Great Room REVEAL!

We've gotten a lot of great feedback on the Kitchen Reveal post ~ thank you!  A few keen observers commented on the photo with the view into the dining area and asked why we haven't yet shared any photos of that room. You caught us. Yes, once we were able to get all the cabinets & appliances OUT of the main living area, we started working on that space, too.

The "great room" is approx 32 feet long by almost 16 feet wide, and with the kitchen opened up, the shared living space is now more than 600 square feet. We've extended the same beachy wall color to make the whole area feel even bigger.  When you enter the house, this is what you will see:

Wait - I don't think I've shared any "before" photos of the living or dining rooms as they were when we first bought the house, so it's important for you to see where we started with this space. First the living room half:

and the dining room:

These rooms were not as bad as the kitchen was, but I'm being generous in using the term "dated" to describe the furniture. Plus, the dining table had been poorly repaired with one leg barely holding on, and one of the book cases was held together with packing tape. We made a lot of trips to Goodwill and unfortunately some things just had to be trashed. 

Of course, this meant lots of opportunity for shopping! Everything is new. Check out some of our cool finds in these closer shots of the living room area, with views from all angles:

And also looking back into the dining room area:

As with the kitchen, please ignore the lack of baseboards and door trim for now.  And apologies for the lighting changes in the photos - we get so much wonderful natural light that it's difficult to get a picture near with the windows.  (In the bedrooms, we have added room-darkening drapes so that we can sleep past sunrise, but that's for another post.)

We did some work besides shopping, too : )  It was amazing to see how much the room brightened after we scraped all the popcorn coating off and gave it a new coat of ceiling paint.  Although we loved the charm of the original juniper wall, with age that wood had become an unappealing orangey color. We kept the wood, but sanded off the varnish and covered it a light white.

Changing the flooring made a huge difference, too. Here's the carpet that was there - no padding, just a flat rug glued to the plywood subfloor. ugh. It didn't even feel like you were walking on carpeting. We replaced that with a light-colored wide-plank flooring, and then added a cushy rug to the living area for comfort and to help define that space. 

Yes, if you were wondering, that is a fireplace hiding behind a chair. It's in bad shape. We had some guys come look at it and they said we would need to replace the whole thing: from the face of the hearth to the flue to the cap on top of the chimney.  The air down here destroys metal and it's completely rusted. : (  That will be a project for much later.

We've spent a good amount of time here so far this summer, and we are loving it. So great to be this close to the beach and the house is just a relaxing, enjoyable place to be.  We still have work to do on all the bedrooms and the master bathroom has not been touched, but we'll continue to combine some work & play trips and then get back to weekend visits in the fall to try to finish more projects.

Thanks for continuing to follow along with us!

Kitchen REVEAL!

I am so excited to finally post finished kitchen photos! Okay, it's not quite all the way finished, but it's fully functional and it's beautiful (imo) and the things that are left are pretty minor. The most obvious unfinished item you might notice in the photos is the lack of baseboards and door trim.  That's because we are waiting to do all the trim at once when we have the rest of the rooms ready (and we are getting close) so I guess I'll have FINAL-final photos at some point in the future.

But now, without further ado. . .

Here's one of my favorite things about the new kitchen design: a hidden cabinet!

I have never been a fan of corner cabinets.  I feel like things always get lost in the back, and the doors are too small or open awkwardly and it's just a big waste of space.  But with an "L" shaped counter, you have to do something with that corner. We couldn't find a configuration that we liked, so we made one up ; )  We anchored two 15 inch deep base cabinets in opposite directions for the peninsula. By reducing from a standard 24 inch base, we had enough room for a full overhang of the granite to create an eating counter (shown better in the very first photo above.) The kitchen-facing side is 30 inches wide and has a bank of four drawers which are perfect for silverware, kitchen tools, place mats, and a big drawer for food storage containers (see it in the photo above which shows the view into the dining area.) The side facing out (tucked under the counter) is 24 inches wide and has two push-and-release spring latches on the doors, so no handles sticking out. On the back of the first cabinet, we attached matching door fronts instead of a plain side panel (no, they do not open - and the cabinets are not built for doors on the back, so we had to get creative to mount them permanently.) If you didn't know about the pop-open doors, it just looks like four panels. We are storing games and puzzles in here so they are not taking up space in the living area, but easily accessible for family game nights. It's fun having a "secret" hiding place ~ even tho it's probably not very secret now that I'm telling everyone!

