Our IKEA Cottage

Well, while I’m waiting for the plumber to call me to install the shower, I’m searching online for more decorating ideas. I found a few cool new sites that I’ll list below. But if anyone knows of any really nice online shops that carry more “artsy” and kinda quirky designs, I’d love to know about them.

I love the melamine plates carried here: Shop SCAD

Brocade is also a nice shop but probably too formal for our little cottage.

I want one of each at Design Public!

Dwell Studio has great things - that won’t fit Kevin’s budget. But these pillow shams sure are nice!

If anyone can recommend cool items similar to the ones found at these online shops - but with a more affordable price point – feel free to leave a comment. Thanks.

My friend Ann just sent me a link to a site called “Fishs Eddy.” Ann and I sure do seem to have the same taste. I love these dishes - called “Floor Plan.”

Thanks, Ann!

I’ve been trying to figure out what to do about the kitchen. We’re not planning to renovate the kitchen until either the fall or maybe even as late as spring of 2009. But I still want to have as much of it planned as possible while working with our contractors so that I don’t have to undo any of their work later on. It’s an odd little kitchen. The ceilings are so slanted that it’s not going to be easy to have wall cabinets above the base cabinets. Plus the placement of doors and windows restricts us somewhat.

I love the fact that this cottage was built in the late 30s. I wish I could redo the kitchen in a really retro design. But that would require either custom cabinetry or very expensive cabinetry. Either way, that doesn’t work on Kev’s budget. So I’m sticking with IKEA kitchen cabinets with Stat doors. At least I think that’s the plan. I have time to figure it all out and - who knows? - maybe by fall, IKEA will have some new doors. I plan to paint most of the walls in the cottage white and have a very white-on-white decorating scheme - similar to what Jane Coslick is doing with her Tybee Island renovations in Georgia.

I really did want to keep the kitchen true to its era… and I wanted to use an old table in Kevin’s dad’s basement with a porcelain top. It’s one of those old black and white table tops with chrome legs. But I don’t think that I’ll have enough room for it. It would fit but then our guests would be squeezing into their chairs! Plus, there’s so little storage space in the cottage as it is that Kevin suggested that we make an island out of cabinets and a countertop. I tried to lay out all of the rooms last night using Adobe Illustrator. (Hey! I’m a graphic designer and a web designer, not an architect. I used the tools of my trade!) I made a photo gallery of each layout below… outlining where the IKEA furniture will be placed in each room. Of course, things could change. We’re still working on the bathroom and will tackle these other rooms later on… so anything can happen between now and then.

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In some ways, this little cottage is like a blank canvas. Granted, there are restrictions – such as where the windows and doors are placed and the size of each room – that determine what fits where… but as far as color schemes go… the sky’s the limit. But Kevin’s budget will bring my decorating plans back down to Earth.

In trying to determine what color schemes for each room, I’ll have to find affordable textiles… rugs, upholstery fabric, and duvets. Window treatments can be determined after the big three textiles. As I mentioned in a previous post, it’s hard to find affordable rugs in bright cottage colors. So that will have a lot to do with determining the color schemes of each room. But – in addition to finding affordable rugs – I need to find affordable upholstery fabric. I love IKEA’s Ektorp series for its price but I don’t like the colors of the slipcovers. I could use Bemz for some of the slipcovers but a.) they’re a bit pricey and b.) I am not crazy about their colors either.

I like their Classic Ruta Eggshell Blue fabric and I like their Daiquiri Green fabric but I’m not sure that I want to do the living room in eggshell blue. If I went with Daiquiri Green for the Ektorp sofa bed, I’d want other patterns for the Jennylund chairs and the Bromma footstool. But Bemz doesn’t carry any other patterns that I like to go with their Daiquiri Green fabric.

Should anyone happen upon this blog that can offer some advice, I’m looking for affordable upholstery fabric in bright cottage colors. If at all possible, I’d like to find vintage fabrics or vintage reproduction fabrics. And I’d like them to be washable. But I need the fabrics to be sturdy enough to hold up on a couch. Any comments on where to find fabrics would be greatly appreciated. (I love Heather Baily’s Freshcuts™ fabrics but I’m not sure if they can be used as upholstery fabric.)

