Restoring a vintage stove isn’t always sunshine and cupcakes. This week we’re sharing the unseen quirks, mistakes, and missed opportunities from our beach house renovation. Which tile choice would we change? Where did the exterior fall short? How do we plan to fix these things moving forward? And yes — we’re spending money to make the house smell better. Not glamorous, but real.
You can download the episode from Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, TuneIn Radio, or Spotify — or listen to the embedded player below. Use this page to follow up on links, notes, and photos mentioned in the episode. Note: if you’re in a feed reader, you may need to open the post to see the player.
What’s New
- Missed our story about the pink stove? We first wrote about finding the vintage pink stove in a previous post.
- Can you spot the red light that’s always on in the photo above?
- Here’s Ol’ Pinkie right after we moved it in last October — it even “popped” when we plugged it in. Thankfully it’s mostly better now.
Beach House Regrets
- We’ll summarize the renovation mistakes we discussed in the episode — it’s worth a quick listen for the full, detailed rundown. Save yourself regret and spend 15 minutes with the episode.
- First up: the hall bathroom. We installed a blue accent tile in the shower, but it’s hidden behind the door. Building code required the light switches on the left wall, which dictated the door swing and ultimately hid the tile. In hindsight, that tile would have shown off much better in the downstairs bathroom where it would be visible from the doorway. Lesson learned — function matters as much as charm.
- The downstairs shower sits next to the mudroom/laundry room. Because of the layout, that tile would have been appreciated by everyone passing by. We should have thought through sightlines before committing.
- We talk often about the breakfast nook that became a pantry. We loved the idea of a charming nook, but in reality it wouldn’t have functioned well. Converting it into a pantry proved to be the right practical choice, even if we were originally smitten with the aesthetic.
- Fortunately, we love the finished pantry — and you can see how we built the walk-in pantry shelves in a separate post.
- One small frustration is our en-suite bathroom sink. An interior designer friend loved it, but we still feel it’s too small for that space and plan to update it eventually. Luckily the shower and tub make the room one of our favorites.
- For comparison, here’s a sink from our previous home that still charms us. It worked well in a tiny, vintage-tiled space but feels out of place in the beach house’s larger bathroom.
- The pink house porch still looks rough in places, and we regret not tackling it sooner. It’s on the docket — along with staining the front door.
- We’ve discussed the wooden steps at the side and back of the house on Episode #99. Those areas still need attention.
- Early photos show how high the washer and dryer outlets were installed. When appliances arrived, the plugs would have protruded above the machines and interfered with a planned shelf. We had our electrician drop the dryer plug about 6 inches so it’s hidden beneath the back lip; the other plug is covered by a storage cabinet. The shelves rest in brackets and can be popped off to access hookups easily. See the laundry room makeover post for more details.
- Thermostat placement was another consideration. We avoided placing them mid-wall where they would block art; upstairs we put the thermostat just outside the main bedroom entrance, leaving wall space for artwork. We eventually swapped the stock units for Nest E thermostats.
- Downstairs, the thermostat sits near the dining room light switch, which preserved uninterrupted wall space for hanging art. You can also spot the transition between the living and dining rooms. The threshold is higher than we’d like — not dangerous, but we wish it were as seamless as in the smaller doorway where the threshold is flush.
- We’ll end on a high note: the back bedroom. Adding a wall with pocket doors gave us nighttime privacy without losing natural light during the day, and it created a private staircase — a perfect compromise.
We’re Digging
- Sherry’s favorite photo prints from 527 Photo on Etsy feature beautiful travel photography at affordable prices. She picked several favorites, and we purchased one for our living room.
- If you like nerdy, informative podcasts, we recommend Every Little Thing. Personal favorites include episodes about Winnie the Pooh’s age, public toilets, and the odd job of getting paid to clap on TV.
If you’re trying to find something we mentioned in a past episode, check our master list of everything we’ve been digging from previous shows.
Thanks to Universal Furniture for sponsoring this episode. You can enter to win $5,000 in new living room furniture at UniversalFurniture.com/YHL through August 13th — and YHLHAP listeners have won past giveaways, so it could be you.
Thanks for listening!
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