The Fish Room: "Before" Photos, Plans + Progress

photo source

Do you remember the "Fish Room" from my lakehouse tour?

It's a weird little room that's narrow and super small, with two exterior doors (why?), one window (lake view though, lol) and a sink.  The whole set up leads me to believe it was designed for gutting fish.  That sounds weird, but everyone on this bay of Lake Superior fishes, so I think it makes sense to have a special fish gutting room?  I cannot think of any other purpose for this odd little room THAT CANNOT BE ACCESSED FROM INSIDE THE HOUSE.  Yep, you read that correctly.  This room is attached to my house but only accessible from the outside world.  Because of the shabbiness and the inconvenient access, this room has sat pretty much unused since we moved to the Lakehouse.  I cleaned it, but I didn't even paint the walls - I just shoved in some paint supplies to keep them from freezing in the garage and then I managed to make this room look worse by spray painting on the floors and splashing resin around.  It was kind of handy to have a heated space I could use for messy DIY projects, but my need for that kind of room has really abated.  

To help you get your bearings, this room is located behind the fireplace in our living room; it's where we load the firewood into the firewood cubby (that part of the floor plan is genius).

The little bump out in the picture above is behind our TV, to the left of the fireplace (see more photos of our living room here):

I recently came up with the CRAZIEST idea for this room, which will help maximize the modest 1300-ish square feet of space we have.  It's a long term plan (which we won't have the money for until after we do the roof and siding next spring), so I have some time to figure out the specifics. 

This is my rough plan:

1. Tear down the fireplace wall and re-build a more modern, efficiently designed fireplace with room to mount the TV above it and - are you ready for this? - a SECRET door to access the fish room.

photo source: left | right

I'd like to keep our handy wood cubby system, so a hidden door would likely be incorporated to the left of our fireplace.  I haven't seen anything exactly like what I want to do so I've just been pinning asymmetrical fireplace designs and working on my own sketches and ideas.  I'm thinking that large panels of walnut could hide a door nicely - but with some kind of sleek stone/tile near the wood burning fireplace.  The following fireplaces all look so different, but they're inspiring some ideas as I noodle on this...(if you spot an idea that could work, put a link in the comments, tag me on Instagram or send me a pic on Pinterest).

photo sources: left | right

photo source

photo source

photo source

2. Seal off the weird second door (on the side of the house) in the fish room and re-do the drywall for a seamless wall.  Let's get rid of the popcorn ceiling too!  One fewer door means way more space for cabinets and storage...

3. Move the washer and dryer out there and build a DIY dog washing station too.  I am so excited about planning a pretty laundry room!  I'm dreaming of pale turquoise cabinetry - or maybe classic white/walnut, with a statement-making tile in my favorite color.

photo source

photo source

photo source

photo source

photo sources: left | top right | bottom right

4. Add sliding doors and shelves where the laundry room curtains (hiding the washer and dryer) are right now, to create a massive, epic storage pantry stretching the length of the wall, floor to ceiling.  I'd really like to get the same glass front doors we have in the bedroom. 

We don't have a full height basement, so step four would be amazing! 

We would then use the fish room as a mud room of sorts too, letting the dogs in and out there and further confining the mess, even better than my current solution.  This plan would add so much function to our home: providing another entrance, carving out a proper mudroom, adding a massive walk in pantry/storage closet, making the laundry room less visible and also larger, and creating a place to wash the pups.

photo source

Plus - SECRET DOOR.  I can't stop using caps, I'm really excited.  I've been pinning laundry rooms, mud rooms, fireplaces, and crazy good tile ideas.

photo source: left | right

But you won't need to wait to see me give this room some love!  We're actually working on it right now, giving it the patented Dans le Lakehouse spit and polish, aka the Phase One Makeover.  The kind of makeover where we use phrases like, "load bearing paint," and "don't we have something in the garage we can use?"  Until my laundry/mud room dreams come to fruition, I'll be using this room as shared craft/sewing storage with my Mom.  Our sewing supplies were spread out over multiple spaces in both of our homes, so we sold some supplies at a yard sale and streamlined a little, and now the plan is to house it all in one convenient space (and that space is, conveniently for me, my fish room).

I'll be sharing the progress we've made soon, but I wanted to give you a better look at the "before" first and share my long term plans because I'm bursting at the seams with excitement over them.

Okay, tour time... 


This overhead fluorescent light?  Already gone!

The janky cabinets that refused to close and the even jankier sink?  Gone!  I actually contemplated keeping and painting just that one cabinet with the sink but, in the end, everything in here was just too old and damaged to salvage.  

