As I sit here in the middle of a raging snowstorm, I'm thinking about my summer house which I want to open next month. Maybe optimism will pay off! This is the time of year I run through my "to do" list of what I want to accomplish in the coming season. Most summer home/cottage owners want an inviting, homey atmosphere that can be accomplished on a budget. I'm no different. Our place is small and quite ordinary looking from the outside, but we have a million dollar view.
We are perched on the edge of the Atlantic Ocean on the Bonavista Peninsula in Newfoundland and through the seasons we see icebergs, seabirds, whales and beautiful full moons. One October I even saw my first display of the Northern Lights.
Come for a virtual visit.
View outside my studio window mid summer
Visitors in May
After the storm
Full moon over Bonavista
Before we ever put the plans for the house on paper, the colour scheme was etched in my mind from my time spend in the community when I was younger. The inside is a continuation of the outside - ocean, pink/purple slate/ fall meadow and fog.
It's a back door kind of place (note the dishes in the rack) so we enter into the kitchen area. Only slate could be used on the kitchen floor because it is a prominent feature of the whole area and works so well with the other colours. I choose purple for an accent wall behind the cabinets which I doctored with help at my local paint shop.
The cabinets were created on a shoestring budget. My husband made the boxes out of white melamine that was already faced for use in shelving. We bought the doors at a salvage store unfinished. The layout of the kitchen was determined by the door sizes available. I made a wash from liberal amounts of white and dabs of the other colours in the house. The floors are local spruce with the same wash, protected by five coats of water base varathane. My knowledge of colour mixing gained through art was very helpful for this DIY.
The butcher block counters are made from maple with strips of purple heart wood. I would like to say the island had some exotic finish but its plain old laminate.
The beautiful stained glass that provides light from the porch area was created by my on-site handyman. We are waiting for our second hand refrigerator to die so we can fill the space up with a new one - we've been waiting for nine years!
The table and bench were made from lumber salvaged from a hundred year old building that was being demolished. There's an inlay of purple heart in the back of the bench and on either end of the table. The dining area is across from the kitchen and the purple accent wall continues. Our mid century modern chairs were saved from a trip to the dump when a local company was renovating their offices. They keep moving around the living area.
Last summer I covered them in blue geometric fabric and moved them under the window for a change of pace.
This spring the furniture in this seating area will be replaced by ...
.. two new IKEA chairs soon to be ordered. I'll get my white slipcovers after all (our guests are usually clean).
This newly made cabinet is headed to the summer place and will be placed between the two IKEA chairs. It was made for my living room in my other house but I want a piece that is twice as large for that space. Call the handyman.
I still can't believe I bought this sofa! It is cuddly, puffy and brownish - not at all like what I am attracted to. Function won out over form.I gave up on my dream of a white slip covered sofa as not conducive to gardening, wood working, hiking and painting. This one was durable and cheap. I'm learning to like it. The trunk was built from scraps of wood by my father when I was a teenager. It's now painted BM Piedmont Gray. It still looks lost so it will move to my studio. What to put there is the big question. More updates later.
