Sprucing up the Vacation Home

It's that time of year!!!!!!

When you start thinking about that vacation home (if you're so lucky!)………

wherever it may be: 

River, beach, mountains……..

I love this kind of assignment!

Going in before season,

doing a little work,

and surprising the homeowners when they arrive for vacation!

The WOW factor!!!!!

Many times, these homes are pretty rustic places….
and homeowners don't want to make a huge investment in
the fix up, nor do they want to lose the rustic charm
of their sweet vacation home...

So take a look at some of the homes
I've had the privilege of working on!!!!

 BEFORE: River house kitchen…
pine cabinets with dated hardware..

 formica walls...

oooh, and some very old appliances, like this range hood.

 AFTER: I covered the formica with bead board,
painted the walls, panelling and cabinetry.
 
Moved a cabinet in from the bathroom…

New inexpensive pulls for the cabinets.

Rather than replace the old hinges, 

I just painted them so they disappear.

And no, this isn't a new range hood.
I simply primed and spray painted the old one!

 BEFORE: Not much to say about this bathroom,
other than it is d i s g u s t i n g.

Lacks storage…
in terrible disrepair..

AFTER: Paint and beadboard!!!!!!
What a difference!

A thrift store etagere replaces the old piece,

and provides a place to store all those unmentionables!

 BEFORE: The 80's rattan furniture in this beach house needed an update!

AFTER: I slipcovered all the cushions, 

changed out the art,

 made pillows and added a rug.

BEFORE: This river house guest room had a case of the blahs….

 dated ruffled curtains…

and one bed. No style..

 AFTER: I swapped out a smaller bed,
added new linens and accessories.

 New blinds and panels dress the window...

And I made a custom headboard from a piece of drywall and some fabric!

BEFORE:  Dark and dingy kitchen...

 If these cabinets could talk. Yuk..

AFTER: This is the same kitchen!!!!!

All the cabinets were primed and painted.

Walls painted, and I did a little painted pattern on the bar back.

And I added new $1.00 pulls.

I love how the vintage formica works now 

with the whole retro look of this kitchen!

Small investment….huge improvement.

BEFORE: And finally, this upstairs bedroom in a river house was SO DARK

it's even hard to get a good photograph.

Ugly dark rustic panelling, 

but look how cool the architecture is in this room...

 

Low slanted walls, and ugly brown wall-to-wall carpet

that the homeowner wasn't interested in ripping up yet.

 They also had a set of wood furniture they wanted to have painted
to use in this bedroom.

AFTER: Amazing…..
I sanded, primed and painted all that ugly panelling in a soft aqua.

Set up this bed,
dressed it in new linens,
 made custom pillows.

 I added thrift store finds everywhere...
 
All that dark furniture was painted a soft off-white.

I turned this piece into a secretary and painted the interior
aqua as well.

 It has a pearlesque glaze added so it really gleams.
I found the little chair, painted and upholstered the seat.

Here's the dresser over in the alcove beside the window,
which has new blinds and cotton duck panels.
Note the woven grass rug I brought in to
 cover up that nasty brown.

More propping -
a storage container becomes a lampshade.
I framed sea life images in frames I painted
and matted with seagrass wallpaper.

This is the sweetest guest room now!!!

And so functional.

The only problem:
Getting the guests to leave!

Do you have a summer home that needs some fix in' up?
All these projects were handled after a SheShe consult on site,
We agree on some basic parameters.…
you give me the key.

Next time you're on vacation,
you are a very happy camper!