Our Old Florida Cottage

The very first time I saw the listing for our house, I was instantly hooked by the wood ceilings. Original wooden planks and beams, over 70 years old. The house was built in 1956 in downtown Englewood, minutes from Manasota Key. Just a quick trip over the old drawbridge and you’re at The Gulf. We can walk to the farmer’s market every Thursday on Dearborn Street.

Our house layout is actually famous in town. It’s called a Kluge. Built by Merton Kluge, a contractor who lived and worked in Englewood for 35 years. His homes were famous for their simplicity. I love the idea that he was a “careful, no waste builder” Here is a great article about Kluges. It genuinely makes me happy to restore and bring something like this back to life. I find it so rewarding to keep history alive even in a small town, like ours.

One of my favorite parts about our house is our doorbell. It’s an actual mechanical twist doorbell where you turn this key-like knob on the outside and it rings a physical bell on the inside. It’s really cool.  

Our house came with a couple quirky things, like our mailbox with eyeballs ..

When we began renovating, my boyfriend started framing out each room.

We decided to shiplap to brighten the entire cottage and give it a more coastal feel. We brought the walls all the way to the ceiling which added a little extra height and insulated the house more efficiently. We had a crew come in to help shiplap the walls and we filled all the nail holes and boy, were there a ton of holes. 

Then we started to work on our favorite part, the wood ceilings. The original wood was beautiful but the satin and sheen were not quite to our taste. It was this rich cherry with the glossiest finish, I really loathed the color. It made the house so dark and unnatural. I think a lot of people moving to a coastal beach town would have just painted the ceilings white and called it a day. But we chose to keep them as original as possible. My boyfriend re-sanded, and re-stained every inch of the ceilings. The work that went into these ceilings was kind of insane but we tend to take the more challenging route, it’s always the most rewarding.

Sometimes when I wake up, I lay in bed and just stare at the ceilings and admire all of the hard work that he put into each board, knot and beam. Each board is layered with an antique oak, a wash of graystone and bits of the natural grain popping out creating this organic looking driftwood color. He carefully hand stained every knot in a medium brown dye to create additional dimension. 

Before the finished look, we went through and tried so many color options. It became exhausting and we were starting to hit a wall. After endless research, trial and error he finally formulated the perfect equation of stain.

The Driftwood Ceiling Formula:

1 - Pre-stain Treatment: General Finishes - Water Based - Pre-Stain Conditioner - Natural*

2 - Base: General Finishes - Water Based - Wood Stain - Antique Oak*

3 - Wash Coat: General Finishes - Water Based - Wood Stain - Graystone (dilute as a wash application)*

4 - Knots and Character Streaks: General Finishes - Water Based - Dye Stain - Medium Brown*

5 - Final Protective Top Coat: General Finishes - Water Based - Flat Out Flat - Top Coat*

*contains amazon affiliate amazon links

He sprayed the final look with this beautiful translucent matte finish that doesn't take away from the natural grain yet still creates a protective coat.

After the ceiling we moved back to the shiplap. He sprayed each room in Sherwin Williams Cheviot. It took us a while to figure out what to do with the trim. We wanted something coastal and simple but still somewhat elevated.  

Currently, we are working on laying the remaining tile floors. We just have the living room and the guest bedroom left and then we are officially finished with tile, thank goodness. Laying tile is not for the weak. We have a complete new respect for all tile layers.

I can’t wait to get started on the decor. We’ve been completely focused on the basics for now. We are going for a cozy coastal grandfather cottage with old Florida vibes. Hopefully by the next postcard, it will be time for decorating.