Beach Cabin Screened in Porch: ORC, Week 6

The Beach Cabin Screened In Porch is finished! Sort of. I could blame it on the rain. Or a busy spring. Or training for a 25k. I could…

Anyway, the porch is mostly finished. I’d love to add a new wall light. It has been purchased but needs to be installed. I also had grand plans of adding some curtains out there. We’ll see. The sailing line plans are also on a brief hold. (You can read all about them in last week’s post here.) In fact, if you are new here and want to catch up on the topsy turvy Beach Cabin Screened In Porch plans, you can click on Week 1 | Week 2 | Week 3 | Week 4 | Week 5. But let’s back up a minute and take a look at some “before” photos I snapped. Granted the photos are just coming off of winter, so this isn’t entirely what it looked like last summer, but you get the idea…

The Before

Paint, paint, paint…

But let’s talk about what did happen over the past six weeks for the One Room Challenge. The walls have been painted to match the trim. Nantucket Green is a lovely color and one of Benjamin Moore’s Historical Colors, which is an automatic win in my book. 

In spite of a few navy footprints brought into the house, the floors have received their two-to-three coats of porch and floor paint. The way Wescott Navy changes in the light and once it dries is magical. If you use it, wait until it fully dries to critique it. This is the 3rd floor that I’ve painted with it and I always worry about the color when it first goes on and end up loving it once it dries.

One more paint paragraph, and then I promise that I’ll move on. My husband has really been into record players and 8-tracks lately. Since we plan on spending the majority of the summer at the Beach Cabin, he felt the need to turn our previous sitting room into a music room. And gave the settee I had in there the boot. Naturally, I dug it out of the storage room, purchased a can of spray paint, and added it to the porch. It feel like it was made for this space!

Rugs for the Beach Cabin Screened In Porch

I’m getting ahead of myself, though. Let’s back up to the floors. I had a runner that was intended for our house, but after a year of sitting in the basement, I thought it safe to let the Beach Cabin have it. 

The purchase I was the most excited about was the rug from McGee & Co. I love, love, love it! The navy coordinates so well with everything else out on the porch and it ties the space together nicely.

As I mentioned in a previous post, the plans for new furniture were nixed for the time being. New cushions give the space a nice refresh and help streamline the decor. Several of the pieces were made from Sunbrella fabric, so the durability is an exciting factor and bonus. Who knew that Home Goods and Lowes would be such great sources for outdoor cushions? Probably a lot of people- haha! But it was news to me 🙂

Sailing Line

The kids and I went into a boat store to buy some sailing line. (That sounds like the opener to a joke, doesn’t it?!) After the initial “why are you replacing the chain” question and my “because it’s not pretty” answer, we were well on our way to figuring out which line would work best. I love people who sail. They are just perfect for my kids who are naturally interested and active. They seem to be able to channel all of that energy and capture their attention in such a fantastic way. It’s like the kids know that sailing and the water is serious business and they become somewhat reverent around the whole topic. But back to the rope and the swing. After the kids had helped to measure and cut the line, we headed back to the Beach Cabin. If I’m remembering correctly, the sign by the rope said that it had a breaking strength of something like 4200 pounds, so we are safe in that regard. And our neighbors, who are pretty much professional sailors, are going to help us with the knots, so we are also feeling good about that. Have I mentioned that we adore our neighbors? We do!

The Finishing Touches

The coffee table. I did stop into a local antique store to search for a coffee table but couldn’t seem to find exactly what I was looking for. Hobby Lobby was next on my list for a wall hanging. I found the wall hanging and a coffee table. Yes!

I also added some planters with hydrangeas. We will replant these in the front of the Beach Cabin this fall. I was hoping to add rhododendrons to the planters (with a transfer to the front of the cottage) because the leaves are so pretty even through the winter months. However, the garden center person warned me that because I wanted to plant them facing south, that the winter sun could ruin the plant.

Oh, and on my way out of the driveway to take photos of the Beach Cabin porch, I jumped out of the car and picked our lovely tulips for the shoot. Aren’t they beautiful?! I was a little nervous driving through Holland with random tulips on my front seat during Tulip Time. Rumor has it you can be fined for picking the flowers during the festival! My mom brought the adorable fish plates to finish off the look. 

I think that is it for now! Come back soon to see the last pieces put in place. Or, better yet, subscribe to email updates, so you never miss a thing! 

And head over to the One Room Challenge blog to check out all of the amazing final projects! Just click here.