Hello friends! I have some very exciting news to share today…we bought a cottage! It sounds crazy to even say this, because we were not actually planning to buy a cottage, at least not right now. We found a deal that was too good to pass up, however, so this is happening people! The cottage is a great size for us, and also in a great location. We are beyond excited to spend our summers on the lake with friends and family! We live in the city (a small one, but still), and don’t have a ton of privacy in our back yard. This is a real bummer since I pretty much want to spend all hours outside during our short summer season in Northern New York. Enter our little cottage with a big deck overlooking the water! I am so looking forward to relaxing and being on "lake time".
This is the view from our yard, which is also where the large deck is. You have to use your imagination here - I swear this will be a lake again in a few months! Brr!
Having a large deck overlooking the water is truly what my dreams are made of. The cottage has 3 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms, which is a great size for us since we love to entertain. The bathrooms and bedrooms are pretty small, but the kitchen, dining and living room are all part of one large, open space.The cottage was recently renovated a few years ago, which is both good and bad. On one hand, we don’t have to update things like the nice vinyl cedar shake siding. On the other hand, the updates made are not exactly what we would have chosen. I suppose you could call the cottage “turnkey”, and we could move there in the summer and just kick back and relax. BUT – that’s just not how we roll (see how I quickly I went from relaxing on lake time to working?!). While we won’t have to rush into any big renovations, we want to make the space feel like us. I think our biggest challenge will be infusing character into the space. While I appreciate the blank canvas/neutral palette going on right now, I want to add texture and other details to give certain areas more personality. Here are some photos of the main living area:
Kitchen
Living area
Dining area
I promise to share more photos soon, along with my inspiration and ideas for each room as I make progress. I would have posted more now, but I was just too excited to share our news!
My other big challenge will be furnishing the cottage without spending a ton of money. Since we weren't expecting to buy a place now, we didn't exactly set aside money to buy things like furniture. So, friends, the journey to making this space ours will be a long and frugal one (R.I.P. going out to dinner). Think lots of thrifted furniture plus a random mix of furnishings either retired from our house, or given to us by friends and family. In all honesty, the whole process is a bit overwhelming to think about, but I am excited to get started! I am looking forward to taking you along with me on this journey, and sharing our progress. I know furnishing the cottage will require lots of creative, budget-friendly solutions. In fact, knowing I have so many home projects ahead of me was a big part of my interest in starting a blog. So, let the journey begin!