Showing posts with label 1940 cottage house. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 1940 cottage house. Show all posts

Thursday, September 23, 2010

Bathroom Makeover

What is the most difficult thing about having a tiny restroom? Taking photos of it. This is the only bathroom in our 820 sq. ft. bungalow but it's fine for us. We looked at a lot of houses and let me tell you, a lot of bathrooms we saw were downright SCARY! So we were fortunate enough that this restroom overall was in good condition and although the original sink in gone the vanity put in it's place is decent looking and clean. It's not anything we would choose, but hey, it works for now. The plumbing on the other hand was a whole different story but I'm not going to bore you with that story. When the budget allows it we plan on putting in a pedestal sink, something reminiscent of the 1940's to match the bathtub, storage shelves, new lighting and new flooring. For now though we are just working with what we have.

So this is a photo of the bathroom when we moved in. Not bad, at least the original bathtub and bathroom door are still in place. The arrangement seems a little weird to us. You would think the bathtub would be next to the window, perhaps somebody moved it, who knows with these old houses.


These are some after photos.

I actually liked the spa blue that was originally in the bathroom. I repainted it using a similar color just a few notches darker. New molding was installed around the bathroom window which really gives the room more of that early cottage feel. The crown molding and baseboards still need to be installed but we are waiting until the bathroom gets it's full makeover (someday).

The cafe curtain I made myself. I stitched on a small bird to go with our bird theme. The window is currently our only ventilation in the bathroom so I went with the cafe curtain so we could open the top half of the window. (I had to hang it slightly higher than half way since our neighbors can see into our window.)

My cat just loves to model :)

I'm in love with our bird cage shower curtain! It set the stage for what has become a bird theme bathroom.


Bird prints above the toilet are by one of my favorite artists, Charley Harper.

Vanity, lighting and mirror were already in the house when we purchased it. It's fine for now but someday when the budget allows it we are going to change it out for something more period style. Also, it's too big for this tiny restroom.

I built this little white shelf out of some leftover wood from another project. New molding around the door. I didn't show the entire door because we haven't refinished it yet. It's on the to-do list along with a million other things!













Tuesday, April 20, 2010

Windows, windows, windows

Since the start of February we have been working almost every weekend stripping, repairing and painting all the original windows to our 1940 cottage. It is hard, hard work but the results are worth it! We didn't have much of a choice, there were so many layers of paint and the paint had cracked or was chipping away revealing the bare wood. At least half of the window sash cords were broken as well so we have been repairing these as we go too. It's nice to have windows that don't need to be propped up with a stick! We now have just 5 windows left and I can't wait to move on to painting the rest of the house, it's going to be a dramatic change!



Original windows in our 1940 cottage. Paint is peeling and cracking off the windows. There are at least 5 layers of paint on these windows.

The windows all had to be removed and stripped. The window panes and surrounding pieces also all had to be stripped, primed and painted.

Window after it's been fully refinished. The green color is one of the colors we are considering painting the house.


Living & Dining Room Makeover

Before we moved into our new house the first thing we decided to do was to have all the wood floors refinished and install a matching new hardwood floor in the second bedroom which was the only room in the house that had carpet. The house use to be a one bedroom but somebody enclosed the attached patio, turning into a 2 bedroom but never installed hardwood flooring. The floors came out so beautiful, it was money well spent! This has been the only job besides plumbing that we haven't done ourselves and I think it was a good idea to leave it to the professionals. The floors receive so many compliments!

Once the floors were dry we went in and painted the living and dining room before the move in. After looking at a hundred different shades of grey we chose the color below. You would never think grey to be a very warm color but I just love it! It feels warm and inviting all day and night long! We chose a lighter grey for the ceiling which really brings out the white trim detail.

Living Room Before





Dining Room Before








Living Room After

The floors are so shiny!


Dining Room After

Our first house!


Six months ago we purchased our first home in San Diego, CA. It is a tiny, 2 bedroom, 1 bath, 820sq. ft. 1940 cottage that needed a little TLC. Overall the house is in great condition, it just needed some love. I've been meaning to blog about our progress but between work, creating new items for my Etsy shop FindersKeepers http://www.etsy.com/shop/amyburkhart and working on the house I just haven't had the time but now finally I'm making the time! Here are photos of the house before we did any work. I'll be posting the progress we have made so far soon!



1940 820 sq ft. Cottage


LIVING ROOM

DINING ROOM

BATHROOM

MASTER BEDROOM

SECOND BEDROOM

OUR TEENY TINY KITCHEN