Infused with a coastal vibe
The inspiration I first saw the idea for this craft project in a store and (being cheap) thought that I could easily make it. As it turns out, I was right! As it was such a simple project, I’m sharing how to craft an oyster…
The kitchen was dark, north facing and cramped. The layout was choppy and non-functional. For this family who love to entertain, it wasn’t cutting the mustard. They brought me in to help them realize their vision of a bright, sleek and highly organized contemporary kitchen.…
Decorating away the post-Christmas blues The house feels so empty once all the Christmas decorations come down. To combat those post-Christmas blues, I decorate with winter white decor. As with New Year’s resolutions, white feels like a fresh new start to the year in anticipation…
For years and years, I’ve been hosting wreath making workshops for friends. It’s allowed me to hone my wreath making skills as I’ve taught countless others to make theirs. I’m now also hosting workshops at the local garden centre. Taking it one step further, I…
The driveway to our beach house is hard to spot in the pitch black darkness of the night. And sometimes even in daylight! I have ugly markers with red reflectors that I bought at the local hardware store. The markers do the job but I…
I NEVER wanted a log house. Ever. I find them too dark. But when the ideal property at the right price turned up during our search for a beach home, we snapped it up. After all, the old adage of buying the crappiest house on…
We are so lucky and fortunate to have two homes. One is a vacation lakefront cottage I have previously posted about and one is a dark and dreary log “chalet” on the ocean. We hope one day to remove the log home, repurpose it somewhere…
I remember the first time that we opened up our cottage as newbies. We were so excited to arrive for the May Long Weekend and check out the property in the spring. Would there be wild flowers? How about fawns and other little baby wildlife?…
Pronounced “hoo-guh”, there is no direct English translation for the Danish word hygge but cozy comes close. The concept is about finding contentment and well-being through enjoying the simple things in life. The word may have its origins in the 1560’s word “hugge” which is…
Want to ensure that you keep getting invited back to the cottage? Here are some gift suggestions for that special cottage owner in your life. 1. Game Camera This is the one that we have. I don’t know if it’s the best but it does…
In the first year of cottage ownership, one of my brothers suggested that we all head up for the week leading up to New Year’s. I thought he was crazy as, at the time, it was an unwinterized, uninsulated plywood cabin and for the first…
When we bought the cottage in the summer of 2016, Steve’s intent was to build our docks himself but he soon realized that with a full remodelling job inside the cottage, he just wouldn’t have the TIME to do it. So we looked at our…
Step One: Inspiration So while out on a bike ride near my cottage, I came across this barn with the most amazing colours in its roof. Quite the random patchwork but they seem to work together so well. I love how the blues evoke the…
So I admit that I am addicted to HGTV. And what seems to be most popular? Shiplap. For those of you who don’t have the same addiction, here’s what it looks like: Shiplap is the horizontal wood covering on the walls in place of drywall.…
I absolutely love this time of year. Words are not possible to describe that perfect autumn scent of falling leaves mixed with wisps of smoke. If only I could bottle that. Early October at the lake is always awesome. Cool nights make for early morning…
At the cottage we relax our city standards. One bathroom? No problem for 10 people to share. Plus there is always the second bathroom, aka the outhouse, if things get desperate. Rules are put in place such as: 1) Please ask if anyone needs the…
We bought our second cottage last summer after selling one that we’d owned for 12 years. And which we renovated over 12 long years. So for this new cottage, we were hoping to speed up renovations significantly which would mean that we could enjoy our…
The other day I was putting together a spreadsheet of all the capital expenses we had incurred at our first cottage. You see, we sold that cottage last summer so I had to pull this info together to calculate the capital gain, or in our case…
We moved to a new lake last summer and promptly joined the lake association to learn all we could about our new area. They put out a call for loon counters. I’m familiar with bean counters but not loon counters. The association has partnered with…
If you’ve read some of my other posts, you’ll know that we originally had a lovely rustic cottage with water access. As our kids grew and their needs changed, we wanted to be on waterfront so we could be out on the water wake boarding in…