We squeezed a lot into a tiny space and I'm soo happy with the way it turned out.  I hope you'll take some time to really look at each of the photos above and share your thoughts or ask questions.  I LOVE the deep farm-style sink and tall goose-neck faucet.  Also, having all soft-close drawers in the base cabinets (no doors) makes it more convenient to see what's inside and much easier to get things out. The super tall cabinets have all kinds of uses. For one, the trash & recycling bins are hidden behind a lower pull-out cabinet on the far end. (The way the original kitchen was laid out, the trash can was a focal point right in the center of the room.) The middle tall cabinet has a huge snack drawer and plenty of shelf space for food storage as well as serving dishes, small appliances, and more. Remember that this is all new storage, because those tall cabinets are in the space that was formerly taken up by the washer & dryer. Oh, and now that you get to see that granite remnant in place, what do you think of the counter tops??

Opening that doorway to the full width of the kitchen has made such a difference in the whole house.  It's no longer a narrow, dark, closed-off corner.  Now, the kitchen is just an extension of the great room with the living & dining areas.  It's functional, bright and beachy.

Here's a quick reminder of where we started and progress over the past six months:

We've come a long way, baby!

Getting there. . .

Between birthdays, proms, and other "life" at home this spring, we have not spent much time working on the Little Beach House, but we've definitely made some progress since the last post. 

First, check out the granite we found for the kitchen counters!

We think people will either love it or hate it -- which one are you?   Originally, we looked for cararra marble because we like the stripey look of marble more than the spotty look that granite often has (and cararra is just beautiful & classic.) Unfortunately, marble has a reputation for staining and chipping easily, so it did not seem to be the practical choice for a vacation home (not to mention the price tag.)  We were lucky to see this remnant piece while looking at stone slabs. Immediately, Steve and I agreed that this was the one.  It's a bit darker than we thought we wanted, but we both really like the cool wavy pattern.  PLUS, this remnant was big enough for our whole kitchen, so we saved a bunch vs buying a new full slab : ) Want to see how it looks in the kitchen?  Next blog update - I promise! 

We are sooo close to finishing the kitchen - I can't wait to share final photos.  Right now, it is fully functional, which is a huge difference from the make-shift "kitchen" we've been living with for months during our visits: a coffee maker, toaster,  cooler and microwave on a folding tray table. I am so happy about not having to wash dishes in the bathroom anymore!  We have just a few details to go: attaching cornice trim, installing blinds on the window, small stuff.  
 

The bathroom project is also coming together - if only we could get a vanity : (  Between broken pieces and misjudging how much elbow-room a person really needs on the potty, we're waiting on our THIRD vanity to be delivered now.  The washer & dryer are in place and and the custom built-in unit adds a ton of functionality and storage.  

Oh, and can you see the door?  We've replaced all the old hollow lauan doors with solid 5-panel Shaker-style.  I love them.

Here's another, still in progress.  Opening up walls is always an adventure.  This is the new master bedroom door, which we moved just a few feet (more on that later.)  We wanted to put it along the stud on the left, but when we removed the drywall we found the HVAC condensation drain pipes there. Having to shift to the right meant that an electrical outlet had to be moved as well. Of course, that outlet was daisy-chained to others and we discovered that the wiring goes under the house instead of through studs or into the attic space.  It took some investigating, but Steve finally identified all the outlets on the same circuit and got everything working properly. Now we just have to close up the drywall, spackle, sand, prime, paint. . .

Last thing for now is just a reminder of why we're doing all this work.  We got to spend a few days at the house with the kids over their spring break from school.  Even tho it was a bit colder than we would have liked, everyone had a great time.  Bike rides, beach walks, family movie nights, playing games -- so much fun!  Everyone is looking forward to spending more time there over the summer.   We will still have work to do, but we will remember to play, too : )

On the way home, we stopped for lunch at the restaurant in the middle of the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel.  We have driven past this place for years and never pulled over.  I am so glad we finally visited.   We expected a total tourist trap.  Yes, there are souvenirs available, but it's really just a nice little family restaurant.  If you drive this way, you should make a point of stopping just to try the she-crab soup.  Everything we ordered was good - like really good - and not overpriced, either.  Afterwards, we walked out along the pier and read all the signs about the construction and history of the project.  Totally a worthwhile visit.

All for now.  Full kitchen "reveal" coming soon!  As always, thanks for following along : )

New to the OBX Little Beach House blog?

 Start here to see where we started and why size doesn't matter.

