Why Polyurethane Is the ONLY Wood Countertop Sealant That Worked for Us

A few years ago I shared the "unvarnished truth" about our wood countertops—and it wasn't pretty. I can't believe I made the rookie mistake of relying on "oil" for my sealant. If you're considering wood countertops in your kitchen, and especially if yours is a sink counter, be realistic about the way you actually use your countertops. If you're like me, oil was not enough protection as a sealant.

CottageCore: Hemp Sink Skirt (No-Sew)

I'm approaching the finish line on our cottage kitchen refresh. The new paint color—"craftsman" gray, as one of you so aptly described it—has added a warmth and dimension to this modest kitchen. Now that the cabinets and trim are all one color, from toe kick to backsplash, it feels more built-in and solid and so cottage-y good. How would it look if I went full "cottage core" and added a sink skirt to cover the washer dryer? I don't have my sewing machine with me at the cottage, but I do have some iron-on hem tape from some long-forgotten curtain project. So, I decided to give no-sew a try. 

CottageCore: Painting the Kitchen Cabinets Farrow & Ball "Pigeon"

You've heard of "pandemic baking"? Welcome to my version: pandemic painting. Rather than dwell on the sad prospect of a summer with no guests, I'm seizing this opportunity to spruce the place up. Most of the walls haven't seen a lick of paint since we bought the place and painted it top to bottom in 2007. The kitchen was in slightly better shape; we'd renovated 11 years ago using plain IKEA pine cabinets (no longer available), painted a nondescript off-white. I've been itching for a cabinet-color refresh for years, and now—with no guests underfoot—is the time.

Painting the Cottage Kitchen Cabinets a "Beachier" Color

Despite its modest size and lack of insulation, our 1925 beach cottage has its charms, and we spend nearly every weekend of summer there. Cabins of the era, even when not a primary residence, can be a source of endless projects. Every year it seems something needs repair or sprucing up. We renovated the kitchen 11 years ago using IKEA cabinets that we painted ourselves, and it's held up fairly well. I only just refinished the wood countertops last summer. This year I'm planning a cabinet-color refresh to something a bit more "beach-y." After considering dozens of possibilities, I've arrived at the perfect paint color. Let's take a look.

The Unvarnished Truth: How Wood Countertops Wear (10 Years Later)

It's been almost 10 years since I began the kitchen renovation at our beach cottage. How time flies! This project was a budget redo from the get-go. We only use this summer house four months out of the year, so I kept costs down by retaining the original footprint, using IKEA Sektion cabinets, and topping it off with low-cost Numerar wood countertops. It was money well-spent; we've enjoyed it! The room is at its best on a sunny morning, when birds are chirping up a storm and the sun projects rays of green off the surrounding trees. Thanks to windows on all sides, it's like living in a treehouse. But there is one regret about this renovation that I want to 'fess up to—it's that I didn't varnish the wood countertops. I'd heard from so many sources that regularly oiling wood countertops will keep them looking new, and I want to tell you today that's just pure rubbish. Sure, the counters still look okay in photos like this, from far away, but up close they're not so pretty. Ready for the ugly truth? This is what unvarnished wood countertops look like after years of use. 

Troubleshooting IKEA TUPPLUR Window Shades (Top Installation)

Two of the most visited articles on Renov8or show installation tips for various IKEA window treatments, from cutting ENJE and SKOGLOVER blinds to fit your windows to troubleshooting KVARTAL curtains install. We love those IKEA price points; we curse those puzzling hieroglyphics! I was reminded of this just last weekend, when I installed TUPPLUR blackout shades behind the bamboo window treatments in our bedroom at the cottage. Yes, you can do that! This required a top-mount installation inside the window box, which oddly enough the instructions do not cover, so I had to wing it. As I worked, I took note of some of the more problematic steps; perhaps these notes will be of use to you if you're installing TUPPLURs on your windows. Here are the tricks that worked for me: 

Cottage Style: How Shake Shingles Weather Over Time (PHOTOS)

We've achieved a big renovation milestone this year — the summer cottage is now completely reshingled, from top to bottom. Replacing the old vinyl siding with cedar shakes was an eye-popping improvement, but an expensive undertaking. 

Barn Light for the Cottage Porch

Ashley Brooks Designs / Barn Lighting

Mom and dad are visiting with me at the cottage, and we have a few projects up our sleeves. I've long wanted to replace our rear porch light on the deck, and with Dad the electrician on premises, now seemed as good a time as any.

  

Old Orchard Cottage Circa 1925

When we bought the cottage in 2007, the former owners handed down a photo album with pictures of the cottage dating back to the year it was built in 1925. There have only been three families who owned it in all that time, including ourselves. Looking through this photo album is like stepping in a time machine — so much is the same and yet so different.

Adding Shelves to Organize an Antique Cupboard

Inspired by Daniel at Manhattan Nest, who added shelves to his antique hutch with great result, I was inspired to make some long-needed changes to the cupboard in our cottage. The scope of the job seemed fairly straightforward - I simply needed to add a shelf to both the top and bottom sections of our hutch. In fact, getting the shelf in the top to fit the interior properly took more "tries" than I anticipated. Hopefully you can avoid my mistakes.

Rafter Storage to Organize the Garden Shed

Having the little garden shed has certainly made life at the summer cottage a lot more organized. The renovated front porch has become a favorite place to relax with a morning coffee or evening cocktail. And all the stuff we used to store there - bikes, beach chairs and umbrellas, patio cushions, kayaking gear - is all tucked away in the shed. I'd like to say "neatly tucked away".

