Our little baby....Saltwater...TaDa!!

Here she is..There are not alot of words right now..

I am suffering from remodel exhaustion..

we have worked on this cottage for 2 months straight..everyday..

Im am going to stay away from any paintbrushes for a while. My hand is a crumpled up nub..a paintbrush fits in it perfectly, I think its frozen into place...

These were taken on the fly, I apologize..I will take better photos soon.

Thanks for stickin with me, peeps..

Steve and I are going to take a quick day off.

Ha ha ha ha!!!!

:D

Here is the link on the VRBO, just in case you want to come for a weekend, week or heck, come on out for a month if you want to!

http://www.vrbo.com/358099

.............................................

Oh, My word....I almost forgot to mention this...!!

FRESH COTTAGE is on News stands right now..

We have a 12 page spread of Coastal Nest Cottage inside..

WOOOOOOOOT!!

Check it out!

500 posts and a little cottage renovation...

Hi, Reader..I am sure you are interested in all things Coastal Nest and every little aspect of my life on the coast...NOT..BUT..

 I thought I would show you what has gotten me all fired up..Not ONLY ..yes I said..

NOT ONLY have I written 500 posts of complete and utter nonsense on this blog, and you..my dear reader, have stuck with me (have you?? )

through thick and thin,   but...we got a cottage dropped in our laps this weekend.

literally..

We were flabbergasted when we got a phone call this last weekend about our good ol beach neighbor wanting to sell.

Steve and I kind of freaked out a little bit, no..ALOT.. and then decided, what the heck..

LETS GO FOR IT!

This (almost) darling little 2 bedroom cottage is ours.

As you can see, it has been through a little renovation, so its not as bad as the Coastal Nest Cottage was when we purchased her, but its still not up to snuff.

She will be up and ready for summer fun by mid May..

We are mostly pumped to start another project that we can work on together..and my creative juices are just a flowing!

That kitchen will get a re-do, all paint will be new, furnishings..dont get me started..

Its going to be a darling little place soon enough.

If your interested in renting for a summer weekend give me a shout out, or go here..

www.vrbo.com/319730

The best thing about it...

Its RIGHT ACROSS THE STREET from this little darling of Pacific Beach!

(oh, and by the way, COASTAL NEST COTTAGE will be a FEATURE in Cottages and Cabins..May issue) Lord have mercy!!

WOOOOOOOOT!

--all the best to you, my dear reader..thanks for stickin around..

More fun and adventures, coming up!

xxoo

Lisa



Dropcloth slipcover.....the chair edition..

Hello there internet girlzz. This is, as you can see, a chair. A bare chair..all cold and shivery and alone. Shes been asking for a new dress for sometime now. Begging, actually. I gave in..I couldnt stand to see her, sitting there..with that green toile get up. They had drifted apart, I think it was some time after September of last year. She wanted space, toile wanted to lay around and look dingey and sad all over chair. She thought he was depressed, he thought she was straying with the remnants of "party boy" over there "the couch" she lovingly called him..

It was true, chair was in love, not with couch, no..with drop cloth..he was from across the tracks..He laughs, and recalls the days when he lived at Home Depot..Crazy times...he says with a gleam in his eye..I was hard and crispy back then..but a good hot wash or two in the front loader and lots of downey have softened me up, Ive changed, he says, lying (his type of kneeling) on the floor. Ill be good to you, I will take care of you and cover you from sand and beach house hyjinx..I promise..

He made his move, he was all over lil chair in a matter of minutes, makin his move, slipping his

perfectly imperfect self into all her right places...

Oh, my goodness, chair whispered into dropcloths ear..what will shelly and the other girls at the table think?.....It dosent matter baby, we are so good together..

Just then, the room fell silent..a hop up onto the chair and everyone knew the place wouldnt be the same.....Pillows..ghasp..Theres a new style in town..

of the  brown striped kind..

The two old ladies in the corner just laughed and blushed, remembering...remembering of the first time....

and they all lived happily ever after....and looked great doing it...

--------

you didnt know I use to write for Nikki and Victor, did you..

read even more FUN WITH DROPCLOTHS  down here...

http://coastalnest.blogspot.com/2009/01/dropcloth-curtainsa-tutorial-of-sorts.html

http://coastalnest.blogspot.com/2009/08/dropcloth-slipcover-sofathe-lovesong.html

A lil summer turned fall project..

As you all can see, my man loves a ladder..And his Ridgid..AND the smell of fresh beautiful cedar shingles..

I originally thought, yes I said THOUGHT we would paint the house this summer..But, ohhhh, no..Not MY husband..He prefers a hammer to a paint brush any day of the week. Hammer + Husband = projecto perfecto..

Did we just reside? No, not JUST..we reconfigured our entryway, to the way it was when it was built, added two new beautiful larger windows and a gorgeous 8 ft all glass door. IT IS GORGEOUS..

One day I had a date with some very vintage corbels and the belt sander..They were given to us by our great neighbor next door. How did she know they would work so perfectly into the project? Not sure, but they are installed now, and yes, they look like they have always been there.

