Sea Star Cottage is almost done.  The remodel took longer than anticipated but then remodels almost always do.  Once you get into things there is always the – “While we are at it we might as well do this” – situations.

The white vinyl Milgard cottage windows went in a while ago and they look great!  They are now all framed out and the trim is painted a nice fresh white.  This picture doesn’t show the trim finished but it is now!  We also have a nice new storm door on the front door of the cottage.

The cedar shingles are up on the front and west side of the house – the areas that take the brunt of the weather.  This was not in the original plan but it was pretty obvious that it needed to be done and now everything looks new and fresh and clean – and smells good too!  Love the smell of cedar and now I have a lot of cedar kindling for future bonfires!

We had to get new porch lights, of course!  The old ones were totally trashed by the years of sun and storms.

The big one on the right is actually plastic which is really the only thing that can hold up to the weather – anything else tends to rust out in no time.  The other one is under the eaves so hopefully is more protected and it is LED so won’t ever need to change the light bulb.

I think it gives the cottage a jaunty nautical touch 🙂

 

We took out the old wooden boardwalk and flower bed along the front of the house and replaced it with gravel…  This makes this whole area clean and easy and low maintenance.  The old boardwalk was falling apart and it could get slick in the winter so this is much better.

I found a great deal on stick down vinyl tiles on clearance for the bathroom floors.  We didn’t want to spend a bunch of money but the old vinyl needed to go and this works really well.  You just put it down right on top of the old floor – easy and clean and probably the least expensive way to go.

See….right over the old vinyl!

All done!  We put this same flooring in both bathrooms.  I have a whole box left…maybe there is enough for the pantry/laundry room!

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We knew we had a raccoon issue under the house.  Sea Star Cottage is next to a wooded area and a creek and those little critters found their way in through the foundation vents under the front deck and made a mess of the insulation and vapor barrier.  So…had to have all that replaced and new stainless steel screens glued to the inside of the vents so they can never get in again…take that raccoons!

(It could have been worse…could have been skunks!)

I hate spending money on the stuff you never see, don’t you?

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So now we are down to the nitty-gritty…

– I ordered new blinds because there was no way the old cheap metal mini blinds were going back up.  Those should be arriving in early August – can’t wait!

– I need to find some attractive house numbers – the old ones went by the wayside somewhere in the process.

– The yard is a mess after several months of construction, however, we are growing some spectacular dandelions!!  Just needs a good mow and trim and edging and nature will take care of the rest.

 Almost ready to rent! Yay!

🙂