Friday the 13th

This is how our work weekend started last week : (  

Something flew off of a construction truck passing us and whacked our windshield pretty good.  At least it is not directly in front of the driver's view, but it's close.  We were not even out of PA yet, so not a fun way to drive another 6+ hours and then home on Sunday.  Plus it's way too big to be repaired so we need an entire windshield replacement. Of course, that's money we would rather be putting into the Little Beach House and now something there will have to be put on hold.

That wasn't the only mishap we experienced that day.  We left earlier than usual in the afternoon and had planned to stop along the way so that Steve could connect at a wifi spot to participate in an online meeting . . .but his laptop died.  He also realized, half-way there, that his phone charger was not in the car.  How exactly does a car charger even leave the car?  I'm going out on a limb here and going to blame one of the kids for "borrowing" it when they went somewhere in another car.  Fortunately, he could use my phone for the call, but not to access his work email.  He was able to finish everything he needed to do, just with a bit of added stress.

Earlier, before we even left home, there was another hiccup.  The local lumber yard in NC who was supplying our five-panel shaker-style doors for all the internal doorways finally told me that they were having trouble with their supplier and could not even give me a new estimate of when they might be available.  We had ordered them in February and need by April when we take all the kids for Spring Break. Not gonna happen.  How important are the doors for this trip??  Well, a door for the new closet is not a rush, but the master bedroom and bathrooms formerly had 36" and 28" doors, and we have re-framed them all for 30" doors. . . so yes, it's a little bit important.  These doors are not a standard style that we could find at any big box store.  If we don't find replacements before the trip with the whole family, it's not a life-or-death matter, but we will have five kids using the potty behind a curtain and I am sure we are going to hear how happy they are about it.  Mostly it's just frustrating that we felt we were planning far enough in advance (and these doors were not easy to find at a price we were willing to pay) and now we have to start over.  I don't want to change our design plan, so we'll keep looking.

At least we DID paint and get the toilet installed in the kids' bathroom on this trip, so that's a positive : ) 

And we also built and installed the kitchen peninsula.  This was critical because the lower cabinets and peninsula all need to be in place before our counter guy can measure to install the new counters.  So our Friday the 13th weekend seemed to be turning around!  Then, on the way home, we stopped at the stone supplier to make our final decision on the counter surface and found out that they are backed up a few weeks and will not have the counters installed before our next trip. Looks like we are going to have to put down temporary plywood "counters" so that we can hook up the sink and use the kitchen.

Friday the 13th has always been a lucky day for us.  Not sure what happened this time, but we're going to shake it off and keep working.  Have you ever watched those home renovation shows and thought "they must CREATE these problems just for tv" because how could so many things go wrong?   I know I used to question it.  Now I am a firm believer that no matter how well you plan for a renovation, even with time & budget contingencies built in, you're going to run into more obstacles than you allowed for.  All we can do at this point is keep a positive attitude and focus on the end goal.  We know we're going to love this house when we are finished!

Pricing & Availability - part 1

We've received several requests for our rental rates and summer availability at the Little Beach House.

If you've been following our blog or reading the updates on facebook, you're probably aware that the renovation is moving a little more slowly that we would like.  There are certain things that MUST be complete  -- like the entire kitchen or closing up walls or installing a toilet -- before we could officially place the the house on the rental market.  I do not know what I would do if someone planned their much-deserved & long-awaited vacation in our home, and then when the time came we could not accommodate them, or the house was not in the condition we promised. I would be a basket case with stress and guilt.

So we are not ready to announce when we'll start taking reservations, or what the exact rental pricing will be, but I can offer some general information.  I'm hoping this will help some of our readers to decide either to watch & wait, or to move on to another home for this season and keep us in mind for next year.  For those who do want to stay in our home, we think it's important for you to know what the Little Beach House might be like when you arrive.

First, we do not think that the outside will be complete for this summer season.  The property needs a full overhaul on the landscaping and we just don't think that we will have the time or money to get to that.  We may not get to re-painting all the decks or trim, either. Our focus right now is on making the inside of the house fabulous.  So curb appeal is not likely to be stunning, but if you are like us, you'll value the proximity to the beach more than the outside appearance of the house.

On the inside, the main living areas WILL be complete.  This includes the entirely new kitchen and the remodeled great room (living & dining.)  We have chosen upscale furnishings and one-of-a kind pieces to fill the space, including an imported hand-carved coffee table and a beautiful natural finish farm table in the dining room.  Those more rustic pieces are balanced with modern touches, like a unique metal drum chandelier. Of course, we also have a huge smart tv, a decent video library and a wii.  There are plenty of non-digital entertainment options, too, with games & books inside and bikes outside.

