I remodeled a tiny cottage on the west side of Bend, Oregon. It was in a great neighborhood next to many of Bend’s best restaurants, parks and activities. But it looked horrible. Everyone thought I should tear it down.

I knew it had been standing for almost one hundred years and that under the layers tacked on over the years, there would be wonderful surprises (along with some challenging ones!). The cedar shakes were rotten, but when we started pulling them off we found the original lap siding, preserved.

I also found a brick chimney under this fake stone wall and Douglas fir floors under the dirty pink carpet and layers of linoleum. The cabinets in the kitchen turned out to be unsalvageable, but a bank of used cabinets from Habitat for Humanity Restore, provided cabinets for the entire house. Fireside in Bend replaced the dangerous, giant block of a furnace with a cute and efficient Jotul gas stove. Brad Phillips painted the walls Benjamin Moore, Mascarpone for me, and the trim is Sherwin Williams, Super White. I put Hinson’s Fireworks wallpaper by Albert Hadley that I found at Madde G. Designs, in the dining nook. The light fixtures in the kitchen/dining area were from Barn Light Electric, Schoolhouse Electric and vintage purchased from Hippo Hardware in Portland. The pink refrigerator is from Smeg, an Italian company. I purchased it from Sears, but I believe West Elm carries them now as well.

There was a serendipitous find of painted boards behind the drywall that was painted dark purple! Greg Blea arranged the boards in a great pattern for me.

It was amazing what a fresh coat of paint, two new side by side closets covered in bead board and a cottage style fan did for the bedroom.

The original house had a small bay window that didn’t really work. The house was very tiny. One bedroom, one bathroom and I wanted to add more space. My crew, a.k.a Brad and Greg, removed the bay window and added this very small addition that let me add additional living space and a second bathroom.

The high ceilings allowed me to add a fan from Fanimation and two pendant lights from Roost. When the client doesn’t have guests, this room is living space. When she has a guest, the french doors close and it becomes a guest room with it’s own bath and separate entrance.

For the new bathroom, I found a claw foot tub on Craigslist for a steal. It came with the brass fixtures and was painted a pretty awful shade of 1980′s teal. I wanted to save the fixtures, so I had Brad paint the tub black and worked around the brass and black theme. I thought it would be easy to find a matching brass fixture for the sink. It was not! I had to turn to Hippo Hardware again in Portland.

I also added a fun, small bar area in the new living space.

This was such a fun and rewarding project. The house is now an asset to the neighborhood instead of being sad and forlorn. Great things come in tiny packages!