Lakehouse Tour

After a bit of a roller coaster, Hubby and I unexpectedly purchased our dream home: a beautiful bungalow on Lake Superior.  A delay in selling our townhouse, 1500km away, meant we didn't actually move in until January 2014 - six months after purchasing it!  We have big plans for our new abode but our budget has other plans, so we're mixing high with low, tackling major renovations in some rooms while giving other spaces a budget-friendly spruce - all with a mid-century modern meets coastal vibe.

Come on in for the full lakehouse tour!  Check out "before" photos, links to DIY projects and room makeovers, and weigh in on the progress we've made to date.

THE EXTERIOR

We haven't been able to do much to the exterior yet, but I'd love to paint the exterior dark grey so the faux stone, wood, and vinyl siding are all the same color. 

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We keep pushing our exterior painting plans to "next summer".  We've clearly been super busy...



We've made a ton of that kind of "invisible progress," clearing out debris and garbage the former owner left of the property.  We've also had to deal with shore erosion and a disintegrating dock.  I did, however, stain the deck, which really freshened up the exterior.

 Progress

We also revamped the outdoor area a little and made a modern firepit.

Although those Eames chairs are gorgeous, we're hoping to make our buy some modern Adirondack chairs for next summer.   For now we're making do with our super comfy patio chairs.

THE HALLWAY

Welcome inside the lakehouse!  I wish we had a proper entryway, but this hallway is it.  Note the abundance of boob lights and oak.  Nothing a little paint, some mid-century inspired door hardware, and a quick trip to Ikea couldn't fix.

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Here's the hallway now:

One quick and easy change was painting the front door aqua, which helped tide us over until we replaced the door with a mid-century inspired door that lets in a ton of light!

 
Here's the new door:

I re-purposed the small pantry beside the door for shoes, and it makes me so happy to open the door and see this:

THE KITCHEN

Our small, u-shaped kitchen is slated for a full renovation, but it's going to take us a little time to save up the cash.  In the meantime, the kitchen didn't look, or function, the way we wanted it to so we gave it a mini makeover on a budget. 
    

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I had been dreaming about doing something bold, so I painted the cabinetry a bright turquoise - why not?  It's just temporary, and I'm having so much fun with it!





But obviously we did more than just paint!  We removed the small, awkward upper cabinets and  1990s tile and installed some inexpensive and cottage-appropriate paneling (painted CIL's white on white).  The cabinet bases were primed and painted CIL's Niagara Mist.  We increased our storage with open shelving and an open pantry stocked with large glass canisters, also from Canadian Tire.  This post include links to all of the DIY projects (from installing paneling, to building an open pantry, and even making solid maple counters from scratch), as well as a budget breakdown and full list of sources and supplies - plus TONS more photos.

Since the initial makeover, I've tweaked some things.  I splurged on a case study planter from Modernica, rearranged shelves and accessories, added some art - and painted the vinyl floors a charcoal grey!  I also rounded up a great list of adorable, vintage-inspired turquoise kitchen accessories to get the look - without the commitment. 

THE LIVING ROOM

I love our open kitchen/dining room/living room space, with all three rooms facing the lake.  But the home was built in the late 1990s and these rooms looked a little more...rustic than my tastes lean.

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Without all the furniture, the potential was much easier to see:

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Painting the walls, trim, wood beam and ceiling a bright white have helped make the space seem fresher (so did a new modern ceiling fan).  Dark grey paint on the faux concrete brick, and matte black paint on the gold fireplace door and vents, updated the fireplace inexpensively.  This room went through a series of updates and furniture rearranging, but after splurging on a 20 foot sectional sofa that faces the lake, today the living room looks like this (you can see how it has evolved in this post):

I finally found out the maker of the chair I scored from the classifieds (I still love the mint green and turquoise fabric I chose). 

100 year old postcards of Lake Superior and the area look perfect framing either side of the fireplace.  Lucky I found them in the first place - even luckier when I completed my set of eight!

THE DINING ROOM

The dining room was sweet, but also needed some modernizing.

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I immediately changed the light fixture, choosing the bold, triple bubble light from Modernica.  It suits the 13 foot tall ceiling and looks like a sculpture during the day - at night, it lights up the dining room so beautifully.  We brought our old dining room furniture from the townhouse, but I finally found the perfect chairs - insanely comfy, in the prettiest shade of teal tweed. 

We created a floating credenza using three Ikea cabinets which we finished off with a DIY waterfall top and sides, made from grey-stained Carribean pine plywood.  See the tutorial here.

 

THE MAIN BATHROOM

The main bathroom was the first space to receive a top to bottom renovation, but first we tackled a budget-friendly spruce to tide us over while we schemed and dreamed.

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After the walls, trim, and ceiling were painted white, I removed the trim piece from the top of the cabinet for a cleaner look.  Then the cabinets were painted, the tile backsplash was painted, and the gold light and hardware were even painted.  I added some large scale art and accessories to make the minty counter seem planned and all of a sudden, the bathroom seemed more "us".  It was a great choice to invest in this mini makeover because our bathroom renovation was delayed a year.

