From The Farm to the Beach

Yesterday at the crack of dawn I headed out to the newly renovated beach cottage trio to oversee the final stage, the fixing up of two more bedrooms.

I have to say, the drive from the farmhouse to the beach, which takes about half an hour or so, is quite lovely. Yesterday as I drove down my driveway the sun was coming up and the second day of winter put on a spectacular display of low-lying clouds which looked like glaciers dripping down the mountains.

The trip takes me across an old iron bridge over a wide blue river, though the edges of "fibrotown" and down winding country lanes that mark the borders of the emerald green paddocks of dairy farms. It occurred to me that early morning building inspections were really not all that bad as the dairy coast was looking particularly crisp in the early morning light after a week of torrential rain.

In the third stage of the drive the landscape turns into bush where you have to be on the look out for darting kangaroos and doddling echidnas and wombats before the bush thins out into salty coastal scrub and wetlands then finally sand dunes.

Anyway, I share this as it is all part of my daily experience and I must say it takes the stress out of the renovating day.

Back to the cottage. So here are some pics of the as yet slightly unfinished interiors of the biggest cottage where I found myself going instinctively with a taupe and white palette with a few injections of bright colour, without really thinking too much about it.

My favourite architectural detail is the cantered ceiling, quite a folly for such a humble, early 20th century beach cabin. To finish off the decorating, I have some old surfboards and some retro hawaiian fabric which will inject some much needed spot colour and add a bit of casual beach funk to the rooms which were starting to look a bit polite for their context.

The few pieces of vintage furniture like the grey dressing table and the aqua painted seagrass table also add a bit of quirky retro charm.

I'll post the new bedrooms in a week or so, if and when they finally come together!

Seafarers Cottages: All In The Details

Now that the Seafarers Cottages renovation is almost at the finish line, I thought I'd share a little about the story behind the project, some before and after pics as well as some of the tricks of the trade.

History of the cottages:

These three cottages, built in the 1930s are the original "beach shacks" in what was a fishing camp that became a village on a remote peninsula jutting out into the Pacific Ocean, about 2.5 hours drive from Sydney. Very little had been done on their upkeep over the past 20-30 years and they were in a pretty shabby state.

Why did we buy the cottages?

Though they were identified as heritage items, they like many other gems in this part of the world, remain unprotected. We are quite passionate about preserving some of the beach shack heritage here and love the challenge of turning them into stylish beach getaways for people wanting a break from their busy city lives.

The village of Currarong is just about our favourite place. It remains a rare time capsule of beach village chic and is in a stunning, unspoilt area surrounded by nothing but rugged coastline, deserted beaches and national parks. So we went out on a limb to buy them so they wouldn't be demolished to make way for a quite probably ugly, unsympathetic juggernaut.

What did we do to update the cottages?

Almost nothing was done to the actual footprint of the cottages. Most of the work involved replacing bad improvements and upgrading the kitchens and bathrooms. There were cheap aluminium windows installed in the seventies which we replaced with reclaimed timber windows as close as possible to what would have been there originally.

One of the biggest changes was putting in a new picket fence to replace the old "hurricane" fence which was bent and twisted in parts. We put back lots of the architectural detail like architraves around the windows, fibro cover strips and picture rails.

We kept the old fireplace hearths. One now houses a TV, the other two now have kitchen cupboards in them. We turned the old shed that housed the generator into the laundry.

Reinstating and reinventing the period features gave the cottages back their soul and charm. It also makes a great backdrop in which to decorate!

Bye the way - please leave a comment as I love to hear what you bloggers out there think!

SATC 2 - the "Other" interiors

OK, OK, much has been blogged about Carrie and Big's apartment in Sex And The City 2, but I only saw the movie last night!

In between burning breakfast pancakes and blogging this morning I am enjoying the afterglow of the inspired set decorating. I just love the elegant arm chairs in the main apartment and I imagine that this shape will be appearing in living rooms everywhere soon.

Here are some pics of the not-so-talked-about interiors in the movie.

I have to say I LOVE the new colour of Carrie's old "bachelorette" apartment though in my opinion the decor lacks some of the Boho chic and girly touches it had in the old days.

Decorator Jeremy Conway used a custom mixed colour close to Benjamin Moore's Electric Blue and I like the fact that it is slightly "marine", rather than a clear sky blue. Marine blue is my husband's favourite colour and it may be popping up at the beach cottages soon.

