2008 August — A Beach Cottage

family bathroom – THE BEFORE

OK think of me this weekend, or rather think of me and Mr Beach Cottage, in our overalls, making over the family bathroom. It's pretty grim in there, fine after a good clean but you need to clean it like three times a day to keep it from looking, ya know, a bit yuk. It's a true 1980's special and on first inspection we thought we had little option but to rip it out and replace. After copious amounts of tradies felt the need to tell us their opinion to keep it and spruce it up, we didn't pull it out in the reno. Now, 6 months later, we are glad we saved the $25,000 as we will probably move on from this cottage in the next few years to a place where we can see the ocean from the window and would never have got the money back.

I've spent quite a bit of time on the internet researching bathroom makeovers and drunk about five hundred cups of coffee (and just a few bottles of beer) weaving my way through bathroom inspiration. I could cry at some of the rooms I've seen and one day I will have a clawfoot bathtub.

So anyhow, after deliberating for a while on going for the paint-the-cabinet-black thing, I decided that I'd not do that and stick with what I like, pale colours, with some vintage and shabby thrown in. I didn't want to go with pure white in here, I thought it would look just too much like a DIY makeover, you know that, 'oh my you've painted your tiles white' feeling…I stood in there wondering what to do, at a loss – the blue (it is more blue than the lilac pics portray) bath, pink tiles and then it hit me, the classic blue/beige combination, I would paint the floor brown to contrast the blue bath, the walls creamy/beige and shabby up the cabinet with some Frenchy distressing…

I have a creamy/light beigey/stoney tile paint 'Stone Jug', and a brown/beige 'Rodeo' for the floor (we are painting right on over the floor tiles with non-slip textured paving paint). I've shopped (in real shops, not roadside lol!) for reams of linen, stripey fabric, candles, shelves, mirrors, blinds. I think I've about got it covered

vintage loot

Tuesday nights I play cab-driver (well actually that'll be most nights!) - on the first leg of the journey from the gym to the pool, driving along minding my own business, I spot an old, beaten up bench at the side of the road. It was just the right size I've been looking for and all weathered and shabby and FAB! I couldn't stop. There was no time. I sat at the edge of the pool, mind ticking over like crazy, a woman possessed by the yearning for that old bench.

I mulled it over with Mr Teenage Beach Cottage. Errr mum, we won't fit it in the car (he hadn't seen it, it's a small pint sized bench), muuuum 'll be late for soccer. Whatever. Nothing was going to stop me from going back, so we raced to the car. And got stuck in 5pm traffic to go like half a mile to the other side of the lights. The clock ticked on, it was tight.

We got to the bench, I flew out of the car, it was sad and in a bad way, very very rustic

I'm not sure what to do with the bench, I plonked it out the front, I'm thinking the Country Living treatment and the other loot I found on my vintage hunting today – the table is better than I thought and nicely shabby, I'm gonna clean it up and cover the top with oilcloth and I think the basket will be whitewashed, lined and used in the bathroom makeover this weekend.

I was still dancing around with glee when Mr BeachCottage came home, I mean there are a lot worse addictions in life. Right?