Lakehouse kitchen cabinets

Merrilat

Our lake house plan is finally at the finish line!

 The process of building a modular home is very different than 

building a custom home with an onsite construction crew.

With modular builds, you select almost every single thing in the house, from

the kitchen and bathroom cabinet style and color, the countertops, door styles,

trim for the baseboard and ceilings, the staircase elements, lighting and windows.

This home has been completely customized and will arrive on flat bed trailers,

then put together like giant building blocks with all of the cabinets

 and sinks and lights already installed! 

The kitchen cabinet style and color is shown above in an image

taken from Merrilat Cabinet's website.  Because we are having taller ceilings

than the "standard" ceiling height of 8', we will have most of the cabinets stacked

to ceiling height.   Below you can see my notes with the kitchen I designed 

for the lake where I added the top row of cabinets on one side of the kitchen.

Merrilat has a great kitchen cabinet design feature where you can put together your

dream kitchen.  A Swedish style plate display rack was on my list among other things.

On the opposite side of the kitchen there is a bank of cabinets that will function as a secondary

station for microwave, food storage, coffee making, trash cabinet, pots and pans cabinet 

and a bookcase for cookbooks. All the cabinets are maple in a painted white finish. 

A kitchen by East Hill Cabinetry shows some double stacked cabinets with some glass front cabinets.

Our kitchen will be open to the main room overlooking the lake similar to this, but we will have a peninsula with the sink and bar stools creating a separation while still affording the view of the lake.

A kitchen by Julie Williams Design shows white painted cabinets to the ceiling but the ceilings

are lower so no room for stacking.  My cabinets will be 42" with another 12" cabinet stacked 

to take advantage of extra storage space.  I am only having one large glass front cabinet for putting

some of my transferware on display. The others will all be solid front cabinets so I can stuff them 

with my various random collections for holiday dinners etc. I know some people have lots of

glass fronts, but I know mine need to be more for utilitarian storage than for beauty storage. 

And while I have been designing the house I also have been imagining the details of the various spaces.

 I saw a mirror at a local auction house and thought it would be perfect for the powder room bathroom. 

It has an elegant cottage look to it as if it once lived in a grand lake house. 

This antique AntebellumVictorian mirror with its painted floral crest and

 faux bois finish with gilded morning glories was just the ticket to give our new house some soul. 

Flanked  with modern golden bronze sconces, its the mix of old and new that I find super appealing.

That is why I love antiques and decorating with them. You won't see this mirror anywhere else...

Our lake house will be a blend of new and old and I can't wait to see it all 

come together and share it with you on my blog.  

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Blue Transferware, Reeve Turns Three and the Lake House

 Summer has arrived and with it comes some decorating changes.

This time as I decorate I am imagining the decor in the lake house

 we will build later this summer in New Hampshire.

Blue and white has been creeping into my palette.

It began with this blue and white checked gingham fabric on the Swedish day bed. 

Next came a few pieces of blue and white transfer ware,

including this unusual large pedestal bowl!

Powdery pale blue and white is my preference, and I have been lucky to find

some beautiful platters and bowls. The trio of botanicals framed in a country check

had been sitting in an antique shop for two years.  I've noticed them with every visit

but didn't grab them until I figured out that blue and white would be part of the lake house look.

For now I have hung them in our kitchen where I plan to hang the platters on the wall.

Custom framed for someone else a few decades ago, they will be enjoyed 

by us in our new home.  Shopping for vintage finds always makes it fun,

as you never know what awaits you on the hunt.

 My granddaughter Reeve turned three at the end of June.

She lives in Maine now on a farm, and is having an idyllic childhood.

 She helps her daddy with fixing up the house with her own tool belt...

And of course there are farm chores.  

One job is to drive her tractor to pick up vegetables gone by

for the compost heap. Look at that head of lettuce!!

 We miss her very much, with the imposed isolation that Covid19

brought to our lives and loves.  But hopefully we will have extended

visits soon, because she is going to be a big sister this month

and we are excited to meet him and share in the joy that grandchildren bring.

I stitched up some big floor pillows for her bedroom out of the cutest sheets

sold at The Company Store.  Princesses in every color standing in front of castles

and riding in fairytale coaches!

 Oh and how about these covered dishes? 

They are large, and I found out they are excellent for using in the 

courtyard at cookouts to keep the flies at bay.

I have three of these now, and they are fantastic!!

We have had a few small gatherings outdoors, and my system is that I use

a table set up next to the grill where I put all the plates and flatware, along

with the various (covered) dishes that have the food, and then grill the main

course.  Then I plate and serve my guests, all the while maintaining sanitizing.

Its been easy to keep social distances and enjoy each others company.

And those covered transferware tureens are awesome for holding the food.

 And one more darling blue and white addition, is this needlepoint pillow 

with the blue and white striped background, done in roses and a cute lab!  

I couldn't resist!

Its been a quiet summer so far,

but I am hoping to report on ground breaking for the lake house soon.

The well has been dug and installed and the final house plans are getting printed.

Next up will be the demolition and site work!

I promise to keep you posted~

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Our Lake House Inspiration Board

Its been months and months of planning for the lake house that we

plan to build next year in New Hampshire.  Dream homes come in 

many shapes, sizes, styles and prices and ours is a modest one,

but a dream home nonetheless!

I have a lot of experience buying a home and redoing it, but never

have we built a home, and so this is exciting but a different process.

We are using a modular company that will build this house to our

specifications, and it needs to conform to the allowances by the town.

When I saw this home of @featherglass on Instagram, it struck me that it was very

similar to the design we had going on our drawing board.

We will have windows flanking a French door topped with transoms facing

 the lake, with a side staircase, similar to her home, also in New England.

