Three for the Price of One!

There has been so much progress on Cedar Lane since my last entry that I am going to combine three blogs into one: construction progress, color decisions, and working myself.
Before I do that, though, I can't resist showing everyone just why I have gone to this expense and effort to get that water view.  How beautiful is this, in any season!
 

 

Construction Progress

 

The crew from Skyline Marble and Granite arrived on the morning of March 21st to template the kitchen counters and the vanity tops.  Using strips of cardboard they had the measurements necessary and away they went.  It was suppose to take a week or so to get it all done so I was expecting they to be back this past Thursday or Friday.

On Wednesday of this last week I went to Falmouth for the day to look for fabric and bedding, more about that in the second "chapter", returning in the late afternoon to see the progress at the cottage.  Here is what I found!

 

Done!

 This is not a very good closeup of the granite but it gives you an idea of what it looks like up close.  It reminds me of the black sand beaches with veins of gray/white running through it.  It is Jet Mist granite with an antique finish, making it appear to be soapstone without all the problems of soapstone. 

 

Guest bath/powder room vanity before...

Guest bath after...doesn't look like much you might think but wait...come a little closer and see the surprise...

I found this sink in Mexico probably 6 years ago.  I carried it under my arm onto the plane and through Customs to keep it safe.  It has been waiting all those years in the basement and is finally just where it was meant to be.

Master bath, before and after.

     

                 

While the granite was away getting cut, Russ and Brendan were not idle.  They were putting the finishing touches on the wood treatment in the living room.

The molding all around the room, chair rail I suppose you would call it, will all be painted a white, giving the room a bit of character.

Cannot wait to see the room without all the saws and tables.

 The master bedroom is getting the bead board under the windows to highlight the wall and to look like a headboard.  The bead board will also go into the master bath to tie in the master suite. 
After all that old pine paneling in the old cottage, I didn't want the walls in the new cottage to just be plain wall board.  i think we have given the walls just enough character to appear interesting and timeless.




With most of the chair rail and bead board done, Brendan began working on the master bath tile job this week too.  We went with a very simple pattern, large subway tiles in the shower with small Carrara tiles on the floor of the shower and larger marble like ceramic tiles on the floor.  The surprise and whimsy comes into play in the band of bubbles that goes around the shower. 

Waiting for tile... 

Tile job took Brendan most of the week but he did have to do the shower walls, floor and the bathroom floor too.  I am amazed at his planning and exact cutting of the tiles.  The job is just amazing, the bathroom is better than I could have imagined. 

 

If you look carefully at the seam in the bubble tile strip, you can see that Brendan matched the larger round glass tile so it "bends" around the wall, fabulous.  I have told everyone that I will shower outside all the time but now that I see this shower, hmmm, might have to shower inside too!

 

One of the first days Russ and Brendan were in my old cottage, tearing out trim and taking out windows, I brought this green bowl into the cottage and told them to build me a cottage around the bowl. (Reminiscent of the Kohler ad where a couple go into an architect's office and tell him to build a house around the faucet.) I think they have done it and more!

 

Color Decisions

I have found that making the color choices for the cottage the most challenging decision thus far.  I am trying to marry my parents Haywood-Wakefield furniture from the Blue Anchor as well as the furnishings I have gathered from my cottage.  When I was staging my mother's condo for sale last year, I had her furniture recovered in anticipation of this remodel. 

I have always seen the color scheme to include blues, greens and corals and have been hunting the Internet for over a year to gather ideas. 

Pitcher and future floor cloth which are my inspiration, or so I thought! 

  

As we are a week away from greeting the painters, I had to finally decide.  I took a Sunday afternoon with my neighbor, Deb, and my business partner, Anne, and we decided on colors.  I went and bought test pints and painted several walls in each room to get an idea of what it would look like in different lights.  Here are the colors we decided on. 

