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!