Vintage Bottle for Dish Detergent

Here's a sweet and simple idea. I'm not claiming this to be my idea, because I first saw this concept with an old wine bottle on another bloggers site. I can not for the life of me remember who.

 An old bottle to hold your dish soap by the sink!

But in my mind it segued from old wine bottle to one of my vintage bottles laying around the house.

Completed Kitchen Tour before and after "The Good the Bad and the Ugly"

Because I have previously posted bits and pieces of my new white kitchen as it was getting done, I thought now that it is complete with dishes all put back, I would give a complete tour. 
 A 360 * tour .....

The renovation of the Cottage Beach House down the shore.

One thing I haven't shared and have been meaning to is

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!

Joining these parties

Met Monday
Coastal Charm
~White wednesday # 97~

Kitchen renovation might be done by Valentines Day!

I am still holding out hope that my new kitchen will be completely done by Valentine's Day.
Then I will be able to get out my Ruby glass and Milk glass and decorate. Right now I am so loving how it is looking.
I have chosen to go with subway tile but not bright white. The one I have chosen has marble streaks of grey and brown, to bring in the colors in the floor and the appliances. I fell in love when I saw it!

And the small tile that is made of natural stone will form a design above the range area.

  I got a real bargain on the subway tile.
4.19 a SF. Hubbo got the contractor price because after all he is a plumber.
So here are some pics of how the kitchen is progressing. My window is in and I have a temporary sink.

The window still needs trim and there is an arch that will go between the the cabinets and above the window. 

My inspiration notebook is there on the counter board. Don't you hate when contractors put dirty things like a dustpan on the counter. Uggghhhh! I know its not really a counter yet.. but uggghhh.

The real sink will go in the day of the granite counter install. It is a black granite sink that I have actually had for 2 years now and I adore it! So we are reusing it.

And on the other side of the kitchen... Can hardly believe it,Yes this is my kitchen!
The cabinets are all in and the handles just got put on today! Do you remember the before?

We are using poster board for counter tops until the granite arrives, next thursday. I got the cabinets to the right of the fridge in a reduced depth to allow us room for stools at the island. And I am very pleased with how they turned out.

It will serve as a buffet very nicely.

Here is the fridge wall before

Below is a pic of the contractor hooking up our old stove on the other wall, so I can cook until the new stove gets installed, ( after the floor)

Messy huh? 

When the contractors go home tonight I will spring into action making the space usable again,

cleaning and setting up phony counter tops.

 My son makes jokes all the time about our temporary sink and stove. 

He says "I don't get you guys"

"Everyone else lives without a sink until they get the cabinets and granite installed."

And I told him " yeah maybe, but everyone else doesn't have 3 master plumbers living in their household!

Boy... it is like pullin teeth to get them to plumb around here!

That old saying a shoemaker's children have holes in their shoes is so so true!

But all in all I am very pleased with the progression. It is beginning to look more and more like the pics in my inspiration book, every day....

From this  below:

To being Ripped:

The way that wall  is now:  

(door on right is gone and window in dining room is now a door)

We still have a way to go here, with the vent and the arch and I am hoping for corbels.

I had the handles installed so they would resemble vintage vegetable drawer bins.

And I will follow up when the floors go in, and granite gets installed...The new oven gets installed

 ( stainless)...And the arch goes over the oven. yippee.

Here are some of the photos I have been inspired by ripped from the pages of various magazines.
I will do my best to incorporate all the things I love into my renovation.

Inspiration #1

The shelf and corbels over the range... I like the hearth like feel

Inspiration #2 

Love how the counter and cabinet angle, for a soft transition.

Inspiration #3

I love how the Dining Room is right next to the Island so a large group can be all together.

And the french doors and glass cabinets. Also love the combination of antique windsor chairs with a modern gothic like counter stool and granite!

The floor will go in on monday /tuesday.
The granite will come on thursday of next week. Yippee we are almost done.
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Vintage Inspiration Friday

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