 

After painting the test colors on the walls, I decided that the cottage looked just like a basket of Easter eggs. Great for this time of year but not every day. Time to regroup!

I have a friend on the Cape, Mary Sliney,  who is an interior decorator and she came over to consult on the colors. 

 

Here is the revised color palette: the beige and white dove for the great room, the green for the guest room, blue for the guest bath, and the seafoam (all three shades) for the master suite. 

Great room colors and fabric: the coral is on the couches and the stripe is on two barrel chairs found at the swap shop.

Guest room bedspreads with the green and blue colors

 Master bedroom: white spread, the fabric in the front will be the bed skirt, the pillows are very organic and the three colors will be in both the bedroom and in the bath.  Very spa like, I think.











So it is decided, the cottage is going to be less beachy and more calming but I think it is a good decision.  Mary suggested this palette to draw the eye to the views from every room rather than the rooms themselves.  Color will be added, the greens, blues and corals I envision, as we build the rooms.  Exciting and challenging all at the same time.

 

 

My Work Begins

Russ and his team have been the worker bees so far on this project but now I have work to do too.  Years ago I changed out the knobs on my kitchen in Pennsylvania but I kept the brass knobs thinking I would use them elsewhere.  Here they are ready for primer.

Primed and ready for the finishing coats.

 Several coats of hammered bronze, the knobs are ready to be installed.

Knobs are in, ready for a dinner party...oh yes, no appliances!  Guess we will have to wait a little bit longer.

I found this chandelier at the dump several years ago and always knew I would use it at some time.  I had it rewired before I left for Florida and it is now ready for primer too.

Primed and ready for for a final coat.

I painted the chandelier in gloss white even though many thought I should leave it in its "natural" state.  I would have if the green leaves were a better shade of green.  i love it all white and glossy but i did try mixing glazing liquid with a spring green to paint the leaves.

If you look very closely you can see the one green leaf I have painted.  I wish the picture read better but I think I will paint the leaves with the glazing mixture and possibly the flowers as well.  Will keep you posted.

So, That is all we have been up to these last two weeks.  I am exhausted just thinking about what we have accomplished in just 14 days.  Many more decisions are to come this week.  Apparently Russ and Brendan will be finished with the interior construction by the end of the week and the painters will arrived next week.  While the painters are working, Russ and Brendan will be working on the deck and the remaining outside work.  We will probably wait to paint the exterior until it warms up, Spring has not arrived on the Cape yet.  That means that the floors could be sanded and sealed in less than two weeks.  After that the plumbers will be back to install toilets, hook up faucets, appliances will be delivered and installed and I  will be ready to move in.  Cannot believe that we are so close.  Yipee!

 

 

Lessons Learned:

     1.  If you want to renovate or remodel your home, check with your local plumber or electrician to find out who they work with and recommend.  I have worked with Brian and Julie at Cape Cod Plumbing and heating ever since I bought my cottage and after the experience i had with another builder, I decide to ask them for a recommendation.  I have not been disappointed.

 

     2.  Having lived in my cousin's cottage this winter I have found that you can live without a dishwasher.  I use one coffee cup, one spoon, to stir the coffee and then eat my cereal, one cereal bowl, one glass, for both iced tea during the day and for my scotch at night, a fork, sharp knife, and a dinner plate.  If it weren't for Bloomie and her horrid wet cat food, I wouldn't need anything else to get through the day.  Washing and drying in a drying rack allows me to rarely open a cabinet for anything else.  Truly a revelation in our time of excess!

 

     3.  If there were one regret I have so far it is that the windows are not big enough.  They are to scale of the cottage but I wish they were bigger.  I once was talking to a friend who happens to be a builder and he told me to always make a room or addition the biggest  you can do.  I only wish I had done this with the windows.

 

     4.  And finally, remember to write a blog entry in a timely fashion or you will have a VERY long and complicated entry when you finally sit down to catch up.  To all of you who have struggled through this latest entry and have read it all, I apologize!