My "Beach House" Cottage-Transformation with White Paint

 

I want to say thank you to Cassity from Redmodelaholic for featuring my cottage makeover on her blog.  I also want to thank her readers who have popped over to my blog. 

Thank You so much.

When we bought the cottage a few years ago, it had just had an addition added onto the original 550 sq ft 1930's cottage.  When they renovated the place they put up new yellowy pine and oak panelling and trim, and made the place look like a lodge.  

This is the view from the front room.  We are right overlooking the harbour on Georgian Bay...

View from the cliffs.  The harbour is to the left.

The bay is blue and turquoise.  The yellow and oak theme had to go.

This is the living room from the real estate lisitng. I had to get rid of that fake pine wall panelling and oak trim.

This is the after...

This is the same view as that awful real estate listing....

I white washed all of the ceiling beams, the walls in the great room, the panelling, ceiling  and baseboards.  I painted everything  in Farrow and Ball Strong White.  Even with the addition, the cottage is less than 950 sq ft, but painting it has made it seem much larger and more open.

I white washed this coffee table that was yellow pine with pink and peach flowers and vies painted all over it....a throwback to my taste in the 80's. 

At least it had a nice shape and could be transformed with paint.

You can see the oak panelling before in the dining room here. Have I told you I hate yellow! The light fixture is from West Elm and in future posts, I will show you what I have done with it since.

Out of that window straight ahead is the harbour with all of the blues and greens and whites of the sailboats.  I painted the dining room panelling Strong White and above Farrow and Ball's Light Blue to bring a bit of that blue inside.  Given that I am a" White Paint" kinda gal, that is a lot of color for me.  For now, it works well with the flooring, which is linoleum, but I am hoping to change that for white cedar planks .

This is my "BlogSpot"...

..........and some of my white washed mirrors....

I added lots of bits in blues and greens to bring those colors from the outdoors in....

I love the way the light shines through the vintage glass...

.....One of my favourite little pieces... a wall cabinet with the original rolled glass mirror and original peeling paint....

I have a collection of Vintage Globes.  I bought the marbles in England years ago while shopping with my Grandad, so they are really special to me.  I love the way they reflect the light...

The Turquoise Glass and Zinc lids on these old jars capture the colors of outside, with the bluey greens and the greys....ready for new collections.....

Last year my friends bought me this painted wooden sign.........

Welcome to the Beach House......

I am joining Between Naps On the Porch for Matamorphis Monday.  Click the link to see some great transformations. And Also to My House of Giggles .

Heading to the Cottage

Heading to the cottage this weekend.  Lots of bits there to show you.

Wishing you all a lovely Spring weekend.

Peeking into the Shop

 

Today the sun was shining through the windows at the shop. 

 It was the perfect day for our photo shoot.

  Everything was polished and sparkley and the shelves and tables were stocked with glass and silver and linens and vintage knits for a photo shoot.  

We just brought in this Festive little 50's dinette.  (sorry about the Windex wipes there)

Looking in from the Front Door...

....and the side.....

I can't show you the other side because..........

 we had an accident today and broke our display of vintage Grindley dishware.......

 

I love it when the sun shines through the glassware.

Or makes the china gleam....

...And all the pretty bits glow.....

Institutional Chic-Does this scare you?

A lot of people find this a bit scary!

I wanted to show everyone a new piece for the shop.  It is a very large and extremely heavy industrial locker. We have moved it around from the back of my vehicle a couple of times now, and we honestly need one of sets of wheels they use in ambulances.

I know most of you are thinking "What the H... would you do with that thing", but I have been looking at these pieces for a while now, and there is a real market for these original lockers.  They sell from between $500 to $2500.00 on average. 

I love the worn original paint

Here is Lorraine "doctoring" our locker.  We got quite a reaction from passersby curious about the "Piece of Junk".  So far in 3 days we have had 3 enquiries.!!

Personally I LOVE IT. While it wouldn't work in my house, I think it would be amazing in a loft space or in a modern home. Perfect for a mudroom. You could number the lockers and assign your kids a number.

