Hello friends and wanderers,

We have done so much in 6 months and I thought it was time to share a bit. I am still planning on picking up my video making in youtube but that got complicated with a baby making her way into our lives so you still have to wait a few weeks til I find the time to take this project.

But I will share some climpses of what we have built outside and show some improvements inside the house as well.

This summer has not been a vacation for us at all we never even made it to the beach this year. We dug up half the front garden, got rid of our current overgrown potato field moved the greenhouse, got a small parking spot and made the front lawn open. Took a few days of the loader excavator to smooth out the landscape because we have such a rocky ground.

But we did manage to get some awesome big rocks and use them in our future hydrangea flower bed. We had asked our wedding quests to not bring us cut flowers and instead gift us some hydrangea bushes so we can use them in the garden. I find that to be more meaningful and useful than flowers that will die in a few days. The flower bed will be so lovely with big rocks, flowers and a bird bathing bowl with feeding station for squirrels and birds. A safe haven for all insects and animals. It still needs some mulch and a bit of work but I will leave that for the next year. At least the hydrangeas finally got planted into their place and I can take a breather.

The excavator also helped with digging the ground up for the terrace. Me and my husband worked during evenings when the baby was asleep, him cutting up the planks and me screwing them on. I cant be happier to have this new place to chill and hopefully decorate it for the next summer.

Even though we got the terrace done sooner than we planned to and I got to enjoy it all summer long we did not get other work done as fast as we would have wanted. We do everything ourselves without any real hired builders, cause quite frankly we do not have the money for that. But I have an amazing father and brother who help with planning and building. Without my dad we wouldnt have taken on this big project for sure. But they also have their own building projects and time is slim in every household so everything got postponed for a while and then the rain season came. And right now we are not sure if we will be able to finish the insulation and facade.

It took a few days of demolition to get all that old shit off the walls, the front entrance was the worst, and it should have been torn down in the first place, there were so many mice holes that had been covered up with old herring can lids but the mice of course ate holes right next to those lids and so on, there was basically no useful wall left. But we had already renovated from inside so it was time for plan B or all of the work would have been for nothing, and of course my father is a magician so in the end it got done and now there are only minor things left to do. Need some new rain pipes and a light.

I have tried to help out my man, oiling the planks and prepping as much as I can so he can just screw them on after work. Every little thing takes so much time and effort, I never thought this would take so long but here we are,,, Looking at the bright side the front of the house is already looking so so good, exactly how I wanted it. These rustic wood planks are perfect for a cozy cottage vibe. I plan on painting some quirky things on the walls as well. But that will have to wait until everything is done and a second layer of oil is brushed on.

I also have some process footage to share in my vlog soon, so stay tuned for that 😉

Decorating of the house is still ongoing and finding new projects is thrilling. So far we have built a simple hallway cabinet for shoes and storage, a TV table, multiple use tables/benches and some shelving in the living room. Next project is probably getting rid of the AC on the wall since we arent really using it, creating some storage on the wall and a little playing nook for the munckin.

The struggles of having a small house is real, you have to think of everything, storage, room to move freely, where you are going to put the dog bed or kids playing nook. Every little detail counts, cause in the end you do not want to feel cluttered with things. Storage is probably the worst enemy inside the house right now since we have not renovated upstairs yet we have to keep everything downstairs. We only have two bedrooms and a small living area. I guess it is time to get creative with what we got. You are welcome to share ideas of your little cottage storage solutions. It is always good to see how other people have done their house.

The kitchen is almost finished, only the beam between kitchen and living room needs to be sanded and oiled and maybe some baseboard work to be done but overall it is done. I sewed simple roman curtains for the house myself and I loved the linen fabric so much that I decided to sew curtains for the kitchen cabinets as well. I think the end result is pretty great. The small room works better with open shelving, makes it more airy and open, but I started to hate the open cabinets cause we do have kitchen machines and stuff that is not so aesthetically pleasing. So we had two options, either build doors or I sew curtains.. I of course chose curtains. Let me know what you think !

Hope you enjoy the summer that is still left,

-With love,

Brita