Random Photos from the summer

Bruce serenading us on the same ukulele he played at our wedding

Sweet Water Donuts, size of your head and will make you gain 50  lbs. So worth it. PBJ was the best.

I will take that one.

Ice Cream & Destroy @ Sherman's in South Haven

Because there is nothing more manly than a 6'4 punk rocker on a beach cruiser

Teagan enjoying the mid century rocking chair

Sunset, beach, dancing. You know, the things normal people do.

Tonka tractor and giant mushroom

Boris playing guitar with me

Formerly of Men Without Hats

Kevin and Boris

Cabinista!

Hell yeah!

Lexie and I hammin' it up

Cooking in the Kitsch'in

We had such a productive week at the cottage! We had our well re-shocked with chlorine to make sure there are no crazy icky bacteria's in the water. Our septic is finally up and running and we started to hang all the wall art.

We are still on a mission to find some chairs for the living room and a table, but the house is really coming along! The room I am most proud of has to be the kitchen! For under $50 and a full days worth of work it has just really come a long way from the dingy, dirty, grey and brown kitchen the house came with. Between the stainless appliances and the cherry and gingham curtains I made it just is looking so fun and kitschy!

Up Next: Power washing the outside!

getting closer

Our well is done and draining out back, our electrical is up to spec and our plumbing has been redone. So many little projects have been moved forward, but one of the most crucial projects to get done will be the septic system. Until our septic is hooked up we can’t really use the house. We have been staying at the cottage while all the work is getting done, but it has been extremely primitive with the only modern convenience as electricity.

It is hard to believe that we once had a nice grassy back yard. It’s now a sand pit, but at least it’s low maintenance.

Our septic guy is an 87 year old man who still mans the Bobcat! There must be something in the Michigan water that keeps you young, because our neighbor is an 81 year old woman who looks to be in her late 60s.

I’m just glad we finally can shower, do dishes and flush the toilet!

Well – Check

Septic – Check

Electrical – Check

Plumbing – Check

mid century dreaming

For the past two weeks our living room has consisted of an Adirondack chair, a Lane desk and a sewing machine so when we finally brought up a truck load of furniture our cottage started to feel more like a home than a construction site. We filled the Captains Quarters (the master bedroom) with an old Lane bedroom set that we originally had in our bedroom in Chicago. We brought up a rattan chair that we have had on our back porch forever and a neat wood table we found at our neighbors yard sale. We have scoured garage sales, antique malls and thrift stores in search of rustic and kitschy items to make our cottage cute and have found some real gems along the way.

I think one of my favorite items was actually free! We found this great record stand on the side of the road and it fits perfectly with my Mid Century Modern design ideas for the living room. We are housing our Westinghouse H71 on top with everything from Black Flag to Guy Lombardo in the cabinet.

On Saturday we went couch shopping and unfortunately left with no sign of real furniture. We did manage to spend a couple hundred bucks on cool wall hangings, artwork and nautical items. I did however see a couple beautiful Haywood Wakefield twin bed frames and some neat couches.

So here we are, almost a week later and still no living room furniture. We decided to go back to our local antique mall and what do you know, the Paul Frankl couch is still there! I really liked the couch, but my 6’4 husband wasn’t so thrilled with the low to the ground appearance so we passed it up. The couch was staged with a Haywood Wakefield side table and we found another one to mix n match with it from another vendor. We ended up picking up the set for about $225 and it included the original pillows. Even my non-tiki loving husband doesn’t mind the floral print on them.

Upon delivering our Frankl pretzel couch the antique dealer thought that our record cabinet was Haywood Wakefield. It really does look like something HW would create, but alas it is by some company named Universal. Either way I think it is working out perfectly housing our tv while we wait to find the perfect Haywood Wakefield buffet piece.

The leather and wood chair we found at a resale shop called 6 Degrees in Benton harbor it was $13 and was stamped Johnson Furniture Company. Upon researching the brand we found out that the company was based in Michigan and the chair was built during the time that Paul Frankl(yep same one!) was their lead designer. It was too cool of a chair to pass up and once we find some matching chairs for the livng room we will probably move this piece to the bedroom.

The nautical lamp is made of copper, has a  the rope around the base was purchased for $4 at Goodwill.

Living Room Furniture – Check!

Don't forget to dune in!

Happy 4th of July everybody! We finally had our first visitors! My friend Tara and her lovely family came up today to go to the beach and relax in the sun!

