Our IKEA Cottage

Kevin bought this little “fixer-upper” in the summer of 2007. It’s located in a private area on the Guilford, CT shoreline and has views of the Long Island Sound. We think that the cottage was built in the mid to late 1930s. We also believe that it was once a one-room cottage. It appears as though there have been rooms added on at later dates. For example, the bedroom has windows in three of it’s walls… one window against the outside wall that allows a view to the great outdoors… one window against the wall facing southwest that allows a view into the living room… and one window against the wall facing northeast that allows a view into the kitchen. Plus, one wall in the kitchen and one wall in the bathroom still have the outdoor clapboards on them, now covered with interior paint.

The cottage sits on a corner lot and it’s about a football field away from the water. While it would have been nicer to have a cottage sitting smack-dab on the beach, it wouldn’t have been as affordable to purchase a cottage on the beach and this cottage probably would not have been available to purchase. It would have been snatched up quickly if it sat on direct waterfront property. Additionally, the insurance would have been higher. But no one is allowed to build any more cottages in this private association. That means that no one can build anything in front of Kevin’s cottage. The views of the water just a football field away should always be there.

The private association has five private beaches. Each beach has its own unique personality. One is quite rocky, one has lots of small, soft stones, one has sandy shores but small pebbles in the water and so one. And all of them are so close by that one can walk to them easily. Kevin plans to rent the cottage some weeks and weekends during the season so it’s nice to be able to offer the choice of these five beautiful beaches so close by.

So… the cottage is comprised of a kitchen, a rather large (and wide) hallway, a bathroom, a bedroom and a living room. It’s about 461 square feet altogether. And it has a nice deck off of the kitchen. The posts on this blog will discuss the renovation and decoration of each of these five areas, plus tips on organization and anything else that’s pertinent to decorating a shoreline cottage. Watch for lots of links to great websites. While we plan to use affordable IKEA furniture for a lot of the decor, neither Kevin nor Peggi are all that fond of the austere look of Swedish design. We want this cottage to be comfortable and cozy and Swedish design doesn’t conjure up that “cottagie” comfortable image. So we will be mixing it up a bit, mixing IKEA furniture with other styles and with affordable antiques to make this place Kevin’s home away from home – and making it a cottage that people will want to rent. Plus, with renters in and out all summer long, we don’t want to have to worry about expensive furniture getting damaged by so much traffic and transience. IKEA to the rescue. We can renovate and decorate on a shoe-string and still make the cottage an oasis. Stop back often and watch the cottage transform from a “before” to an “after.”