My fine work..

this gigantic school house light was hanging in the Ballroom at Grand Heron..The electrical and all the metal, including the beautiful chain have had some new life breathed into them and Steve added a dimmer switch, now at night its like we have a full moon at our door..

We are doing this project in thirds..since we are not rich..(in money) but other ways we are billionaires..

Here is one of our billions, a great assistant..too!!

Get a load of this dump!

There is something special about a beach cottage, the smell of the salt air, the wind in your hair, the sand on the front porch, shells all around. Giggling children, a silly, happy family passing the time away all the summer days long. Pacific Beach Washington was were we love to go and frolic, its only 25 minutes from our "real" home in Aberdeen. Pacific Beach is where we stumbled upon this diamond in the rough, and here is a few little photos and some really interesting commentary on our trip down" before and after", Coastal Nest Style...believe me, it WASNT pretty. I am really not sure why my photos are loading up BACKWARDS...This is after..obviously.
take a look of the lovely entry..prior..

Our bedroom..after..

And prior, this window is where the french doors to the deck are now.

The 3 square windows replaced this lovely one...

here. oy.

I remember the ilk and the stench.

Wet cigarettes mold mildew and pee.

are you getting the visual?--and the scent-ual?
to say the least, the children didnt come out with us for MONTHS.

this little knee wall beside the stove here replaced this....

lovely moldy rotten wet wall...here.

we opened her up and let the sunshine in, vaulted the ceiling and worked our little tails off!

and now..ta DA!!
We initially purchased this property to flip, prior to the market meltdown. Now she is like one of our children, and I cant really think of getting rid of her, but we toy with the thought every now and then.
If you are ever in the area, we do rent her out for a vacation rental! Its an easy walk to the miles and miles of sandy beaches and the relaxed laid back little coastal town is only about 1/3 mile away!

Wow!

did my man and I have a vision, or what?
If you are interested in more of our fun and funny before and after series, come check my sweet BobVila and I out over
here!!

ALMOST THERE!!

Hello there, my fine feathered friends..

I am having major camera malfunctions..I have spoken of these in the past.

Irritating to say the least.

I take the photo, but it wont download to Kodak..

Grrrr.

Anyhoo.

Here is a photo of the room for laundry.

TOO DARK..

I cannot download better photos at this moment.

I think this camera has been with me too long and is taking on a role as a female camera..

shes only going to do what she wants when she wants to.

~~~

Just like her owner, I guess.

:)

I know its a dark photo, but ....

The laundry room......

All I can say is

WOW!

I cannot believe how easy this job really was.

It turned out pretty cute, if I do say so myself.

We went out on a limb for these fancy

"euro machines"

"ten times the work of one laundress"

They tout....

I have kids...we will see about that!

Sorry the photo didnt turn up larger.. Pour Quoi? Why, why, I ask, does this happen sometimes?

This sink and storage area complements of a ever handy and always fab handi-man...

I think he did a great job..Dont you???

Could I say April fools, and youd hit me on the arm right now~ because you knew you just got

fooled..You know the Coastal Nest cant work this fast!!!

You also know the Coastal Nest dont roll with much things

EURO--

Had you going there, didnt I.

nice laundry room, eh?

IM A HOPER~~

But it is coming along very nicely, thanks!

REAL--photos tomorrow.

:)

A Coastal Nest Remodel...my shameful laundry room..

Lordy..

This is our house, prior..PRIOR to us moving in.

(I'm clearly setting the stage, here. Bear with me)

As, some of you avid nest followers know, this was the house that fate brought me to.

Me and my ten speed bike. We use to circle this house in my cut offs and my Stanford t shirt. Pedaling around and around. Checking out the house and the lovely yard..Although never to go actually INSIDE it, I just knew I wanted to live here.

YIKES!!

what was I thinking? Just kidding..Anyway.

It was unfortunately "modernized" you know how things like that happened.

This is the laundry room, or laundry hallway I would call it.

Here, is what my fabulous Bob Villa has done with this space.

{RIGHT HERE}

I took this (above shot) standing in the same place, I just looked to my left. This is a teeny itsy bitsy tiny bathroom that was in the laundry hallway, mudroom, sauna, catch all area of the home.

Again, I say..

YIKES!!

This window is in the same place that..These here, new windows are in..That doorway was where I was standing to take the photos above.So, this is how I have been living with my laundry room for at least a year now. Guess what..My lovely husband is starting to get to work on this space for me.

I know, I kissed his feet. We have saved alot of things from the beach re-do and are re-purposing ALOT of things and being all good and GREEN--(ack!)

for lack of $$$$.

It just plain needs to get done, its CCCCold back here!

Hello handsome, almost didn't see you there with all of that camouflage on!

Can you believe I have this kind of a mess?

now you can see I am no robot and you may all breathe a sigh of relief and move me down a notch, or two if you like.

thanks..

I needed that.

This is gonna be fun!!!

Stick with me to see a great transformation of this space!

Ive got it ALLLLLL planned out..

xoxo

Coastal Nest

:)