One Girl, a Can of Spray Paint, and a Dream....

Update: Weeks 1 and 2

So, we've been busy even if we haven't been sharing. I spent the majority of the last two weeks researching various cottage and home improvement Web sites. I've also been ODing on the home remodel shows on the HGTV network. Serious over dose there. There are so many of those shows. And so many of them are really good quality. Among my favorites: Designed to Sell, Real Estate Interventions, Curb Appeal, and Bang for your Buck. I've gotten so many ideas. Maybe too many.

All those ideas are enough to make ya crazy. Or make you feel like you're crazy.

But being crazy isn't going to help me to meet my goal of transforming this house in a year's time, so I had to suck it up and make some serious decisions.

Decision Number 1
We had to decide where to start. We decided to start with the small downstairs bathroom. I was thinking that the it would be a quick success. The space is used by us every day, but it's low visibility for guests, so it gave us some wiggle room for the learning curve I'm sure that we have as we are virgins when it comes to home remodeling. If we make any mistakes in this room, they will only be noticed by us--not by our guests.

Decision Number 2
I thought that deciding where to start would be the most difficult decision that we would have. I had another thought coming. Once we started prepping the bathroom, we found a major problem in the shower. First, I must explain that the space is a bit unusual in terms of how "normal" showers go. The shower area is actually a shower stall, not unlike what you mind find at a campground. The stall is comprised of beadboard. And some of the wood was rotten. We had to decide if we would repair the existing wood or if we would tear the entire wall down and do it the right way.

Because this is our very first project, we are very inexperienced, the room is very low-impact in terms of guests, and we were looking for a quick success, we decided to go with the first option and just repair the existing wood for now. We will come back to this project later and do it right, but for now we just want to improve upon the existing space working with what we have.

Welcome to tough decisions, right. I have a feeling that we have only just begun....

Next up: Defining our cottage "style."

Day Two: About Us and Our Curb Appeal

About Us

So, I realize that in my haste to get started, I didn't make proper introductions. My name is Tam. I am married and I have two boys. Here's a recent pic of me and the hubby:

We are clean, rested, and happy. I have a feeling that things will not stay that way for long. I think the dirty and tired part is obvious; however, the expectation of future unhappiness may need a little explanation.

If you watch the Amazing Race show you know that some couples click in the heat of the moment and cope with the stress of any given situation. The hubby and I are not that couple. We have discussed the Amazing Race and we agree that we would be that crazy, bickering couple that is constantly at each others throats during the stressful moments. I'm also pretty sure that the hubby would choke me out during the stress.

And I've never participated in a total home remodel project, but I'm pretty certain that there will be stress and bickering. I just hope that I don't get choked out.

Day Two: Assessing the Curb Appeal

I wish it didn't rain so much today as I feel that has possibly hindered my ability to thoroughly assess future improvements to the outside. I assessed the situation as best as I could through the window.

There are soooooo many items on my lists and it is very overwhelming. The elephant we have to eat is a big one!

More about the lists tomorrow.

Operation Cute Cottage: Day One

What is this all about?

Good question. Like Julie Powell, I find that I lack focus. As much as it pains me to admit, I really think that my life has maybe lost focus over the last year or so. I haven't had any clear goals or ambitions. Nothing seems to stick.

So it seems a bit serendipitous to me that I should watch the Julie and Julia movie on the very day I returned to my small, drab, boring 1940s bungalow after spending a week-long vacation at my sister's big, beautiful, new home in Houston. But I did and I was inspired by the movie. So much so that I decided to challenge myself to change my surroundings with my very own version of the Julie/Julia project: I will transform my boring bungalow into a cute cottage in 365 days. And I will blog about this transformation.

So, let's get started!

Day One: Assess the Situation

How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time, right. I think that's how I'm going to approach this project. First I have to discover all the bites. To do so, I busted out a pen and notebook and went room to room, listing everything that needs work. This pretty much includes every item--flooring, paint, window treatments, etc.--in every room, but that's okay.

What might not be okay is that I have absolutely zero experience in transforming a bungalow into a cottage. Zilch.

This should be quite the journey.