Sunday, January 13, 2013

Farewell to the Cottage - Before & After


Exterior - Before
We turned our little Cottage (previously known as Diamond in the Rough) over to its new owner last week.  It was such a dramatic transformation, I thought we'd share one more time (one of our readers reminded me that you can never share too many before and after shots!!):

Dining Room - Before
The living room saw lots of changes with walls and doors removed - opening up to the dining room and the former front porch.  
Living Room - Before

Living Room - After
Open Floor Plan - Before

Open Floor Plan - After
Kitchen View - During
Kitchen View - After
Kitchen - Before

Photo:  Jamie Salomon
Powder Room - Before




Foyer - Before (it was the porch behind the windows)

Foyer - After


Hallway - Before

Hallway - After



Front Bedroom - Before
Front Bedroom - After

Back Bedroom - Before

Back Bedroom - After

Bathroom - Before



Thanks for following our progress through this entire transformation.  We are so happy for the new owner.
Exterior - After

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38 comments:

  1. Laurel,
    Where did you get that Maine artwork hanging in the foyer? I need it!
    :)

    Monique

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  2. Beautiful. I have fallen in love with your style. The MAINE board .... did you make it? If yes, How? thk for sharing

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  3. The Maine artwork was done by the very talented artist Ellen Thayer. Check out her website at www.maineislandtreasures.com. Her artwork is amazing!!

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  4. It was so creepy and dark before.

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  5. Cheryl in Nova ScotaJanuary 14, 2013 at 12:56 AM

    For anyone who doesn't want to paint wood. They need to look at this. You did a fantastic job. You need your own HGTV show.

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    Replies
    1. Thanks so much Cheryl!!! And I appreciate the HGTV comment, although I think they want more 'drama' than we want to deal with :-) Our goal is to have a renovation go smoothly, although that's a real challenge, even under the best of circumstances.

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  6. It is lovely - so light and airy and charming. Congratulations! Thanks for letting us live the process along with you. We're looking forward to the next one!

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    1. Thanks Elisa, it's so great to hear from you!!! I hope you'll enjoy this new project, it's a huge amount of work, but we think it's going to be a fabulous home.

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  7. Laurel - these are fantastic! Both houses you've renovated are gorgeous, but this second one is really just terrific. The buyers of both are lucky recipients of your talent and great style!

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    1. Thanks so much Stacie. We had a great time transforming this one!! Can't wait to get our latest project completed!

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  8. What did you use on the hardwood floors? They look great.

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    1. Aren't they beautiful? They put 3 coats of polyurethane on them, after many hours of sanding!

      Thanks for reading the blog!

      Laurel

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  9. Just found your website and I'm loving the before and afters! My husband and I have a dream to do something very similar to what you two have undertaken. If you ever get time to write more about how you made the transition from "shower before" to "shower after" you have a ready audience!

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    Replies
    1. Thanks for reading the blog Susan! I hadn't thought about doing another blog post about our transition......but maybe I should. I guess I'm not the only one that fantasized about changing my lifestyle after many years in a corporate world. Thanks for the suggestion!

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  10. I just love everything that you have done! True inspiration. I would love to paint my knotty pine paneling to look as good as yours. Is there a place on your site that shows instructions or would you mind sharing how you did them?
    Thanks so much Laurel!

    Dawn

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    Replies
    1. Hi Dawn, covering up the knotty pine wasn't hard - but very time consuming. You need to start with an oil based primer (original Behr or Zinser). After that has dried, then we did two coats of latex. Even with that, we had a little bleed through and had to go back and do some spot prime follow up. We used heavy nap rollers to get into all the cracks, with a brush for some of the tricky spots!

      Good luck!

      Laurel

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  11. Wow, great job! Could you please tell me the name of the paint color you used in the main parts of the house?

