Now We're Cooking!

Last week I posted about all of the crazy quirks in the kitchen at Sassy Seagull and how we planned to remodel it. Let me pick up where we left off...

I chose basic white shaker cabinets--a style that suits this little cottage--simple 

and timeless.

I found these knobs and pulls at Home Depot. I liked the aged, galvanized look and felt it had the feel I was trying to capture in this vintage cottage.

I used Wilsonart laminate countertops in Designer White...not fancy or luxurious (which fits in with with the down home feel of these quaint old Tybee cottages) but 

very budget-friendly!

Once these elements were in place we stained the floors, installed the sink and the appliances, and painted the walls with Martha Stewart Living's 

"Glass of Milk" in semi-gloss. I also had some pretty blue penny tiles installed as a backsplash.

Here's a closeup of the tile...

SomerTile FXLMPML Retro Penni Matte Light Porcelain Floor and Wall Tile

Last but not least, we had some leftover boards that were ripped down from some of the walls in the cottage to allow for wiring and plumbing to be updated so we decided to salvage them and reuse them by cladding the peninsula with them.  They add such a fun touch to the room! And they were free!

So here's the kitchen...

I used curtains in the window that pick up the orange of the stools. They are not pictured here because they were installed after I took these photos. This is the fabric...

P. Kaufmann Indoor/Outdoor Coral Splendor Stripe fabric

A few more photos...

And that's how we went from this...

To this...

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A Quirky Kitchen

Have you ever played "What's Wrong With This Picture?"  Well, take a look at these "before" photos of the kitchen at Sassy Seagull cottage and let's play!

What's wrong with this kitchen?

Some of the things that stand out to me are (1) the countertop and cabinet end at a window (2) there is a electrical panel box next to the upper cabinet which violates code and  (3) the overall look says "tired".

Here's another view of the room...What else do you see?

At first I wondered if an appliance was missing at the end of the counter to the right of the sink but then I realized there was a gap there because of the closet door. And although it is not obvious from these photos, the floors were buckling and we suspected (correctly) that there were structural issues to deal with.

So these were on our to-do list:

(1) Gut the kitchen

(2) Repair the structural issues to shore up the floor joists. 

(3)Relocate the electrical panel to the new laundry/utility room.

(4) Close up the window on the left side of the room so the base and upper cabinets could run all the way across to the wall. This was a tough call but having cabinets won out. We compensated by replacing the center window with a slightly larger one.

(5) Replace the flooring with wood floors and clad the walls with paneling to match the rest of the house.

(6) Add pulldown attic stairs so that access could be available to the attic for storage and for servicing the systems such as HVAC, wiring, plumbing. The stairs were added in the walkway that goes through the periphery of the kitchen and not in the work area. You can see just a bit of them in the ceiling on the right.

(7) Close up one of the closets on the right side of the wall so that the counter and cabinets can run all the way across without obstruction. As the next photos show, the lost closet space was recovered on the living room side of the wall as a built-in bookshelf.

Looking from kitchen side through to the living room before the wall is closed up.

The roughed-in bookshelf

The finished bookshelf in the living room.

(8) Turn one of the other closets into a built-in pantry/storage area with shelving.

 (9) Add a peninsula for additional workspace, storage, and seating.  Here's a not-to-scale hand drawing of the plan.

Next week I'll show you how it all turned out!

Airing Our Laundry

Sassy Seagull Cottage started out with a very large enclosed front porch--21.5 feet wide and 9 feet deep! We knew that we were going to use it as a dining room but didn't need 21.5 to fit in a generously-sized table and chairs. 

So we decided to section off a portion to put in a laundry room/utility room housing the water heater, panel box, owner's closet and of course, a washer and dryer.

Here it is "before"....

The dividing wall was going to be where that nautical light on the wall 

in the photo above is.

We ran into some structural issues once demo began that resulted in some unexpected work and expense but we were able to raise the roof line in that area and it made things feel more spacious inside the laundry room once the wall went up.

Normally I want as many big windows as possible but we had to remove a window in order to fit in a washer, dryer, and closet for the water heater. I felt the need for these things outweighed keeping that window. To compensate we added a new, larger window that faces the front yard (it's only framed out in the photo below).

After this came wiring and plumbing...

Insulation and window....

Tile on the floor and walls....

Last but not least the walls were taped and mudded, and trim was added. We painted the walls with Sherwin Williams "Buoyant Blue". Since we had a little extra space after the washer and dryer were installed  the carpenters built me a unit with shelves to give extra storage.

Facing the washer and dryer is a lockable owner's closet where we can store personal items when the house is being rented out. The big double window let in lots of light.

And that's the laundry room!