A Face-lift for our Cottage!

 Hello friends,

I just realized that I recently had passed my four year blog-i-versary!

I thought it would fun to re-post this since it seems to have become my most popular post.  And although some of you may have seen it, many of you have not.   Blogging has been a great adventure and so rewarding, not to mention all the wonderful friends I have made. 

Thanks for reading my blog and thanks for your continued friendship and support.

I though it might be fun to combine some of my previous posts and show you the transformation of our humble little cottage.  We did all the work ourselves and with hubbies great carpentry skills and  vision we are able to save a lot of moola!  Above is a before pic when we were looking to buy.  I wish I had more before pics but I think some may have been accidentally deleted.

A little side view.   We loved the stone, the front porch, the big windows and the 2 acres surrounded by woods but our vision was a lot more color and a little more character .

This picture was taken the first winter we lived here .   We had more snow than I can remember and it seemed like Spring would never arrive.

Finally spring is here!   It's April, and we have 2 months to get things spruced up and ready for our two graduating seniors.  This is probably the ugliest time of year, when things haven't really started to grow and bloom .   The first thing on our agenda are shutters.  I have always wanted board-n-batten shutters.  Hubby goes to work making us some and we decide to paint them an Apple Red. 

I think one of the neatest things he made was this sign.   He has a computer cad system at school with some new programs he wanted to try out.  The sign is not just painted,  the letters are also three dimensional.   Dan designed and built it in between finishing up a home his students were building.  I love the idea he had with the apples.  

A view from the road.

Our home originally started out as a cabin and was added onto at various stages.  This side has river rock hauled in by the original owner who also happened to be a mason.

Old ladders work well for climbing clematis.

The shutters are going up and things are finally starting to bloom and green up. 

All the doors receive a couple coats of Apple Red Paint.   The front and back porch railings are scraped, primed and painted a Spiced Sugar. I love the name of that!  More shutters are going up and things are starting to look a lot more like our vision.  The hardest part for hubby wasn't making the shutters but figuring a way to mount them on stone.  He finally found a good way using drywall screws.   Even the old bench from Wal-Mart gets a new coat of red paint!  In fact nearly everything that doesn't move gets a fresh coat of Apple Red paint.  Graduation comes and goes, we are exhausted but happy with the results.  There is still one little thing that just doesn't quite click........

Too brown, too boring and not very cottage. We both love the look of wooden carriage doors so we scan the Internet for ideas and prices.  We are a little taken back by the big price tag and figure something else will have to do until my talented Hubby declares he has a plan .  He will build and install them right over the steel doors.  He studies and plans his design and after a little R and R  he's off and running.

He designs and builds the frame to go right over the steel doors. 

A view of both doors framed and ready for the next step. 

This was without a doubt the most time consuming and tedious part of the project.  Dan cut, primed, painted and screwed on more than 220 separate pieces of white pine. 

The Work Zone.   He even cut and designed pieces to resemble wrought iron out of wood.   How clever is that!

 Another look at the wood he designed and cut to look like wrought iron.

He spent over 80 hours on this project!  It didn't help that most days 

were in the upper 80's to low 90's with a high amount of humidity. Total cost about $200. 

The ugly gold lights are removed and spray painted black.

A side view.  What a difference it makes!  We get a lot of comments from friends and family who love our new look.

A close-up of the gold lights spray painted black.  They look ok but I want something with a little more substance. 

We found these new lights for the amazing price of $6.00 a piece.   It was one of those lucky finds that make bargain shopping a joy!

When our phlox are in bloom...I love this time of year!

This view just makes me happy!

Our kitty Cocoa likes the new view.

A few little decorative touches.....

Thanks for coming by, I hope you enjoyed the making of our cottage.    
Cindy