Her home has more doors and windows, but this photo is indicative of our plan.

It was so nice to see a house in real life that mimics one on a drawing board.

Our floor plan is very open with the kitchen, dining space, and living room all

in one big room.  We will have our sofas and tv and fireplace in the area closest 

to the wall of windows and French doors, while the kitchen and dining area

will be on the other side of the room. Ellen, of @featherglass has her

 dining table near her staircase, where we will have a sitting area of toile furnishings.

 Most of our existing furniture will be coming with us if it fits in the house and we 

can use it and it looks good.  We aren't millionaires (yet) and so this is the furniture plan. 

 There will be two separate seating areas in the living room.

We love these IKEA Extorp sofa and love seat in beige we purchased two years ago.

They will be centered around a fireplace with an antique mantel creating a cozy space

for our long winters on the lake.

 An antique mantel will be something we will hunt for to give the house some character,

like this one I saw on eBay. So many antique shops up there, so it will be fun to find the right one,

that fits the style we are going for, which is more farmhouse than fancy.

 Then there will be a second seating area facing the French doors that open to the lake,

which will be lovely during the summer with the doors flung open to the deck and the view. 

This personal favorite fabric, Bosphorous Toile by Covington, 

will be made into a slipcover for the new purple sofa that we recently 

got from an estate sale.  I love it's soft gentle colors of sand, grey and misty green.

 The seating area will include the French bergere chair and ottoman that

 wears the same fabric which I did several years ago.

(Click here on how I reupholstered it.)

On my wish list is a fun and coveted piece, like this French Pastry table, that I can use as a

bar and serving table for entertaining.  It will be one of the few "new" things 

that I hope to find for the lake house.

The color of the walls will be white. There is not a lot of wallspace in the room and we 

don't want an outline of color around all the doors, windows and transoms. 

We want the lake and the trees to be the focal point and

 this color will create a serene feel to the space.

A reupholstery project for the dining room chairs is underway, using

this pale blue gingham check by Lilyoake designs at Spoonflower.

Much of my antique lighting will come along, like this basket chandelier.

And this square lantern will hang in the front entryway.

Vintage lighting is one of the things I like best when decorating a home.

Overall there will be less fancy French gilded things.

 Less things in general. Which is a challenge for me!

The goal is simplicity and comfort with the addition of a few well chosen antiques

to create that age that I think gives a home soul.

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Blueberry picking, pie and antiquing at the cottage

 Our lake cottage is still a place we don't use very often because there

is no electricity or running water....but there is a beautiful lake 

with blueberry bushes. We visit most every weekend and our son

noticed the branches were loaded with ripe tiny blueberries.

It was a cool day for summer, so swimming wasn't at the top of our list.

We got right to picking blueberries so we could make a pie.

These are what are referred to as high bush blueberries. They are way up off

the ground, and our "bushes" are so old that they are like thin gnarly trees.

 Our cups were filling quickly as the three of us happily picked away.

 They are tinier in size than most of the cultivated varieties you

get in the supermarket. We needed five cups to make one pie.

 recipe here

The next day I looked for recipes and found a good one at Sally's Baking Addiction Blog.

"Simply the Best Blueberry Pie' recipe, used a cute method to make the top crust using 

cookie cutters.  Sally used stars while I used a vintage heart shaped cutter for the top crust.

 Since we had less than the six cups the recipe called for, I used a smaller

quiche style dish instead of a larger pie dish. 

Finish the crust with an egg wash and into the oven.

Absolutely glorious!! 

Served with Brigham's Vanilla ice-cream, this is 

a very rare summer time treat!

While we were at the lake, I visited my favorite antique shop in Northwood, NH.

Parker French Antiques, which has two shops, side by side. 

I took some phone pics and shared on my Instagram stories.

 The marvelous painted trunk was still sitting there. It may be overpriced, as it 

would have come home with me long ago....

 A set of 4 botanicals in a blue and white fabric matte caught my eye.

 The lower level of the shop has a zillion pieces of artwork, many originals.

 This old French Trumeau style mirror with a tinted print at the top and a delicate gilded

frame with a lot of detail was very pretty and dirt cheap.

 Our 17 year old son loves fishing and he had never heard of creel baskets. Even Reeve has begun

fishing with her dad and mom and she caught her first fish this week!

 These baskets are used by decorators for lodge homes in the
 mountains and by lakes and are sought after in good condition.

The smaller basket has a leather strap and buckle in the shape of a fish head. 

I might have to back and get it and stick it under the Christmas tree!

"An angler's creel is designed to function as an evaporative cooler when lined with moss
and dipped into the creek to keep the catch chilled.  Caught fish are inserted through a slot
in the top which is held in place by a small leather strap. " Wikipedia

Fancy chairs mixed in with old rugs and anything one can imagine.

A very old lawn sprinkler in the shape of a tractor. This thing will roll along as it waters

the grass.  Just a bunch of cool old stuff. I love looking at old things.

 Antiquing has always fascinated me as I love the beauty that antiques and vintage items

have that modern day housewares and home goods do not. 

 If you are curious about the cottage and the land that surrounds it, it is not very pretty.

After suffering tremendous tree loss and having to remove many trees and dig up stumps and 

cut them into logs and haul away, the yard is barren except along the shore area. The snakes of hay

protect the water from silt run off into the water.   We hope to be able to build next year, but for now

we will enjoy what it has to offer.  

Piper has discovered how to swim without being spastic.  She used 

to flop around gulping water but now is perfecting an elegant dog paddle

 and really enjoys getting in the water. She is standing in a cove that was created when

a stump of a giant tree was ripped out of the ground!  

Thats the latest from our little slice of heaven by the lake.

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