Me in my 1950s red white and blue vest from Store B in Chicago

The 4th is the busiest day at our beach and quite honestly, I thought it would be far more crowded. The reason Tara and her family came all the way up to see us is, because the beach in Sawyer, MI had a line to get in. After 30 minutes of waiting they decided to go the extra 20 minutes north to come to our beach.

the work begins

From the get go we knew we would be required to install a new well as the previous well pump had been removed some years earlier resulting in 60+ feet of rusted pipe. Between the two of us our well knowledge was pretty much zilch. It turns out a well in this region is between 80-230 feet deep and is your only source of fresh water if you live outside one of the few cities in the area.

The one nice part about Michigan unlike the city of Chicago or maybe most of the places I have lived in is that the labor is relatively cheap. Home fixes that would cost a couple thousand in Chicago cost a third of the price in our town. It all adds up, especially when dealing with wells and septics and roofs and flooring and you get it, I’m sure.

Before we could have the well guys drill 130 feet into our backyard we had to fall a tree! We got our gloves on, crappy power saw running and long sleeves/jeans on a 95 degree day.

This is our well; it isn’t anything I expected it to be. I think I may have watched The Ring one too many times as I was convinced it was going to be a well comprised of brick with a three foot wide opening I would have to shield my children away from. I guess well’s have gained some technological advances despite their primitive design. As our neighbor put it, “I keep mine uncovered, because that’s a $4600 piece of PVC.” We will be shopping for a cute little nautical themed well covering shortly. Perhaps a lighthouse or a traditional wishing well ala The Ring.

We now have to run the water for 7 days non-stop to clear out the chlorine they put in to purify the water. One project down; 8000 more to go. I'm overheated and cranky, I will be at the beach now.

red white and black

Since I was a kid I have always loved black and white checkerboard flooring in the kitchen and have wanted a retro kitchen of my very own. Since our “kitchen” is currently constructed of plywood I took it upon myself to create my dream retro kitchen for about $42.

I started off by scrubbing and scrapping gunk off the existing plywood cabinets with mineral spirits. Instead of using primer I applied three coats of red paint.

It was my first time installing flooring and let me tell you; installing flooring on a non-level surface that doesn’t even have straight walls is a royal pain in the ass. It was a fun project though and if I could I would have ripped up all the flooring in the house and stick n peeled my way to a world of no carpet.

For a under $50 remodel I think the kitchen turned out pretty darn good. I would have loved for a richer candy apple red, but no one at the paint store seemed to be able to match the perfect red tone that I brought it. Oh well, in a year when we remove the kitchen/living room wall I will let the pros come in and install a kitchen with soapstone countertops and paneled cabinetry for a clean rustic look.

I will upload photos of the cute curtain I made and what the kitchen looks like once all the artwork, door knobs and appliances are in.

pint sized A Frames and home improvements

As much as I would love to move into the cottage right away I know that we should wait till we at least have basic modern day conveniences. Our well installation is on the books, our septic inspection shortly after that and our plumbing/electrical happening in the next two days.

A little ways up the road is a cute little “resort” that we are staying at. It’s cute as a button with an army of pint sized A-frame one room cottages available by the night, but it is only slightly more modern than are primitive cottage. Let’s just say the first night we didn’t have hot water and the place was nothing short of grimy. At least the dogs liked the 10+ acres to run around on.

Part of our Michigan adventure included going to a bar North of us caled the Curve Inn. The husband loved the broasted chicken, but the 45 minutes it took to get served was not worth it. I did however find the breakfast sign amusing.

and we're off!

Off to Michigan we go for a summer full of hard work, sweat and tropical drinks by the water. Our cottage needs a lot of work, but between my sassy DIY ways and Kevin’s handy man skills we should be up in running by the end of the month.

Outside our little cottage on closing day!

The Cottage

It's been about six months since we embarked on our cabin search. Stretching from Michigan City, IN up North to the crystal clear blue waters of Saugatuck, MI our search has finally ended. Our goal was to find an affordable (under $40,000) house with at least two bedrooms within one mile of Lake Michigan. We looked at everything from mold infested trailer homes, to a former meth lab on 2.5 acres of pristine Lake Michigan land. We have smelled things we NEVER want to smell again and have seen some pretty interesting rehab jobs. We have watched three houses slip between our fingers and were losing hope on finding a place in our budget that wasn't a complete tear down. Well friends, sixteen weeks and 48 houses later we have finally found our cottage!

On Memorial Day weekend we not only found a house that didn't smell like mold, meth or death, but a house that we actually placed an offer on!

This is our cottage, which we have appropriately named Hagar'd Shores.

The west side of the house is covered in moss, but will be cleaned up with a nice power washing. I can't wait to share all the fun rehab projects with all of you. It should be a fun journey!