Weatherbunny Reports from Michigan

Off we went to the lake early Saturday morning and of course found exactly what we left behind. Guess. Driving up old Brownsville Road I snapped a few pictures of the surrounding farm fields. Around the lake, corn and green beans are grown for the Green Giant, so you may be looking at a picture of the field where the corn you have sitting in your cupboard was grown!! I truly feel like a midwestern girl when we are up in this part of the country. Driving down the backroads with open fields on both side, the windows rolled down, wind blowing my hair all over, the radio blasting...wow, what a feeling of pure freedom . But that is in the summer folks! :-)This is the lake house from the street. She is a sweet old thing. It was getting dark, snowing and I was freezing, but I wanted to show you where I spend a lot of my time, almost every weekend in the summer. Many renovations have been taking place there over the last two years. A major job was re-staining the entire exterior. It was light brown and now it is this sort of wedgewood blue. We also had the house lifted about 12 inches as it was sinking...yes sinking. The ground is marshy and back when the house was built 30 years ago there were no codes for building on the lake. Now everything goes under inspection before a permit is issued and newer homes are built with special foundations. So, the old girl was lifted in the summer of 2007 and she creaks and groans and occasionally we have a wall crack, but this is to be expected for the next couple of years as she settles back in. (And I thought we had problems here in Chicago in our 80 year old home!)

This is a view of the front porch. This was added on by Resident Carpenter last summer. I love this porch because it faces the big lake. The back side of our house faces the bay. We are basically on a strip of land with a channel that leads us out to the lake. I ordered some wrought iron furniture from Overstock.com last fall when everything went on sale. It's boxed up in the garage and I don't even remember what it looks like. Overstock has become my best friend as I can order and have it shipped directly to the cottage. And where else can you get shipping for $1.00?

I took a picture from the covered patio that looks out at the bay, which of course doesn't look particularly like water, but is. Resident Carpenter extended said patio out into the open around our cute little acorn tree which provides shade. By the way, cute little acorn tree has a family of flying squirrels in it. This summer I will try to get a picture of good 'ol Rocky, he's quite cute. :-)

This is a picture of the Summerhouse, as we call it. It also serves as a guesthouse when we are filled to capacity. The Summerhouse idea came about when we tired of making a run from the patio into the house when the mosquito's invaded on warm summer nights. We did not want to screen in our covered patio as we didn't need another room, and we didn't want a screened gazebo as our neighbors just built one...so, there you have it. The Summerhouse has eight windows and two Murphy beds which fold out from behind shuttered doors. I got as far as furnishing it with wicker but that is about it. I'll have fun playing with it when it warms up. Note the little front porch on it. It is so sweet. We have two glider rockers on it and we like to sit and have a more close up view of the water.

I took pictures of the wallpaper in both of the bathrooms as the next time I go they will have been gutted. I think I mentioned, when it comes to the designing of the renovations and redecorating, I have the kitchen, Emily, Future Interior Designer Daughter has powder room, laundry room and mudroom and The Husband has the main bath.

I LOVE this wallpaper and hate to see it go. It is the bathroom you run to right off the patio when you have been out on the boat all day drinking beer. I bet there have been many sighs of relief heard within those walls! :-) The beach chairs make me smile as well as the kites and the sailboats remind me of the Sunday morning regatta which is just glorious to watch. Fun, fun wallpaper, goodbye. :-(

This is my upstairs bath wallpaper. I think it is so elegant. I once stayed at a bed & breakfast that had wallpaper similar to this and I loved it. It can't be salvaged, and as I said, The Husband has dibs on this room. I have my fingers crossed for the outcome. Since when did men start to take such a keen interest in decorating? I wish he'd just go fix a leaky faucet.


We had a great weekend. After looking at some of the new work we took Resident Carpenter out for a sandwich and a beer at our local tavern. He then got on a Greyhound to go visit a friend in Pennsylvania and I think it was the first time we've had the house alone in about two years!!

We have so much more to do. Renovations will be done by March 1, and then I have all the fun shopping to do: towels, linens, area rugs, art work...Oooh yum!!

See everyone again soon!!

xoxo

Jane