Progress

After a full renovation, which included floating walnut vanities, quartzite stone counters, turquoise sinks and a ceiling mounted shower curtain rod with DIY pale turquoise tweed shower curtain, now the bathroom looks like this.  Catch up on all of the lakehouse bath reno posts here.

THE MASTER BEDROOM

The master bedroom was originally a pale pink confection with oak trim.  The mirrored closet door was broken, hiding a terribly worn out closet fitting with missing areas of hardwood flooring.  

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The bedroom received its allotment of white paint on the walls, trim, and ceiling.  The closet doors and fittings were removed.  The hardwood flooring was repaired, the closet was painted bright orange (Hubby's choice), and a new closet fitting has been installed.  A new ceiling light and closet light were little adjustments we made.

It took us awhile to save up - and decided what we want - but here's the closet today, with brand new back painted glass closet doors:

Of course we kept the headboard my Grandpa welded (along with side tables) and my mid-century Hungarian posters.  I wanted to add some more colour, so my first stab at decorating this space was sewing some patterned  DIY back tab drapes, but I realized that the pattern was just too much for me.

So we swapped out the patterned drapes for green tweed back tab curtains, switched up the poster art, and added mid-century inspired dressers for more storage.  We made walnut storage bins for our open side tables and I painted some pretty abstracts. 

THE HOME OFFICE

We recently tackled the office - our second bedroom - and created a functional workspace for two.  Although there are still some projects we would like to tackle, we've made incredible progress!  

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We moved my beloved mid-century teal velvet chair (heaved from a trash heap on the way to a Weezer concert) into the office and swapped my old DIY treadle sewing machine desk for a DIY solid walnut waterfall desk for two.  DIY back table curtains - in the same style and same fabric (different color way) as the bedroom soften the look.  Today the office looks like this:

We originally turned the office closet into a handy nook for our filing cabinet but this closet will soon house a treadmill!  We're planning to re-paint, re-imagine the storage and turn this closet into an ambitious mini gym.  I sure will miss this sweet nook, though!

THE LAUNDRY ROOM

The laundry room has some serious pros and cons.  Pro: mainfloor! Con: it's the first room you see when you come into the house, and a thoroughfare for getting to the powder room.  It houses the electric panel and attic access, so it's a busy room.  Plus, it's Szuka's space, so her food and other stuff is stored in here.

Before, everything was out in the open:

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We made a huge improvement just painting the walls, ceiling, oak trim and wood door a bright white.  We also swapped out the light fixture for something prettier.  But until a major reno - and new machines - happens, we needed a quick fix.
 

To hide the old washer, dryer and laundry tub we devised a simple solution: heavy drapes on an easy-to-slide curtain track.  My Mom and I sewed in some gathers so the curtains can be quickly closed and look great - no fussing with folds, they billow just so!  We made a matching puppy quilt, added a white Eames Hang-It-All and already the space looks so much cuter.

One day we'll fully renovate the laundry room, but for now this was a quick and affordable solution.  Next we'll build a more attractive cabinet for the electrical panel, and add some more art and accessories.

THE POWDER ROOM

When the kitchen gets a full renovation, so will the adjacent laundry room and this powder room (which all share the same flooring).  For now, it was given a mini makeover.  I'm currently planning a different, brighter look (on a budget) because I'm not 100% happy with the look - so keep your eyes peeled for a reveal!
  

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THE FISH ROOM

Welcome to our hilarious little "fish room":  a narrow room with two doors, a window, and sink - perfect for gutting a particularly stinky fish.  I guess this is handy when you live on the lake, but I'm not sure we'll be gutting enough fish to dedicate a space to the art, so we plan to give it a budget-friendly makeover and turning this into a fun hobby room.  It's wee (really, really wee) but is a nice little bonus.

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THE GUESTHOUSE

It feels strangely fancy to type "guesthouse" but here it is!  It's a small little building with the teeniest three-piece bathroom, a ratty old sauna and small living area that just barely fits a queen size bed (but you have to dive onto it from the foot of the bed).  We have plans to renovate the bathroom - I can't wait!  I'd also really love to rip out the sauna, enlarge the bathroom and make this into more usable  guest space, but everyone tells us to keep the sauna! 

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For now, I painted the trim and door bright aqua to refresh the exterior a little:

Inside the guesthouse bunkie, I shopped the lakehouse, using a dresser Mom gave me, the old living room pillows, the old bathroom art, the old office lamp, and a plush new wool rug to create a cozy space for guests.  I really waffled about painting/not painting the pine and - thanks to the excellent advice from readers - I kept it natural and am SO glad I did! 

This lakehouse is still a work in progress, with major renovations still to happen in the kitchen, laundry and powder room, plus smaller, budget-friendly makeovers slated for the fish room, guesthouse bathroom, and other spaces - PLUS we have a whole exterior to refresh.

But we're so thrilled with the space we have created which has a mid-century vibe punctuated with vibrant blues and aqua, bringing to mind a subtle coastal vibe.  I've been so inspired by our location, nestled in the woods on Lake Superior, that blues and greens have really dominated my design.   

Follow Dans le Lakehouse on Instagram or Pinterest to stay in the loop and see our latest renovating, decorating and crafting adventures!