    Thanks,
    Brandi

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    1. Hi Brandi,

      Thanks so much for reading the blog! The paint is a color called Early Morning Mist. It took a LOT of trial and error to get something that looked good. Here's the blog post with all the color info. http://www.sopocottage.com/2012/09/when-color-goes-wrong-prison-cell-gray.html

      Laurel

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  12. Would love to see a break down in cost. What did you buy the homes for, how much time and money did you invest, and what did you sell for. Wonderful job. Also, for staging, did you do it yourself and how much did you spend on it?

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    1. Thanks so much for the kind words! We're not really comfortable sharing all the $$ on our projects. We're still learning as we go along, but we sure don't make as much as the folks on the TV shows!!!!
      Yes, we do our own staging. So there are costs involved with our storage facilities as well as the movers. But we think it's totally worth it. Seeing furniture in the space really helps people visualize how the homes would look with their things in them. Empty rooms are so impersonal!

      Laurel

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  13. Just found your blog looking for "map bathooms". Great job and how great you were able to find the maps at a garage sale. I live in IL, so won't be lucky enough to find ME maps. But do know where I can order some. Do you know what the scale was for the maps you used? I just love all the before and afters!! Keep on going...

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    1. Hi Jody,

      So glad you discovered our blog! We really enjoy transforming these homes.
      I just did a quick check and it looks like most of our charts (they're not maps) are from the government NOAA. I found this link online -http://www.nauticalcharts.noaa.gov/mcd/paperchart.html It looks like they're transitioning away from old fashioned paper charts soon, but your timing might be good to find them now. You might also try ebay, I would imagine folks are selling them there as well. BTW - I mixed a few different style of charts and really liked the mix. It gave it a little more character!

      Best of luck, Laurel

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  14. Over and over you guys keep doing Awesome Work. I love the choice in colors and design. Thanks for the inspiration!

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  15. Is the paneling color early morning mist as well? It looks lighter in the photo. Thanks!

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    1. You have a good eye! All of the woodwork is painted Sherwin Williams Extra White to provide contrast to the walls.

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  16. Hi laurel, my daughter is closing on a bungalow in SoPo on Friday and it's a complete interior redo. You're website is inspiring. This house has great interior columns and we want to add another. Where are you getting yours? Thanks Diane

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    1. Congratulations to your daughter! And I'm so happy we could help with a little inspiration!

      The columns were custom made by Waterhouse Builders. We did them for our last project as well and they've come up with a pretty efficient approach, that makes them affordable with all those complex angles. Feel free to call Mike at 615-4971.

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  17. awesome job folks! I love the island in the kitchen. Not all homes can accommodate an island but I really liked your creative solution.

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  18. That turquoise leather chair! What's the story behind it?

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    1. Ha ha - it's not an exotic story at all. I found it at HomeGoods and LOVE it!! I've used it in most of my projects and in my own house as well.

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  19. Awesome job, as a relocated Maine it's nice to read stories from home. Great job.

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  20. Great job, great blog. So happy I stumbled upon it this morning. As a relocated Maine I was happy to read and ohh and ahhh over the pictures. Very, very nice.

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  21. This is AMAZING! Every single room was perfect. I'm sure the homeowners must absolutely love this house.

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  22. Hello -- and thanks for your great blog: so many terrific ideas and images. Could you tell me the name of the manufacturers and colors of the paints you used on the exterior of the cottage? Thanks very much!

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    1. Thanks for the kind words! The body of the house was a custom color we had mixed to match some of the old siding - so sorry, it's not available in a store. The front door is Refuge Blue from Sherwin Williams. I do love that color!

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  23. I know this is a super old post but we are in the process of buying and have a dining/kitchen with the wood panel walls. What colors/primer did you use on the dining room?

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  24. I LOVE all your houses! You have the best ideas for removing walls and opening up rooms! I wish I could hire you to reconfigure the front of my house. Could you tell me what the window treatments are that you used over the kitchen sink? That is the look I would like in my kitchen.

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    Replies
    1. The window treatment is a piece of plywood, covered with quilt batting and fabric! All it takes is a staple gun - super easy!

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