Our IKEA Cottage

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.)

Kevin and I both really hated the bathroom in this cottage but we didn’t really plan to gut the bathroom. It just sort of happened one day. The bathroom walls and ceiling were made of plastic paneling and we both really didn’t like it. So we decided to remove the plastic paneling and replace it with fiberglass sheetrock – made specifically for damp bathrooms. But then we realized that the bathroom pipes were outside of the wall. If we were going to have them removed so that we could put up the sheetrock, we realized that we might as well take them out and install new pipes that would go inside the walls. Plus, Kevin really didn’t like the little, tiny window in the bathroom. He wanted a larger window.

Then it occurred to him that we had an empty wall behind the toilet. He decided to add a second window on that wall. But with such a small space, we needed custom-built windows. But we didn’t want to wait for them. It usually takes about 3 or 4 weeks for custom windows to be built. Ha! There’s more than one way to skin a cat. We removed the small windows from over the sink in the kitchen and had them installed in the bathroom. We hired Matt Meeker of Madison, CT to remove the kitchen windows and install them in the bathroom. We’re now ordering bigger windows for over the kitchen sink.

Since this cottage is seasonal, Kevin has to hire a plumber to open and close the cottage. He turns the water on and off and drains the pipes. The plumber he used last fall is Jim Kleinkoff, also from Guilford, CT. I called Jim to inquire about removing the pipes and adding them back in behind the new sheetrock. He suggested Pex tubing. When he came to quote the job, he pointed out to me that the 2 x 4s in the bathroom ceiling were getting a bit mildew. With the slanted ceiling in the bathroom, there’s no room for a fan to vent out the damp bathroom air. Jim suggested that we drill holes in each bay in the ceiling and then add screens to the soffit so that fresh air will vent into the bathroom ceiling. I managed to drill the holes in each bay in the ceiling. But when I tried to install the screens in the soffit, I didn’t have anything behind the soffit to keep it in place. I couldn’t drill it. I showed Matt Meeker what I was trying to accomplish. He told me that he would replace the current soffit with a vented soffit. But when he attempted to replace the soffit, he discovered that the roof had rotted. So now we need to do some minor repairs to the roof!

We also needed Jim to remove the old shower and the old sink and to disconnect the toilet while the renovations are under way. The old pink shower was so big that it didn’t fit through the door. Jim had to saw the shower into four pieces in order to remove it. He removed the pink sink as well. We bought the IKEA Hollviken sink mentioned in a previous post and a new Sterling by Kohler shower at Supply New England on the Post Road in Guilford. We still need to have the shower installed. Once the walls have been sheetrocked, the new sink can be installed. Then we’ll paint the walls, install a new floor – maybe tile – we’re still thinking about that – and then up goes the trim. And then – finally – I can get to the decorating!

So… that’s how our little bathroom project started to get out of control… we didn’t plan to do any renovations to the bathroom just yet and then suddenly, we were replacing plastic paneling with sheetrock, replacing the pink shower with a new shower, replacing the shower head and the shower valve, replacing the pink sink with the IKEA sink, replacing the old sink faucet with an Apelskar faucet from IKEA. Then we needed a bathroom cabinet. Enter Vattern cabinet with Lillan doors. Then we added the windows and discovered that the ceiling is rotting. Next we need to add a floor. Then we trim and then we decorate. Wow! All that from one idea… to take down the plastic paneling.

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!

Last year, my landlord had some minor electrical work done on the house that I live in. He hired Pat Testa, a local electrician. I knew that Kevin and I would be shopping for an electrician come spring and I asked Pat for his business card. I’m so glad that I found Pat. We interviewed two electricians for this job. It was a tough decision because I liked and trusted both of them so much. But Pat is local. He lives only a short distance away in the Mulberry Point section of Guilford. We realized that he’d be only a quick phone call away if we had an emergency.

Pat met me at the cottage in mid-March. I told him – roughly – what we wanted done. The woman who owned this cottage previously shared this space with her mother – who was wheelchair-bound. The light switches and the switch for the air conditioning were in odd places, low to the ground, so that her mom could reach them. We decided to remove some of the switches and to raise up a few of the others. We also had to lower some of the outlets. And we wanted to add some accent lighting in various places. Pat was fabulous… very flexible and accommodating.

So… in the bathroom, we’re adding lights around the mirror. Pat wired those lights for us. I’m still deciding what lights to buy. I’m leaning toward this sconce – below – but haven’t made a final decision yet. It’s available at The Light Shop.

Pat also added a switch for these sconces as well. Plus we added an outlet next to the sink for blow dryers, curling irons, electric razors… whatever. We removed the overhead light from the bathroom because the ceiling is rather low and we didn’t want tall people bumping into the light in the middle of the night. OUCH! We wanted so very much to add recessed lighting in its place but it looks like it’s going to be tough. We don’t have enough room in the ceiling for recessed lighting. We bought Blixt recessed spotlights from IKEA but even they were too deep for our ceiling. Pat is trying to find us some puck lights but it doesn’t look promising.

In addition to the electrical work Pat did in the bathroom, he removed a very strange light switch from the bedroom. I called it “the lightswitch to nowhere” because it didn’t work. We had no idea what it was ever used for.

Kev ended up hiring Pat to put in a new service. We went from a 60 amp service to a 100 amp service. Our friend Pasquale took care of everything… getting the permit from the town… adding the service in only one day. It was – and still is – a pleasure to work with him. He’ll be coming back in a few weeks to install the outlets and switches.

Kevin closed on the cottage in August of 2007. So… before we began the renovations, we had a “Before Picnic.” Kev’s sister and her family came down from Middlebury to see the cottage in its “before” state. Then we had a fabulous dinner of steak, corn on the cob, baked potatoes, and salad. We took a photo of the table. And I quickly took the “Before” photos seen here.

We didn’t begin any of the work on the cottage last fall. Now that spring is here, we’re making up for lost time. We gutted the bathroom and hired several professionals to assist us in our renovations. We’ve already made a few IKEA purchases… such as the sink and the under-sink cabinet. We bought the Hollviken sink and the Vattern cabinet with Lillan doors. Stay tuned. We’ll show you more photos and decorating ideas in the coming posts.