Living Large In Small Spaces - Lake Cottage, The Rest of the Story

Welcome to the sixty-eighth post in the series

"Living Large in Small Spaces".

Two weeks ago I had the pleasure of featuring Lake Cottage, the vacation home of Erin, author of the blog Just Grand, and her husband. Today Erin is my guest at A Joyful Cottage. I invited her to come and share the story behind her charming cottage with all of you, my wonderful readers. It's a glorious tale of a cottage rebirth. Please  join me in welcoming Erin to today's edition of Living Large in Small Spaces.

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Hello, Joyful Cottage Readers!

My name is Erin and I write a blog called Just*Grand. 

It's a blog about ideas, designs, crafts, renovations, recipes 

and anything else that I think is - Just Grand!

I was thrilled when Nancy at a A Joyful Cottage 

asked me to share the story of our Little Cottage by the Lake.

I am always happy to talk about our little cottage.  

It's been a true labor of love!

Lets start at the very beginning.

I have always, always wanted a cottage by a lake.

A little cottage.  By a big lake.  Like Lake Michigan.

I wanted big sky and sunsets and sandy beaches and crystal clear water.

I wanted to be able to see weather fronts approaching.

I am awed by the wind and the clouds and the power of the lake.

We found one such cottage on a bluff overlooking Lake Michigan, 

only an hour and a half drive from our home.

It was a sad little cottage, shabby and much neglected-

Which was perfect for me.  

I love a good project and this one promised to be huge! 

We took a leap and have never looked back.

Here's a link to a post I wrote about finding the cottage.

Ours is the second one in from the left.

These cottages were built about 80 years ago, as housekeeping cottages 

where families came to enjoy the cool breezes by the lake.

We share the lawn with the other cottages
and we play games and host parties and one family even had a wedding there.
Here's a view from across the lawn.

Our cottage actually looks charming, from a distance!

This picture below shows what truly awful condition it was in.

Horrible.

But the setting was great and the bones were good. 

We had to replace virtually everything, inside and out.

Here's how it looks after our renovations.
This will make your eyes feel better....

New roof, siding, windows, doors, deck, landscaping 

and even a new sidewalk that connects all of the cottages.

We had the power lines that were attached to the front of the cottage buried
and what a difference that made!

Here's how the back of the cottage looked when we bought it.



So shabby!

Here's how it looks after the renovations.

This photo was taken by Gridely and Graves
when our cottage was featured in Cottage Style Magazine!

We added an outdoor shower that is just heavenly.

And last summer, we added this little railing by the back steps...

Those before pictures hurt my eyes.

Look at this instead.

That's better. 

That's why we're here!

The Lake.

Remember this, because there are more ugly Before pictures coming.

On the inside, we replaced everything too.

All new electric, plumbing, hardwood floors, drywall, molding, 

vaulted ceilings, skylights, a loft, 

a new kitchen and a new bathroom.

Here's a picture from the main living room, Before.

And that same view now...

Believe it or not, the burnt orange fireplace was salvaged by a friend of the builder!

And I do not miss it. 

Here's the front porch room, before.

And here's how it looks now.

And a link to a post I wrote about it.

This is another photo by Gridley and Graves. 

They made it look so dreamy.

Let's look at the kitchen.

Warning- Not pretty.

The hot water heater was taking up precious space in the kitchen.

We moved it to the attic. 

And saved that one cute little window.

My husband spent an entire weekend stripping and refinishing it 

and then decided we needed all new windows.

I was able to find someone who wanted to salvage the old windows.  

They were really cute, but very dilapidated and not insulated.  

I wrote this post about the couple who took the windows 

and what they do with salvaged wood.

Here's how the kitchen looks now.

Another view

and a link to the post I wrote about redoing the kitchen.

On to the bathroom.  

REALLY UGLY.

Keeping the pictures small because they are so ugly.

Here's the bathroom now...

And a link to the post I wrote about remodeling it.

The tub was scooped up by a neighbor who longed for a vintage claw foot tub. 

We were happy to help!

Here's a detail of the tile in the shower.

And the watery blue floor

Ahhhhh.

We made some changes in the master bedroom, too.

Here's a picture of the room before it was redone.

This photo by Gridley and Graves shows how the same bedroom wall looks now.

We tore out the closet in the corner 

and added two small closets on the opposite wall, on either side of the window, below.

We also removed the plywood ceiling and paneling from the walls 

and had the ceiling in the room vaulted. 

We put the little salvaged window from the kitchen 

up into the new gable wall 

and had a skylight installed over the bed.  

It's lovely to lay in bed and see the stars or watch it snow.

And here's a post I wrote about the bedroom changes.

Here's a peek into the tiny second bedroom. 

My son calls it the closet with some shelves you can sleep on!

It's tiny but it works!

The colors I used in the cottage were inspired by the colors at the beach

and by the beach glass that constantly washes up in the sand.

So, I got my wish...

Big sky, sandy beach, clear blue water...

You can see the weather coming when it's hours (or minutes away)!

And the sunsets!

It's all Just*Grand!

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Thank you so much, Erin, for sharing your inspiring story with us. What a fabulous restoration!

Join me next Saturday for another post in the special series

 Living Large in Small Spaces

See more home tours and small living ideas in the 

Living Large In Small Spaces Series here.