 

Old stained vinyl floor? Gone! Well, sort of. We're just covering it up for now (I've been sharing sneak peeks on my Instagram stories!), but we'll rip everything out when we renovate for real.

Here's a sneak peek of the new DIY plywood floor:

There's the one door (the one whose days are numbered):

And then, three feet away, there's the other door (the one we're keeping):

It's a short tour because it's a tiny room, but I can't wait to share the transformation of this room with you - follow me on Instagram to catch my progress updates.

Tasty Turquoise Kitchens

I cannot tell you how much I am itching to start work on the lakehouse, but the townhouse sale has hit a few snags and my work takes precedence.  I am planning to make the 1500km trek there (sans Hubby, unfortunately), at the beginning of September but, as they say, life happens when you're making other plans.  I can't seem to be able to plan anything these days, because so much is up in the air.  I am the gal who plans "free time" when we vacation, so all of this up in the air business is really driving up my stress-cookie consumption.  But I'm learning to go with it.  Deep breaths.

Almost every night I dream about painting the kitchen cupboards at the lakehouse.  If you've been reading for awhile, you know I've never really loved our kitchen in the townhouse.  I always wanted to paint the cupboards, but keeping the wood was one of the few things Hubby felt strongly about.  With the lakehouse kitchen though, he isn't so keen: the oak, combined with cathedral cabinet fronts, is just too woody.  As you know, eventually we plan to completely renovate the space.  But first I'd like to live in the space, figure out how we use it and, the biggest deciding factor, save some moolah.  I also need to figure out what we'll love for the long term because I keep changing my mind!  Right now, this is my dream kitchen.  Note the dreamy turquoise fridge, which is a must.

Pinecone Camp (for House & Home magazine)

This is our kitchen:

When I first saw it, I envisioned a makeover kind of like this: paint the lower cabinets turquoise and take off the upper doors fronts.

Life in Grace

Sadly, the insides of our cupboards are not show-worthy and are really awkward (see the three teeny weeny ones shoved in the corner?).  Plus the cupboard above the range hood drives Hubby nuts.  And when things drive him insane, he drives me insane, obsessing.  We're just going to take all of the upper cabinetry right off and install some open shelving instead, which is something I never thought I'd love.  But painting the lower cabinets turquoise is still the plan - and this is a plan that I plan commit to.  While I patiently wait for September, I rounded up some tasty turquoise kitchens, ranging from grey with the tiniest hint of blue, to pale mint to robin's egg to teal, to keep me inspired (and sated) . . . 

De Opkamer

House of Turquoise

Trend Kitchen Cabinets

via Shelterness

Home Life

Better Homes and Gardens

Better Homes and Gardens

Stranger than Vintage

Homedit

Style in no Time

Fort Bend Lifestyles and Homes

Better Homes and Gardens

Style by Emily Henderson

Dust Jacket; The Decorista; No Pattern Required

Oh yeah, this just made me more antsy to break out the primer and paint!  Do you have painted kitchen cupboards or open shelving?  Do you love them?  Hate them?  Both are new terrain for me.

Read more »

Lake House Renovation Plans: Phases ONE, TWO and THREE

The Lake House Look:

It's so exciting to take on another whole-home makeover, especially one where I can get a little crazy!  With the townhouse, I had to make design decisions that worked with the existing elements, the overall feel of the house, its conservative facade, and some imaginary buyer's taste.  I tried to pick modern/traditional upgrades that would appeal to a broad range of buyers and not look out of place.  The lake house, however, is a more permanent spot for us and I see it as a blank canvas - I don't have to live with anything I don't like.  Well, at least not forever.  Although it is going to take some time (likely years), eventually I am going to transform the dated space into a stream-lined, casual, mid-century inspired retreat where I plan on becoming the craftiest recluse ever.  I'm going to be living a beach life, so I want to simplify.  Less stuff to dust, less stuff to store, fewer tchotchkes.  I want simple, open, airy spaces with my trademark shots of colour but even more statement-making details.  I'm going bolder, but cleaner.  Even my palette is getting a makeover: oranges and yellows will be limited, in favor of soothing greys, creamy whites, but a stronger injection of bright colour, limited to blues and aquas.

