It’s been 5 months since I’ve published an update! I missed a great opportunity to blog about our first Thanksgiving on Ocracoke Island: sharing the holiday with my hubby, 2 daughters, one boyfriend, my mom, and one cat (Mowgli), the daunting task of creating a full Thanksgiving dinner 9 hours from home in a kitchen I’m not used to, being able to finally show the cottage to my mom (one of the last things on her bucket list), a 5k family run around the harbor to raise money for a charity back home, the finishing of Phase 2 (The Boat House), and other various adventures on the island over a holiday week.
Life has been full since then and my cup overfloweth!!! Since Christmas, my attention has been on the new responsibility of an elderly family member which I may blog about another time. It has been truly a gift of grace to be able to spend more time with this dear great aunt of mine, but it has taken much of my time.
As I sit here, watching another beautiful snow fall (which I am quite sick of btw), I’m longing to go to the island and start spring cleaning for another (the 3rd) rental season. We already have most of the summer booked. We’ll also furnish and decorate the newly finished Boat House. Soon and very soon we are going.........
I’ve never seen the Doer so excited about a project! I mean, I thought the outdoor shower project captivated him, but this is something different. I think this Boat House represents Man-cave excitement and thrill that worries me just a little. I hope that I and other female companions will be invited into it! I must say The Doer of All Things Well has come up with some charming decorating ideas. I didn’t know he had it in him! I couldn’t have come up with anything better myself! Photos will come later!
Our biggest dilemma has been figuring out how to furnish it. It IS below flood line and it WILL get water in it when a hurricane or large storm hits the island.( After all it basically sits on the dock!) We started out the design process with inexpensive cots or twin bed frames against the walls with mattresses and lots of pillows to lean on, allowing the seating to double as couches or beds. (You should see all the cute pillows I bought for that idea). Well, the Doer decided that these “beds” would not be comfortable enough for men to sit on and watch movies or sporting events on the TV that he’s bought for the Boat House.
I looked at Captain’s beds, bunk beds, and platform beds and finally chose exactly what I wanted, but the Doer came up with the same conclusion as I mentioned above.
“What about 2 comfortable couches?”, he said.
They’ll get flooded and have to be thrown away. Do you really want to buy new couches after every storm?
Then I found an idea on Pinterest for wooden pallet furniture: couch/beds made from stacked pallets with futon mattresses on top. (I could still use all my cute pillows).
So I looked everywhere for used pallets (thank you Pinterest for making the lives miserable of those of us who are NOT crafty and resourceful). I looked on eBay, Craig’s List, Home Depot, Lowe’s. I finally found a lovely gentleman at Home Depot who was very willing to give me a dozen pallets (for free!!!). We got the truck, loaded them up, schlepped them home, unloaded them, and The Doer went to work!
This idea turned out to be a disaster. There was no way to get these rough hewn, raw wood pallets smooth enough to keep splinters out of limbs and other painful places. They were also quite ugly and now they were taking up our whole garage space. We would also have to haul these “beds” all the way down to Ocracoke. So we nixed this idea. The next dilemma? What do you do with 12 used wooden pallets??? Maybe garden compost bins?
Finally, I went to the best furniture company on the planet, Manteo Furniture (they discount, deliver, and set up, even when I’m 9 hours away at home). And Voila! A new line of outdoor recycled plastic furniture with a rustic nautical look has just been introduced! Of course, everything is waterproof, including the cushions. Not any more expensive than 2 nice couches, but these will never have to be replaced!
Scheduled for delivery within the next couple of weeks, just in time for rental season!
Here are a few photos from our last trip down:
Here’s a cozy nighttime photo of the Boat House taken over Thanksgiving. We replaced the small front window with a really large new window. It’s not as pretty as I thought it would be, but it certainly opens up the view on to the dock and canal. I think it’s charming tucked in among the cedar tries.
I added this photo for 3 reasons: we paneled the inside walls with natural cypress, unstained, just a clear coat finish. We had planned to paint the paneling with a nautical gray color, but after seeing the beautiful natural grain of the wood, there was no way we could cover that up. We painted the trim gray instead. I’ll show that next time. Reason 2: the new track lighting system on the vaulted ceiling is really cool, very contemporary with nice shadow lighting on the ceiling. Reason 3 and my favorite: we took out 2 old gable vents and replaced them with antique British stained glass windows that we bought from Ocracoke Restoration, a shop owned by Carol, Tom the Builder’s wife. There is a stained glass window on both gable ends.
How about some more Ocracoke scenery from November????
It doesn’t look real, does it?
This is a pathway to the sound.
Passing ferries!
From our cottage to the canal.
