Progress has been made!! All summer long, there was some sort of banging from the guest cottage (and the guest cottage kitchen). We were in and out a lot and often didn’t know what was happening or when, which isn’t typical for any remodel I’ve done, but I was fine with it because I loved the crew and, frankly, I’m not ready to answer all the questions anyway. Without a hired general contractor on this job (my brother is helping some when I need it), we are basically getting different subs and workers when we can, hoping that we are here to answer questions. So the progress has been slow, but honestly I’m so behind on the final design that I’m grateful that I have more time to know the answers to their questions. But the floor in the kitchen is done, the restored and repaired window in the kitchen is installed, and we have some clear next steps.

If you are wondering if those are the original floors, that is the point! There really was no “original” floor; there was a subfloor that had a lot of big gaps and damage, and decades ago (probably the 40s or 50s) they laid some pretty intense laminate flooring over it. We started to remove the layers, and it was clearly a disaster. After testing negative for asbestos, we decided to just put flooring over it all.

See what I mean? Not good. But now…

Our goal was to make it match closely in vibe with the original clad ceiling, which we definitely wanted to keep, and the clad walls (which are in ok shape, but we have a solution below). So we found some reclaimed fir wood locally from Good Wood that matched the best. After months of deciding, we made the call to go for it, but with a lot of unknowns because reclaimed wood isn’t just copy/paste. We had a big sample board, of course, but there is no guarantee that the samples would 100% match the product that we would receive after milling it, and reclaimed wood is pretty expensive ($9-11 a square foot), with a lot of little add-ons per linear foot that can really add up (think slight wire brushing, adding a bevel, end cutting, cutting out conduit holes). Anyway, long story short – it wasn’t a one-and-done decision or process, and we were nervous! We really wanted this look, but we had no real guarantees that it wouldn’t be splintery without sanding off the finish completely (which we didn’t want to do) and sealing it. We love the color and finish! Now that it’s installed, it’s gorgeous, AND yes, there are definitely splinters, so we plan on rolling a coat of some sort of sealant to bring out the richness of the wood and also seal down some of the looser bits. We also plan on rugs, and maybe this isn’t a “barefoot” house. We are also open to sanding if we need to.

We used 3″ reclaimed planks on the floor (milled by Good Wood from old barns to be tongue and groove), and it’s so pretty and, yes, feels very old and original. I don’t regret it; I still think we made the right decision. The only other thing I think I could have done is sourced a richer, darker red-toned new wood and mostly covered it with rugs, and I bet your eye wouldn’t figure it out. But after having reclaimed wood in two projects, I will say that it really adds soul and richness to a house when appropriate. And in our case, I just felt strongly that we shouldn’t mix new wood with this clearly rustic wood on the walls and ceilings. If it bugs us, we will likely sand it completely and stain it a rich fir tone that still looks good with the walls but hopefully eliminates the splinters.

Old/New Windows Are In

Look how gorgeous these windows are!!!! Don’t worry, they’ll be painted a dark color, but my goodness, they are perfect replicas of the original windows, restored (and glass replaced) to be strong and high quality for 100 more years. We hired a local small family business, Sash and Cord, who did a fantastic job (with great communication and customer service – not just a salesperson who just hands over the job to the craftspeople). Although the sashes ended up being beyond restoration once they got them back to the shop, they commissioned replicas through a local workshop, made and installed fresh components to match the original windows where necessary, restored what could be saved, and glazed the new sash with tempered glass and traditional linseed oil putty. They are made out of CVG Douglas Fir. Daniel and Matt cared so much and did such a beautiful job.

We had our framers do a new, clean rough opening, and then it took a day and a half to install them on site (including all the shimming and insulation). Up next is trimming it out and painting.

But What Color Should We Paint The Guest Cottage Kitchen??

Remember this render of the guest cottage kitchen? I really loved it, and honestly we haven’t revisited the design in a while. It was never final, just more of a vision to work towards while we make allllll the decisions.

Now let’s talk colors.

We originally wanted green in here, and it was a slam dunk. Our plan is to put beadboard behind the fridge area and take that same line throughout the room. While we love wood, two huge rooms with floors, walls, and ceilings felt like a lot, and having some more solid colors could be a nice break. The wood on the walls in here had a lot of graffiti and patching, so we figured a great solution is beadboard on the walls in the whole room. But I started having my doubts about the green…

It’s pretty, but is it too high contrast? Does it complement the wood enough? I mean green and brown work together – think trees! But once I held up this dark, rich red, I got so excited.

So what you see in my hand is the floral fabric I want to skirt the cabinets with and the dark red paint that I fell in love with. Gretch did a quick mockup.

This definitely reads a bit pinker than red, but you can see how it complements and really works with the wood better than the green and just feels like a more seamless and rich experience. Both could look good, I know. And the only for-sure elements that we have ordered for the kitchen are our gorgeous Smeg appliances (we chose the black high-gloss small version without ice/plumbing and the induction 30″ black range to match). They are beautiful. We have that sink that we bought from Wayfair, but man, I wish it were a color. There is such a hole in the market for the 15 of us that want colorful plumbing for our darker spaces. I chose a wall-mount utility sink becasue its smaller and not cabinet-dependent (meaning we could still DIY the cabinets around it), and it doesn’t need a backsplash. But there are times when I wish I had done an undermount sink that doesn’t have a bright white apron and backsplash.

I’m excited to have this juxtaposition between the beadboard (that is all over the house) and the original wood. I think it will feel cozy but give more cottage than cabin.

So what do you think? Green, red? Let’s chat. xx

*Photos by Kaitlin Green