Emily Henderson; Houzz; Apartment Therapy; Desire to Inspire

The Lake House Plan:

I'm going to do a Money Talks post soon about mortgages and talk a bit more about how we're balancing everything, but suffice to say expensive renovations just aren't on the books right now.  Even if we did have the funds, I want to live in the house for awhile and really figure out what I want from the bathrooms (two sinks? one sink? bigger window? makeup vanity?), kitchen (open shelving? glass front cupboards? white, grey, wood?) and living area.  But I can't live with oak trim and cupboards!  So Hubs and I are devising a three-part plan.

PHASE ONE: Inexpensive Cosmetic Fixes

Phase One will be fun!  I have a crazy kitchen update planned, fun ideas for sprucing up the bathrooms (and drawing your eyes away from the portal), and a bevy of affordable fixes for modernizing the space.  We'll be doing a bolder version of our patented "spit and polish" to spruce up the space on a dime.  We just want it livable and lovely, so we can save for bigger updates.  I'll share room-by-room plans in July, but here's a taste of what I'm currently thinking for our oak-overload kitchen: turquoise lower cupboards (!) and light countertops paired with open shelving.  Imagine my Pyrex collection out in the open!  I'm going to pare back our plates and bowls so we just have what we need - no excess.

Via Dustjacket

The Decorating Files

Design*Sponge

I'm also excited to do things I wanted to, but couldn't do, in the townhouse, like paint a ceiling turquoise!

Guehne-Made

PHASE TWO: Investing in Classics

Phase Two will complement phase one but will also involve furniture and moveables.  I always love a mix of high & low, so Phase Two will see Hubby and I continuing this mix and match.  But now that we're putting down roots and decorating a "forever" home, I want to make careful decisions and invest in some pieces I know we'll love (and that will stand the test of time).  So . . . although we're going to immediately replace a boatload of boob fixtures with something like this inexpensive Ikea fixture:

Ikea Vanadin Light - lovely glass flush mount fixture, for only $24.99!

I plan on also investing in a gorgeous, timeless, George Nelson bubble lamp for the dining room.  Actually, I'm loving the look of a trio, and might even choose two smaller bubble lamps as pendants over the kitchen peninsula/bar (where dated pot lights are barely hanging on).

Photos from Modern Conscience, also available from Modernica

But to balance the high/low scale again, for the guest house DIYing something like this dipped drum shade might be a blast!  I'm still pleased with how my DIY dyed dress turned out and I'm itching to dip something (now that the trend is almost totally overdone, I'm ready!).

Fiona Bleu Gallery

To help our pocketbooks, expect many more DIY furniture makeovers and things we'll build from scratch (like this desk!).  I'm currently going crazy pinning furniture I love to get inspiration for some handmade pieces.  This sideboard had me at welded legs.

Vintage Sideboard - love the metal legs!

Saving cash in some areas will help us splash out on a few beautiful pieces.  Right now, I'm eyeing these bar stools.  Can't stop thinking about them.  The grey will look amazing with my kitchen plans (now and future), although the creamy white is such a classic too.  Their easy-to-clean surface makes them perfect for my new low-key living.  An investment to be sure, but if we save up and spend wisely on a few things that will last us forever, we'll be far better off than finding cheap substitute after cheap substitute. 

Fiberglass Shell Barstools from Modernica, originally designed by Charles Eames

PHASE THREE: Major Renovations

In this phase, we'll totally re-do the kitchen, main bathroom, guest powder room, guesthouse, and guesthouse bathroom with a total gut job.  Shiny new everything, installed by us to save cash.  We'll need to save major bucks and Phase Three will take years, but hopefully we'll tackle the main bath in a year or so, the guest house bathroom and half bath next and the kitchen after.  If we save, space them out and pounce on good deals, it can be doable.  I think.  We'll see.  I'm going to make Phase One awfully pretty, just in case Phase Three is further in the future than I think!!

One day, we'll have a stream-lined kitchen with cupboards that make use of the vertical space (our kitchen has a tinier footprint than what we have now!) and have a simple profile.  The one below combines a pale aqua, mix of closed and open storage plus a turquoise kettle that makes me weak in the knees and panting with envy, with the stainless steel appliances and WOOD that Hubby prefers.  Add a white herringbone tile backsplash and I'd say this kitchen was meant for us.

Apartment Therapy

 But this grey kitchen is pretty dreamy too.  A neutral space that can evolve as our tastes do.

Incorporated NY

PHASE FOUR: Buy a Papa Bear Chair, Upholster it Turquoise

Mid-Centuria

Haha.  Just kidding.  Phase Four requires a lottery win (or some excellent thrifting mojo), but if it happens I'll buy you one too, Dana.

Read more »