I am participating in Furniture Friday at Miss Mustard Seed.blogspot.com so pop on over and see all the wonderful pieces posted on the McLinkies.

An Exciting Night at the Launch of the Sarah Richardson and Para Paints Collaboration.

Here she is... and Tommy too!

If you read the blog on Monday you will know that Lorraine and I were invited to an event in Toronto to announce the new Sarah Richardson paint collection for Para Paints which is going to be sold through Lowes.  Well, it was every bit as exciting as we had hoped.

  Most people were in black or a variation of.. (how unusual is that), bur Sarah and her team were all in really colorful, beautiful dresses.  Look at her in this picture above in this fabulous geometric, somewhat retro dress.  She is actually even more gorgeous in person.  Although we didn't get an opportunity to meet her, we did chat with Tommy.  And Tommy is well....Tommy...witty and charming and stylish and very sweet.  He told us he does read blogs, so we hope he checks this today so he can see how many people love the show.

It was an elegant evening held at the Gardiner Museum.  Live music, food by Jamie Kennedy and

 lots of champagne with blueberry puree (my new drink).

Here is Sarah unveiling her 75 new Sarah Richardson colors. (Pick any one, they are all fabulous)
(I have always used either Para or Farrow & Ball, and I am going to trysome of the new colors in the Razmataz Shop shop for sure).

  She said she always knew she would have a line of paint one day.  She gave a short speech about the collaboration, mentioning that she would NEVER put her name to anything she didn't believe in 100%.  And I think that is the key for this.  She hasn't sold herself out to Para or Lowes, they have met her standards.  I am proud that she is Canadian because she has not only kept design standards high in Canada, but she has given Canadian Designers International recognition.

If you want a peek at her own bedroom...here it is.  Does this surprise you?

The one thing I love about her, is she is so diverse, you can't pigeon hole her style.

There were lots of Style@Home Canadian House and Home and HGTV people there.  Here is Tommy and Arren Williams.  Arren has a very unique style with a retro vibe.

On the left is Samantha Pynn from HGTV's Pure Design.  She is a lovely, vibrant, (and STUNNING) woman and her show focuses on environmentally sound design with an element of vintage and recycled. I had been thinking about blogging about her too, and checked with her and got the Ok to use photos from the show.  

That's Peter Fallico in the blue shirt.  He also has a show called House to Flip on HGTV.

The night was full of interesting people, and was festive and elegant.  We were both honored and thrilled to be invited. 

You will never guess where I've been invited!!!! And who I get to meet!

I am so excited to tell you about an invite I received last Friday afternoon.  I came home and checked my emails, and there was one from Sarah Richardson's publicist!!!  At first I thought I was in for a telling off for using her Sarah's House photos without permission, but no, it was something else.

A you all know I blog about Sarah a fair bit, especially since her new show Sarah's Farmhouse came out.  Anyway, she was inviting me and Lorraine to the launch party of Sarah's new line of paints with Para Paints. 

I am so excited because I know I am going to love her colors (and the names) and because it is at the Gardner Museum and is being catered by Jamie Kennedy.!!! Chef extraordinaire!!!  Lorraine and I literally screamed and jumped around, we were beyond excited.  Imagine an opportunity to meet Sarah and Tommy and many other Toronto deigners and interesting people. I am so excited and feel so lucky to have been invited

OK, now I need your help.  It is a cocktail party. 5 -8 pm.  What should I wear.  Likely designers coming from work, in which case jeans, blazer stilletos, or black dress.????? Oh, and it is on Wednesday this week!!!!!

HELP.

My Dining Room

 

Ok, I thought it is about time I showed some of my own house.  Sarah's dining room can wait until tomorrow.  This is my dining room.  I don't have a Tommy to assist me, and B---- doesn't want to appear in this episode, so it's just the dining room.  Sorry!. 

 

This room faces North and has difficult incoming light that tends to throw a lot of green and yellow. Because my focal point is this Quebec pine cupboard I really wanted to minimize any other colors in the room, and I didn't want white walls. (all my other walls are white) .

