Cool finds ...

When you start taking an old house apart you expect to find a few nasty little surprises. *So far* we've been lucky and nothing unexpected has reared its ugly head. But we have found some cool little surprises. Here's my top 5 funky finds in the Crooked Cottage ...

1. Super Sweet Sconces!

We have a pair of these babies flanking the fireplace. While the bases are somewhat hideous I love the pressed glass shades. We will be rehabbing these little gems with new bases and wiring, and they will then return to the fireplace once we have our new mantle built.

2. The Shell Shade:

This is the light in our kitchen. When we first saw it we thought oh, gawd, that is really tacky. Who would put up that cheesy plastic, faux-tiffany thing?! Then we looked a little closer. The shade on the fixture is actually made of thin sections of shell! What is more suiting to a beach house than that? So, this too will be revitalized. We will replace the kitchen light, clean up the shell shade and give it a new life as a pendant fixture in a reading corner.

3. The Master Door

This is the door to the master bedroom. It is made of tongue and groove pine planks. The latch is similar to one you would put on a gate. It's cute. Not super private though ... it's only about 3/4 of an inch thick.

4. Reclaimed Shelves

We have discovered these shelves all through the cottage. It would appear that at one time all of the doors were like our master bedroom. It would also appear that at some point someone decided to chop them all up and use them for shelves in all of the closets (you can still see where the hinges were on many of them). Recycling at its finest, but what a shame to ruin all of those charming doors!

5. The Breathtaking View!

OK, so this was no surprise. In fact it's the main reason we bought the place. But I just had to share. The first one was taken from our front yard and the second from the rocks about 100' from our property. Whenever the going gets rough we will use this to remind ourselves why it's all worth it. We are so very fortunate.