Charlotte's pink nursery is just gorgeous and nicely eclectic. The set decorators had fun there. Love the striped commode next to the spotted wing chair juxtaposed with the modern yellow desk chair and acetate shelving.

Contemporary Country

Sometimes you only have to look in your own backyard for inspiration. My friend Louise, who lives only a few of paddocks away, has an amazing house. I did a story on her (of course!) for Country Style Magazine a while ago and now that I'm thinking of the possibilities for my own house, I don't have to look far for ideas.

Like us she had the old farm cottage to start with. It was completely renovated then two more contemporary pavilions were added - the largest for the living area has dramatic, recycled wharf timber beams framing the ceiling. The smaller pavilion is attached to the old cottage and houses such modern amenities as ensuites, walk in robes, powder room and laundry.

It's a great marriage of old and new and has made a great home for a family of six.

Limed Floors

One of my friends mentioned the white floor thing on twitter yesterday. It turned into a heated debate about the practicalities of white floors, particularly for households with messy, small children.

So I have been asked for an alternative option for those who like the light look but don’t want the commitment to all white.

In our city house we have wide spotted gum floorboards. As the rooms are quite small and potentially dark, I went for a light Swedish-inspired look for the interiors which have lots of pale grey-blues and limed the boards. Many years later I can say that this has worked really well and has also worn well. The liming looks good on spotted gum as this species has a grey cast to it anyway. The liming is light but still hides scuffs nicely and looks particularly good with the French or Scandinavian style grey wash furniture.

A note of caution. Your floor sander or paint shop may tell you to go with the lime-and- sealer-in-one product because its easier and quicker. Don't do it. I have seen unfortunate results where the floor finish has cracked and de-laminated. I recommend liming floors the traditional way. That way you get to control the amount of lime on the boards.

In the bathroom photo there is a board which is not limed to show you the difference the liming makes.

Good luck with your floor choice!

White Floor Recipe

This morning I am blogging from the beach cottages on a beautiful clear winter's day.

Quite a few people have asked me about the best way to do white floors so here is a post on it!

First of all pull up any carpet tacks.

Step 1: Sanding

Get a floor sander in to sand the floors even if they have been carpeted. You can hire a machine and do it yourself, but I find this is more trouble than it's worth. You can graze the boards or sand them unevenly if you're not careful!

Pure White Floors:

If your floorboards are patchy, not in great condition or a colour or wood you don't like, I suggest painting it a solid white. I have had pretty good success just using 2 or 3 coats of white paving paint, without any sealer.

I find this method is fairly hard-wearing and we used it in our beach house "Sirena" just up the road here. When it gets a bit too scruffy on well-worn areas you can just touch it up. We do not use a sealer as this makes touch ups much more labour intensive.

Whitewashed Floors:

This is my preference as it hides the dirt a little better than the pure white look. Our latest recipe has been done in all the Seafarers Cottages so it is still in testing stage, but a friend of mine just tried it at her place with a sealer and is very happy with the results.

The recipe is : one third white paving paint, one third extender, one third water. It's a good idea to try it in one room first to get the strength you want as different timbers will soak up the white more than others.

Paint it on with a big brush or lambswool pad on a pole and have a rag handy to rub in areas that need it.

You may need 2 coats depending on the look you want. Finish with a sealer that wont yellow - ask your paint shop about this.

You can use this same technique for other colours. Paving paint now comes in some pretty greys and blues. I am wanting to try a french grey wash next time. There is a outdoor decking wash in a colour called "Snowgum" I have used on furniture which would look great on an interior floor.

Live With What You Love

This post has been inspired by a wonderful comment made on yesterday's post by Pam at Red Ticking all the way on the other side of the Pacific in Seattle.

"Live With What You Love" and why not? Life is too short to live in an interior half lived. I love colour and have painted some pretty colourful rooms in my time and most people love it but say "oh I couldn't live with that, it's not practical!"

Why not paint a room in a colour you are passionate about? If you do tire of it it's only a coat of paint.

These photos are of our old beach house and are about 10 years old according to the date stamp. Go the feature wall - so nineties!

What are some of the things you would do in your decor if you were more daring? I'd love to hear.

BTW: Those floors in the top pic were a great success - they were a disaster to begin with but it goes to show how you have to persevere. The finish is Porters white Wood Wash, with a top coat of white vinyl paint watered down and finished with water based sealer.