Our Cottage Beach House at the New Jersey Shore
We purchased our home at the shore because it had a view of the ocean. It was dark and dreary inside. We did all the work ourselves with the help of family. Tearing out the pot belly stove (our only source of heat) was difficult . See all the brick around it? There in the back left corner?...
( Ignore those crazy ladies in costumes... One of our theme parties.)
The Kitchen Before
The kitchen floor got torn out completely down to
the sand underneath. Funny thing is we found that it was all built with scrap wood and old doors! My brother, sister in law, son and cuz, rebuilt that floor.
That back wall you see where the door is...My sister in law went to lean on it, and her arm went right through it!!!
We didnt know it was that rotted!! So we had to replace that entire back wall. My son did all the demolition and my brother did the rebuilding of the walls.
We got our cabinets from Home Depot and my brother and sister in law helped put them in.
This is how it looks now.
The After
The back wall rebuilt, a nice new double french door, and some soft blue paint
On the right side wall, I used an old door to create an access door to the new heat system we had installed. I sanded it and painted it white with a little bit of distressed blue running through it.
My brother made me a door out of beadboard ( to match my cabinets) to cover the electric panel which is to the right because there is no where else it could go. It's a tiny house. He also made the woodwork you see around the old door.
This area that is now a closet for our heater was where the refrigerator once stood.
To the left of the above area was a
horrible orange countertop, very dark smelly brown cabinets and a washing machine!
I could not find a picture but here is a diagram of the Kitchen Before
I am talking about the area on the right of the diagram.
That area now
And the refrig is now where the washer was when we bought the house
The washer is in the same closet as the heatrer is now.
The sink which was under the little window you see here is on the other side of the room, on an angle facing in to the dining area.
Sink in this corner.
And it is a little bar area here too. Which once was a big ugly orange counter.
The entire house had brown indoor outdoor carpeting, which my daughter and I ripped out, and lenolium under that which we also tore out. Then we had someone install a whitewashed wood.
This is a picture from the little living room, as you can see it's not much more than a shotgun shack.
That's what they call them when you can look right through them.
But that is what sold me. When I looked at the house, I could see right through to the beach grass swaying in the wind, the minute I walked in. But I do remember standing at that fence with the realtor and not being sure. Because of the work it needed.
To me now this thought seems unbelievable. That I even considered NOT buying it, seems crazy. The view is great, I mean the ocean is right there. A lot more than I ever thought our measly pockets could buy. And fixing her up has been so much fun.
A true labor of love.
Here is a flash from the past.
My area in the 1930's ( more info about this pic later)
My area now
I was not happy when they topped these rocks with concrete
( it obstructed my view from the kitchen of the waves)
but now, this is a favorite place of mine to walk .
When we finally finished the kitchen reno i picked a laminate floor that looked like slate, because the rocks that lined the beach behind me are all a slate color.
The rocks
And the counter that I picked reflects that same slate color with splashes of aqua in it.
Here is a closer look at the cabinets I chose, and I still really love them, now which is 6 years later. My counter is formica, not granite because at the time we really could not afford the granite. But I still absolutely love that counter top.
The reno took about 7 months, with the help of my son, a friend of his, and my brother and sis in law. It was a lot of walls being rebuilt and floors, and beams.
All so very worth it in the end.
I hope you enjoyed my little tour of the Cottage down the shore.
Thanks so much for stopping in!
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