Having to move the laundry area caused us to bump that bathroom renovation higher on our list than we had originally planned. That will be complete, and as you've seen from earlier photos, has natural travertine tile on the floor and will have new storage, vanity & toilet, too.

We would love to have all of the above work complete by early April. That's an aggressive plan and probably a little too ambitious.  However, as soon as those rooms are ready, we will feel more confident about taking reservations.

That leaves the three bedrooms and the master bathroom.  We have not really touched those rooms yet.  Because we re-configured some of the walls & doors, especially in the master bedroom, we will need to finish with drywall, moving electrical, all painting, new flooring, lighting and finally furnishing the bedrooms.  Our plan for the master bath involves converting the tub into a walk-in shower, tiling the floor, moving the vanity and expanding the space into what used to be a closet.   That is a LOT of work remaining.

However, those rooms do have existing furniture and working plumbing as-is.  So there's a chance that for this summer, the public living areas will be upgraded, but the private areas will not.  If that's the case, we don't know if anyone would be interested in renting a beach house that is fully livable, but only HALF remodeled.  We'll welcome any feedback you have on this!

Bottom line on rental availability:  we will have a better idea sometime in April about whether we will be able to offer the Little Beach House for rent this summer, even if it is not available until August.

Now for pricing. . .  the number one rule of real estate: location! location! location! is absolutely true about the vacation rental market in Corolla.  The closer you are to the beach, the higher the price point.  But if you've read our very first post {size doesn't matter} then you know that rents have also shot up because so many of those rental homes are gigantic and only affordable if you vacation with a large group. That's why we feel our Little Beach House is a perfect solution for single families, couples or small groups of friends. It will ideally sleep 2-8 people.  The price will be reasonable for a small upgraded home on a semi-oceanfront lot in Whalehead Beach. When we set our final price structure, we will look at whatever current comparable properties are out there.

If you do an advanced search on a popular rental company site like www.Twiddy.com, you can select "semi-oceanfront" in Corolla (not the 4x4 area) and when you sort by price, you'll see that there are ONLY 2 homes which rent for less than $3,000 per week and just 7 homes between $3,000-$4,000.  Many more are available for much higher rates, up to $14,000 for one week.  (Yes, I'm doing some free advertising for others here, but it's important to do your research!)

Right now, we are estimating that when our home is fully renovated, it will be at the lowest end of that price range.  We will set the final price for this summer based on how much is complete.

One more important note:  we will be offering variable-length stays! If you have ever vacationed in Corolla, you know how difficult the Saturday traffic can be. We will be offering not just a different day of the week for check-in, but also the ability to stay for longer than exactly one week/seven nights.  For example, you could arrive on a Wednesday and check-out the following Friday -- giving you NINE nights and avoiding all the traffic hassles. If you have limited time, we will also consider visits as short as five nights. Pricing will be based on a nightly rate.

We are doing this for selfish reasons:  when we book our own vacation time, we want to stay for more than just one week (we never want to leave!) so we think others may want to do the same : )

If all of this sounds good to you, then I hope you will keep following along on this blog or our facebook page.  If you want to put your name in to be directly notified when we are ready to start booking, then please send us a private message on facebook with your email address.

I'm sorry that this loooong post does not more directly answer questions about price or availability ~ just trying to be honest and give everyone as much info as we have.  Thanks!

Of mice and men

No, we don't have mice at the Little Beach House!  However, I'm sure we can't be the first people to take on a house renovation and think of that famous line "the best laid plans of mice and men often go awry."  Where I thought we'd be by now vs. where we actually are in this process are two different places. Remember, we're over six hours away and only get to work on the house a couple of weekends each month.  Nevertheless, I thought it was time for an update.

Sure, it's possible that I might sometimes overestimate what we can get done in our short weekend visits.  I prefer to think of myself as optimistic -- it sounds better than naive or unrealistic.  However, when I started writing this, I took a look back at the last post and laughed out loud when I got to the line about having the kitchen operational by mid-February. Ha! We have made good progress on the kitchen, but here's what it looks like right now:

and here are all the appliances and cabinets, sitting in the dining room a few feet away:

So close, yet so far! 