10 Cuttin Sage at sunset.
Another view of our dock. I think those are juniper berries blooming on the shrubs behind the dock.
Sweet Becky was with us during the Thanksgiving week.
This fella also joined us over Thanksgiving.
We’ll be back there again very soon with more photos, an update of Phase 2, and hopefully some more interesting adventures!!! Stay tuned.....
Life has been full since then and my cup overfloweth!!! Since Christmas, my attention has been on the new responsibility of an elderly family member which I may blog about another time. It has been truly a gift of grace to be able to spend more time with this dear great aunt of mine, but it has taken much of my time.
As I sit here, watching another beautiful snow fall (which I am quite sick of btw), I’m longing to go to the island and start spring cleaning for another (the 3rd) rental season. We already have most of the summer booked. We’ll also furnish and decorate the newly finished Boat House. Soon and very soon we are going.........
I’ve never seen the Doer so excited about a project! I mean, I thought the outdoor shower project captivated him, but this is something different. I think this Boat House represents Man-cave excitement and thrill that worries me just a little. I hope that I and other female companions will be invited into it! I must say The Doer of All Things Well has come up with some charming decorating ideas. I didn’t know he had it in him! I couldn’t have come up with anything better myself! Photos will come later!
Our biggest dilemma has been figuring out how to furnish it. It IS below flood line and it WILL get water in it when a hurricane or large storm hits the island.( After all it basically sits on the dock!) We started out the design process with inexpensive cots or twin bed frames against the walls with mattresses and lots of pillows to lean on, allowing the seating to double as couches or beds. (You should see all the cute pillows I bought for that idea). Well, the Doer decided that these “beds” would not be comfortable enough for men to sit on and watch movies or sporting events on the TV that he’s bought for the Boat House.
I looked at Captain’s beds, bunk beds, and platform beds and finally chose exactly what I wanted, but the Doer came up with the same conclusion as I mentioned above.
“What about 2 comfortable couches?”, he said.
They’ll get flooded and have to be thrown away. Do you really want to buy new couches after every storm?
Then I found an idea on Pinterest for wooden pallet furniture: couch/beds made from stacked pallets with futon mattresses on top. (I could still use all my cute pillows).
So I looked everywhere for used pallets (thank you Pinterest for making the lives miserable of those of us who are NOT crafty and resourceful). I looked on eBay, Craig’s List, Home Depot, Lowe’s. I finally found a lovely gentleman at Home Depot who was very willing to give me a dozen pallets (for free!!!). We got the truck, loaded them up, schlepped them home, unloaded them, and The Doer went to work!
This idea turned out to be a disaster. There was no way to get these rough hewn, raw wood pallets smooth enough to keep splinters out of limbs and other painful places. They were also quite ugly and now they were taking up our whole garage space. We would also have to haul these “beds” all the way down to Ocracoke. So we nixed this idea. The next dilemma? What do you do with 12 used wooden pallets??? Maybe garden compost bins?
Finally, I went to the best furniture company on the planet, Manteo Furniture (they discount, deliver, and set up, even when I’m 9 hours away at home). And Voila! A new line of outdoor recycled plastic furniture with a rustic nautical look has just been introduced! Of course, everything is waterproof, including the cushions. Not any more expensive than 2 nice couches, but these will never have to be replaced!
Scheduled for delivery within the next couple of weeks, just in time for rental season!
Here are a few photos from our last trip down:
Here’s a cozy nighttime photo of the Boat House taken over Thanksgiving. We replaced the small front window with a really large new window. It’s not as pretty as I thought it would be, but it certainly opens up the view on to the dock and canal. I think it’s charming tucked in among the cedar tries.
I added this photo for 3 reasons: we paneled the inside walls with natural cypress, unstained, just a clear coat finish. We had planned to paint the paneling with a nautical gray color, but after seeing the beautiful natural grain of the wood, there was no way we could cover that up. We painted the trim gray instead. I’ll show that next time. Reason 2: the new track lighting system on the vaulted ceiling is really cool, very contemporary with nice shadow lighting on the ceiling. Reason 3 and my favorite: we took out 2 old gable vents and replaced them with antique British stained glass windows that we bought from Ocracoke Restoration, a shop owned by Carol, Tom the Builder’s wife. There is a stained glass window on both gable ends.
How about some more Ocracoke scenery from November????
This is a pathway to the sound.
Passing ferries!
From our cottage to the canal.
10 Cuttin Sage at sunset.
Another view of our dock. I think those are juniper berries blooming on the shrubs behind the dock.
Sweet Becky was with us during the Thanksgiving week.
This fella also joined us over Thanksgiving.
We’ll be back there again very soon with more photos, an update of Phase 2, and hopefully some more interesting adventures!!! Stay tuned.....
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