Its still an old, tiny, worn little corner of the lodge. The hardware is beat up. The tile isn’t Anne Sacks, the wall paint doesn’t have a Farrow & Ball pedigree. The claw foot tub is the original Kohler (missing a clawfoot leg, so it’s propped up with a brick, but we love her anyway). If every week we try to tackle one little corner of camp, it makes us a little bit happier – and we’re hoping that the cumulative effort and effect make our visiting friends and extended family feel a little bit more welcome.
It was built circa 1925, and hasn’t changed much since. So in our winter/spring rehab frenzy, we gave her a much needed mini facelift. And, because we rehab rooms on a dime with stuff we already have laying around camp, this is what managed to pull together:
THE TRUTH IS: NOTHING HERE WAS EVER FANCY. SO IT’S NEVER GONNA BE. So to keep us honest, we re-did this little corner with the same filter as everything else around here: blue-collar, DIY, elbow-grease style.
OUR CHEAPSKATE MAKEOVER:
- The Kohler “corner” sink is original, and although it’s seen better days, we’ll never part with it. We conferred with the good folks at Kohler about doing a proper restoration, which would mean running it through the system up at the factory to get the old porcelain off of it, all the way down to the original iron, then putting a fresh porcelain finish on it. Unfortunately, for a sink of this age there’s no guarantee it would survive the process. So, we can’t take the chance. We’ll just clean her up best we can.
- Penny tile floor (hardware store standard, with black grout)
- Medium gray wall & fresh coat of white paint
- Swapped out the toilet with a new, but vintage style Kohler (biggest splurge! over $200, *gulp*)
- White wood slat window blinds (faux wood, but you cant really tell the difference unless you’re up close)
- Black lacquer on the outside of the clawfoot tub (brushed on)
- Swapped out bathroom shower water fixtures with some vintage styled ones
- Vintage bark cloth drapes for a hit of color over shower curtain liners
- Vintage glass towel rod (yardsale, one buck)
- Bath towels are a collection of surplus, used military (names written on them in permanent marker, Thanks Private Grounds! About $1 each from military surplus)
- Vintage footstool (flea find, $20)
- Prohibition-era oil painting picked up at flea markets for $15 a piece (favorite finds!)
- ’40s TP holder (yardsale $6)
- Cool vintage fold-out shaving mirror (can’t remember, but I think it’s a yardsale find)
- Inspiration: ideas.kohler.com/kohlerideas instagram.com/kohler #KohlerIdeas #Kohler
Favorite detail: The resort owners in the ’50s (or was it the Latvian Church owners in ’60s?) cut some plywood window & cabinet trim (their version of home-made “fancy”) It’s got 20 coats of paint, and made of the cheapest possible wood). So do we: we’d rather nail it back together & keep the character, than replace it with a fancy new cherry-wood version.
