon and it was still a building site a few days ago.

The interiors are done to stage one, that is, furnished and fitted out with the first layer of decoration. I am now looking at the photos like you are thinking, "What else can I add to make that room special?".

I am really happy with the small aqua kitchen in cottage #1 with the marine-style stainless steel bench and old porthole ship's clock. Adding pieces like that old clock give a room some soul. The raffia mirror is one I have had for years. It was in my fisherman's cottage up the road (Country Style Dec 2007) and I have been looking for raffia things to go with it ever since, without much luck.

The fridge and dishwasher are neatly concealed behind cupboard doors and the pantry is built into the old meat safe cupboard. We took the ceiling out to expose the roof line and it does make the space seem bigger. The exposed rafters give it a more boatshed feel and I painted it all Dulux "White On White", including the shutters and woodwork to also add to the illusion of spaciousness!

The tiny bedroom in cottage #1 was a real challenge. I went with this Ikea four-poster bed as I love the fun of putting a box within a box. We had to nail it to the floor so the shutters and doors wouldn't hit it, that's how tight a fit it is. 

The shutters as window treatments were a great solution as there is quite a bit of ambient street light at night. Also I love that greek island vibe.

The bedsides were a dilemma as I wanted something a bit different. At the last minute I drove into town to my favourite 2nd-hand store and found this slightly kitsch side table which sort of matched one given to me by a friend recently. They are crying out to be painted in bold colours and I will get to that...

The floors... had to be whitewashed. I have come up with a new recipe for whitewashed floors and this one seems to be working well. (The cleaner has yet to comment, however.)

Deck The Hall!

I have just dashed home before heading out to do the last bits of decorating on the beach houses before the last one is holiday rented tomorrow. (If my husband knew, he'd be furious!)

Wow, it has been a huge push to get them finished but we have some happy tenants who have taken the other two cottages since Boxing Day.

The old school/church hall arrived last week as well and I am posting pics of that today. We are very excited about that and it has loads of potential... and lots more renovation work to do. The hall was my Christmas present and we discovered once we peeled back the carpet that the old floorboards are lovely thick, wide boards in great condition.

Happy New Year everyone - and I promise there will be lots more posts in the coming weeks!

Renovation Rescue

I do apologise for not posting for a while, but this time of year is hectic in a quiet year, let alone when I have three cottages to renovate and decorate before Christmas. And run a new shop... and a six year old.

The photographer I work with has just about given up on me and I forgot to mention I am the chair of my local town's promotion committee...

Anyway this is all part of it - the renovation process. I am pleased to report that the little houses are almost ready and the work site is just a blur of tradesmen at the moment. Don't anyone ever tell you that a reno is easy, but it can be fun.

Light fittings are my worst fear but they must be chosen and purchased.

The paint colours are usually my forte but this project, I have to admit, had me stumped. What to paint three historic cottages on the beach? I ended up going with a piece of fabric as the key to the colour scheme. This is a good place to start if, like me, you are confounded by a colour scheme!

I have gone with a palette of watermelon, chocolate, citrus yellow and ice blue on the chair pictured. Sounds unusual, possibly edible, but it is really a fashionable line up and I can't help myself there.