Also, for weeks we've also been sooo close to having the new laundry area finished. The travertine flooring in the bathroom looks fantastic: 

. . . and the water hookups and electrical lines are ready to go:

but when we placed the dryer on top of the washer and opened the stacking kit brackets made specifically by Whirlpool for the Duet series we had purchased, here's what we found:

Okay, so you see those two holes on the bracket that is hooked onto the dryer? and can you see the two holes below it in the back of the washer (partially covered by the bracket)?  Well, that distance is about a half-inch apart. Grrrr!  We considered drilling our own new holes to match, but after researching further we found that our newer model of the Duet washer & dryer uses straight brackets (these are "z" shaped) and the correct ones will allow the dryer to be better positioned over the washer (and less likely to dance around when in use.)  So we had to order the correct new stacking kit and hopefully we can finish up that part of bathroom project during our next visit . . . and maybe even get the new toilet & vanity installed soon after that. 

We now have a real deadline for these two projects: Spring Break.   By the time we bring all five of the kids for a long weekend, we need to have that second bathroom and the kitchen finished.

I would love to have the great room in shape by then, too. It's really just a lot of little things holding us up there.  For example, the cable line currently comes up through the floor for some reason(?!) and needs to be moved to the wall before we can put down the new flooring. Small project that Steve can definitely handle, but so far has not been a high a priority. Also, when we say we're renovating everything, we mean everything.  Even the light switches are being swapped out with new ones. Why? Because salt air does this:

Ewww! right?

When we are finished with this place, it's going to be good as make that better than new. It's just going to take time (more time than I would like) and hopefully not too many detours along the way. Cross your fingers!

The long and winding road

We've just returned from a full week of renovations at the Little Beach House.  Long hours, late nights, sore muscles, a few cuts & bruises, lots and lots of dust. . . and not much to show for it  : (  

Wait - it's not that we didn't get a TON of stuff done, it's just that many things are started and nothing is finished.  And that's frustrating.  But that's how it goes with a whole house renovation.  So in an attempt to make myself feel better about what we've accomplished, I'll share some things here.

First, let me introduce you to the original kitchen:
You may wince at the green floral linoleum right away, but trust me, this photo doesn't do justice to the aged counters or sagging cabinets, either.  

Take a closer look at that large appliance toward the back. That's not a microwave over the stove - it's a second oven. We do sometimes bake while on vacation, but I can't imagine needing two ovens.

What you can't see in this photo are a full-sized washer and dryer on the left side of the room, eating up about 25% of the total room space.

It's also tough to get an accurate perspective on size. You are looking through a 36 inch doorway (see the wood frame on the right?)  To the immediate left is a refrigerator and a small counter, just big enough to fit a microwave.  This leaves only the space over the dishwasher as usable counter surface.  ugh! 

For foodies who like to cook as much as we like to eat, this kitchen was not going to cut it.


In the last post I showed an initial demo pic of this space.  After that visit, we had a contractor install a support beam where the kitchen entry wall had been, opening up the space into the dining area. What a huge difference that makes! 

This week, we pulled out all the cabinets and appliances, removed the soffits (thankfully no wiring or duct work was inside - but we did manage to drop a hammer between the open walls!) and took down a partial wall which had divided the laundry area.  We solved some electrical mysteries so Steve could move wiring where we needed it for the new appliances, outlets & lighting. We cut out & framed a new doorway into the storage closet, which had only been accessible from the master bedroom. The old flooring was removed and backerboard is now in place for a tile floor to be installed.  Here's how the room looked as we left:

We had ordered new stainless appliances on a Black Friday sale, so those were delivered during our stay and are now sitting in the dining room until we can finish the prep and install new cabinets & counters.  Our contractor found local neighbors who could use the old cabinets, fridge and washer & dryer.  We were happy to pass these along instead of dumping them. 

One of the biggest challenges in re-designing our kitchen was to find a new spot for the laundry.  In a little house, there aren't many options.  Last month we opened some walls in one of the bathrooms and a bedroom, converting two closets into a new laundry space and open linen shelving.  New water & power lines were installed by pro's.  During last week's trip, Steve built new walls and I tiled the bathroom floor with travertine. Our tight schedule - lay the tile on day day 1, seal the stone on day 2, apply grout on day 3 and then the final coat of sealer on day 5 - was thrown off when I ran out of mortar at 2:30 am with just two rows of tile remaining : (   So even though we have a new stackable washer & dryer set sitting in the hall, we could not put them in place before we left.  Pics of that will come when complete!

The final project we started on this trip was painting.  As rooms are finished I will show more, but for now, here's a sneak peak at some of our "beachy" color choices:

We have lots more to do and a short timeline to do it all. Our next long visit will not be until February.  On that trip, we are hoping to have the kitchen in place & operational. It was not easy cooking all week with only a dorm-sized microwave and washing dishes in the bathroom sink, but hopefully we won't have to do that after the next trip!