Our New Kitchen in our Humble Dream Home

A little over ten years ago, my husband and I bought the beach cottage next-door to us. It was built in 1938 and had only two owners before we acquired it. The original owner was a lady from Chicago who designed the 'L shaped" single level home on a piece of paper. She hired an architectural firm in Orange County, had it built, and moved to Southern California with her male nurse.

For years they lived together as friends, more than patient and caretaker, until her death in the 1980's. To his surprise, she deeded the house 'Free & Clear' to him and he happily lived in the beach house, with his partner, until he sold it to us over our shared fence.

Originally our intention was to 'flip' the property, but once my Mom and I started clearing out the house, we all fell in love with it. I ended up turning it into a very successful vacation rental for ten years until short-term rentals were banned in our town.

So, that's when we decided to take the leap, far earlier than planned, and turn it into our Humble Dream Home. My intention has been to blend Australian, Scandinavian and Californian style while staying true to the cottage vibe. I know there will be a lot of people who love the before pictures, as do we, but it was time for us to change it up!

I look so forward to sharing this process with you! Most of these pictures were taken with my phone...not the best!

Let's start with the kitchen~

Before…

September 2016

Sadly, I had to let the window to the right go because I decided to do a built in Wolf double oven. It was a hard decision as I love the original windows but knew I'd be gaining a lot more space by covering it up.

After…

Forgive the ceiling not being painted yet. We are insulating the ceiling now and tongue and grooving over it.

This is where the window use to be.

Above: In the far back right corner is my office & pantry. I'll show that next week.

Above: Original Dutch doors!