Cottage Improvement Chronicles: The Plans

As much as I love our little cottage, I've know from day one that it's interior layout wasn't exactly my style. A four room house with one tiny bathroom is hardly conducive for two people and a beagle with ADD, let alone a couple thinking about children in the future. So, I started thinking about what I wanted to do to the house to "make it ours" and really make it our dream home. I could picture every detail...a giant mudroom on the back that swings around to a sun-room on the side of the house. A second story with a master bedroom and bathroom (complete with large walk in closest, claw foot tub, and balcony that over looks the Potomac River), as well as Jack and Jill style bedrooms downstairs, and don't forget the office/library...

And then we talked to Bubba's uncle, who just so happens to be a licensed contractor, who kindly reminded us that the front of our house is built on piers. Very old piers that can only hold so much weight, which is most likely the reason we only have a loft right now, and not a second story. Of course, we could jack the house up, remove the piers and put in a foundation, but money isn't growing on trees down here in Colton's Point. After that mild reality check, I decided to scale my plans back just a bit.

Here is a rough sketch I did of how I believe we could lay out our house while keeping the piers in the front. We are lucky in the fact that the kitchen/back of the house has an actual foundation and we could build a second story over top of it. PLEASE bare with me...these were done in Microsoft Paint...I never claimed to be a graphic artist!

But this wouldn't be a home repair/improvement process if there were some challenges...up next - sh*t hits the fan, well, the back yard...Hello, Septic Problems!

The Cottage Improvement Chronicles

There are big changes in the works for Point Breeze Cottage, and I don't mean our Etsy shop. The home behind the shop name is finally ready for a face-lift of sorts. After renting this sweet little cottage for two years (2009-2010), and making it our own over the past two and a half years, we're finally in the position to make some more permanent changes and upgrades.

I've received a lot of advice for enduring serious home improvements projects, including, "keep your expectations low so you aren't disappointed and KNOW that it WILL take longer than you expect." Not exactly the most optimistic words of wisdom, but at least it's honest. So, I've decided to chronicle our journey through the land of home improvements on our little blog here.

Where do we start? At the beginning of course! Here is a photo of the day we met with our former landlord to "interview" to become her tenants. [I'm not sure if 'interview' is the right word, but she wanted to make sure we were the right 'fit' for her home.]

And here is a shot of the house and yard during the two years we were renting. We tried to add our own personal touches, but it's hard when you're only renting. I believe the lights were up from a party we'd recently thrown...

I'm looking forward to sharing our story with you - the ups and the downs, the smiles and the frowns. Have a suggestion? Question? Comment? Please, please, please feel free to leave it in the comments section or shoot me an email [ptbreezecottage@gmail.com] we'd love to hear what you've got to say!

Up next: Getting the party started...and the roadblocks that slowed us down...