I have this weird thing that I can't use a paint color if I don't like the name (don't let my clients know), so I went through the Farrow and Ball paint deck and found this color called Mouse's Back. (really).  Loved the name, so I turned the chip over and loved the greyish brown, moleskin color. (not really, I did look at the color first).  I love it because it allows this large cabinet to keep it's true color which is a bit ginger cookie-ish.

This holds all of my dishes, platters candles and table linens.

One of my favourite pieces! 

 

I splurged on two large end chairs and had them upholstered in an Irish linen by Robert Allen.  They have a feather seat which the cat seems to think makes a perfect bed, and I chose them because I have limited seating in the living room and I can just pull them into the living room and use them as extra seating.  

I prefer to make my decorating mistakes in my own house, rather than a client's, and in this case, I had to get new side chairs because these 2 armchairs made the previous chairs look too small, so they went to the kitchen.  Instead I bought these cotton velvet side chairs which were a really bad idea since I have a cat, and a yellow lab (at that time 2 labs).  TheChinese Chipendale style bamboo chair to the right of the cabinet was a Road Find that I had upholstered in an animal print chenille by R. M. Coco.  My neighbour who threw it out was shocked to see it in my dining room looking so smart.  Above that is an African basket and a Natvie American basket (red one) that I think are art in themselves.

This gorgeous vase came from the shop.  My neighbour was trimming his forsythia today, so I took some of his branches.

I think it might be an old wine bottle.  It has the number 5 pressed into the glass. (Go here to Shabby Vintage Junk  and see Tamarah's huge and beautiful green glass bottles.

I thought it made a lovely centrepiece and I was testing the light and settings with my new camera.

Sarah Richardson's Farmhouse Bathroom-Part 4

I am not trying to drag out this Sarah's House thing in order to get you to check back every day.  It's just that the web photos have to be clipped with Photoshop and sized, as they are not in a copy and paste format.  And because.... despite getting an A in Photoshop in design school..... I don't seem to remember taking the course, and have to rely on B---- to do this task for me.  Next to moving my "junk" from here to there (and sometimes back again) this is one of his favorite tasks!   Anyway, I've been crazy busy with things like finding a church pew on the side of the road..........

Marble floor with black marble inserts. Gorgeous marble counter on a revamped vintage cupboard.

I think that mirror is really sweet., and the cupboard...perfect.

 

What's a farmhouse without a chicken?  Or is this a duck?

Classic white subway tile with marble surround. Her first installer botched the tile job and she had to get her regular tile guy to come and fix it, hand placing each of those little graphite tiles individually. Initally they built the shower stall to large,  compromising the space between it and the toilet, so she ripped it out and they redid it.  See..even seasoned professionals have issues with trades.

Being the type to read a novel or my House and Home in the bathtub, I LOVE this tub and the curtains, and to be able to look out of the window....... I wonder if that is a second duck, or the first duck moved for styling purposes................

All images from http://www.hgtv.ca/

Sarah Richardson's Farmhouse-Part 3-the Kitchen

I am slowly catching up all the Sarah Richardson fans who can't access her new show Sarah's House outside of Canada.  This is her kitchen, the heart of a farmhouse and she doesn't disappoint.  Just look at that stove.  Is that not the ultimate contradiction in a farmhouse?  She uses stainless appliances throughout  ($5900.00 Fridge) and stock cabinets custom painted.

What I love about this kitchen is that she kept the original floors and added vintage corbels for shelving and of course the farmhouse sink.

Love her vintage accessories.  I can't remember exactly , but I think she used marble on the backsplash here. (can't see it too well).

I really like the varying heights of the cabinets here to accomodate the window.

Peeking through to the dining room.

The usual attention to details...

She didn't do the cliche farmhouse kitchen table.  Instead, a small sitting area.

This is amy favourite shot of all.  Imagine walking into this house and seeing these stairs with the vintage numbers.  You would just be dying to get in and see more.

Tomorrow I will post her bathroom.  And Monday the Dining room, and then you will be all caught up and ready for the new episode on Tuesday night.

If you want to watch the episode you can go here . 

All of these photos came from http://www.hgtv.ca/