Problem: The shed is filled to capacity.

Solution: HyLoft Ceiling Storage (not a paid endorsement).

Custom Garden Shed for the Cottage

When we screened in the front porch of our cottage and turned it into a sitting room, it had a huge impact on our daily living. When 5 or 6 people are living in 1,000 square foot space for the summer, every inch needs to work for you. Making the porch a sitting room gave us a great space to enjoy our morning coffee or an after beach cocktail or simply lounge and read. In addition, as it's the first room you see upon entering the cottage, it set the tone for the "feel" of the house.

Here's the porch before and after:

Great change! Except for one thing. We effectively eliminated the obvious place to dump beach bags, shoes, toys, and umbrellas after a hot sandy day. And when it rained and we had to bring in the patio cushions, they'd end up piled on the porch - the one place we liked to congregate on a rainy day.

What we needed was a shed.

Roof Reveal: Cedar Shakes = Cottage Love

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There are a lot of new plastic or rubber shingles that have a cedar look, but we chose to go with old fashioned wood shakes. And Arthur and his crew installed them the old fashioned way, nailing them in one by one (with the modern application of course of the nail gun!)

We chose white cedar because it weathers gray - and gray will be a sweet look for a modest cottage like ours with white trim.

Cottage Renovation: Cedar Shake Roof vs Asphalt Roof

Our little cottage, with photo-shopped cedar roof -- hah! wish it were so easy!

It's been a while since I posted about our little cottage on the Northfork of Long Island, NY. But that doesn't mean nothing's been going on there. We do try to make at least one improvement each year, depending on the Renov8or budget. 

We knew last year that the roof was starting to go. When we engaged a carpenter to build us a shed out back, he pointed out the wear and tear to our roof and said that ought to be our next project. The asphalt shingles were peeling in places and it was starting to sag in spots over the porch. At that point we had to make a decision - shed or roof - we couldn't afford to do both. We already had the shed plans drawn up and in our imaginations the thing was already built, so we went with the shed. 

Old Orchard Cottage Kitchen Reveal

Cottage Kitchen After Photo

The kitchen at our beach cottage had last been remodeled sometime in the mid to late '80s, judging from the style of the cabinetry and the canister track lighting. I lived in a New York City apartment in the '90s that had those exact same beige slab doors with natural wood trim. It wasn't just the outdated look that bothered me about this kitchen. Where do I begin?

Flor Tiles Make a Mod Runner

Robin's Egg Blue with Brown Stripe, by Flor

When we walled off the old front room of the cottage to add a bedroom, it created a long, narrow hallway that needed a runner. We looked at a lot of rugs but the patterns tended to be heavy and traditional, many of them Persian style that wouldn't suit this little beach cottage. 

I found these tiles from FLOR and we connected eight of them to create a long runner for under $100.

Cushions on a Budget

Sunbrella cushions -  Restoration Hardware sale

Once I realized the custom cushions were out of my budget, I started to scour the web for a better deal. It turns out it's a good time of the year to buy outdoor furniture -- all those end of summer clearance sales.

I found what I am looking for at Restoration Hardware's clearance sale. Each sectional's worth of cushions is marked down to just $446. So two sets will be $892 -- that's $3,000 less than the custom cushions I priced. And the sunbrella fabric and white piping are no extra cost.

I took the dimension of the cushions to Dan and asked if he could build the sectional seating to fit the cushions rather than the other way around. He said it's a bit like putting the cart before the horse, but he was game to try. To figure out the height we tried sitting on different outdoor chairs to see which was the most comfortable.

Best of all? Under the seats will be hidden storage for things like boogie boards, umbrellas, sea shoes -- all that beach clutter we seem to be tripping over all the time. (I'm claiming the other storage bench for paint cans. It's so much easier than lugging them up and down from the attic every time I have a project.)

Custom Cushions Blow Budget

Custom cushions were out of my price range - but this cute little tote was not!

The first place I went to price custom cushions for the front porch sectionals was a local shop: Wm. J. Mills, renown for its pristine boating upholstery. I've always been attracted to this little shop, with its navy awnings and white piping -- so nautical.

The sales staff was very helpful, but I soon realized I was going to be totally priced out. Given the dimensions, the seat cushions would run about $150 a piece and the smaller, back cushions about $100.

I quickly did the math.

The two L-shaped sectionals Dan was building for us were almost identical, except the corner of the lefthand sectional was going to be a built-in table -- to better fill out that side of the porch, which was about 24" longer than the right side. All told we'd need 23 cusions, 11 seats and 12 backs. That's $2,850. And the sunbrella fabric and piping I wanted would be extra. Mill's gave me a quote of about $4,000 for everything (and the sales woman explained how oil prices drive up the cost of foam batting).

So Mill's was out, sadly. But I bought myself a cute little tote while I was there. ;)

Cottage Paint Color: Ice Blue

Choosing paint color for the beach cottage hallway was challenging. The porch and hallway are where visitors form their first impressions, so we knew we wanted it to be a light color that reflects the colors in nature surrounding the cottage - colors of the sky and sea.

Turning a Front Porch Into a Sunroom

One of the more dramatic changes that we made to this cottage was turning the screened porch into a sun room.  The old porch required us to batten down the hatches during the winter, literally. And the heavy brown storm shutters tended to make it look more "fishing lodge" than "beach cottage".

Here are some before photos.