In order to get the bathroom ready for sheetrock, Kevin and I had to remove the plastic panels. Jim Kleinkoff had to remove the pipes, the shower, the sink and the toilet. Pat Testa had to do all of the preliminary wiring. Matt Meeker had to install the windows. And Kevin had to remove the old clapboard from one wall. He used a saws-all and cut through the clapboard. We kept several pieces of clapboard for future use. Also, we hired Kim and Jay Spanier of Everything Under the Roof to sheetrock the walls in the bathroom. Jay had to rebuild the partition to house the shower. Once we’re ready for him to sheetrock, he’s going to rebuild a closet that was once in the bathroom as well. But we want to store a canister vacuum in the closet so we won’t have room for the closet to have a door. I’ve decided to just make a curtain to hide the contents of the closet.

I’m still trying to determine colors schemes. I’m leaning toward a very pink and white bathroom. I discovered long ago that finding affordable rugs in fun colors is next to impossible. It was then that I realized that the best way to determine your color scheme when decorating is to pick the rug first. It’s a whole lot easier to match fabric and paint to a rug that it is to find a rug that matches your fabric and paint. I like this plaid rug (below) a lot – it’s called Tattersal – from Dash & Albert. I thought I’d pair the rug with these curtains (below) from Pine Cone Hill – called Chit Chat. If I stick with this pink and white color scheme, then I may just make a shower curtain out of this Pine Cone Hill curtain (below) called Daisy Mae.

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I plan to create some art for the bathroom… but nothing has come to me just yet. I’m not sure if I’ll frame one of my photographs or if I’ll paint something… or if I’ll make a print of some kind. Too many options to chose from… I can’t decide which medium just yet. I may use the photo of tulips (above) some where in the bathroom. I took that photo in New York City in 2002 with a 4 megapixel camera but it still looks good.

We already purchased drawer pulls for the Vattern sink cabinet. We didn’t buy them at IKEA. I like so many of the drawer pulls at Anthropologie that it was a tough decision. But I settled on the Sea Blossom knob (above). We ordered two of them but we won’t receive them until sometime in late June.

What’s that you said? You like IKEA sofas but their fabrics don’t go with your decor. Sigh… me, too. Bemz to the rescue! Go to http://www.bemz.com/ and order slipcovers in some really fun colors. I like the lime green sofa but I’m not sure if Kevin will agree with me on that one. A few caveats… they’re a bit pricey, they’re located in Sweden (but they accept US currency) and they don’t have slipcovers for the Ektorp chaise. I like the Ektorp chaise. And I want to get slipcovers for my Henriksdal bar stools in my kitchen – at my apartment – not at the cottage – and they don’t make slipcovers for my bar stools either. Oh well… we can’t have everything.

Here’s a cool idea. Jon, over at Happy Mundane, painted his IKEA Roger chair white while leaving the legs in the natural wood. It looks great! Others have commented that he may need to change the upholstery on the seat cushion. I agree. It either needs a bright color or maybe even a fabric in a rich golden color to bring out the wooden legs.

I have to say that I didn’t find Jon’s post on his website, I found it at The IKEA Blog. Thanks, IKEA Blog!

While visiting Apartment Therapy, I found a great slide show of lanterns for when we decorate the porch. I haven’t settled on a color scheme for the deck just yet but I’m leaning toward yellow. The cottage is grey with white shutters so yellow would be a nice color. And lately, orange is such a hot color. Yellow and orange might be the way to go.

Anyway, take a look at this slide show of lanterns from the New York Times Personal Shopper. The prices run the gamut from $780 at Gandia Blasco to $4.95 at – where else – IKEA. I like the recycled bottle lanterns from Anthropologie. But they only come in green and amber. Makes me re-think my yellow color scheme because so much fun outdoor decor comes in lime green. But then I see the recycled tin lanterns from CB2 that come in yellow and I’m back to planning a yellow deck. Oh, the possibilities. So many choices, it’s hard to decide… especially when it’s not my money! Just kidding. Kevin knows that I’m decorating on a shoe-string. And I like the fact that both of my favorites from the slideshow are recycled. Think green!