The Beach House...Completed for now!

Front View

Finally the beach house is finished. Months of hard work by Mr B...plumbing, painting, rubbish removal (never ending trips to the tip) scraping, floor sanding, lighting and landscaping , it is now finally available as a normal rental. The photos don't do any justice as to how nice it looks compared to the before shots. I now have this great desire to start another project I have wanted to do for many years...to rent it out as a holiday cottage, fully furnished and of course decorated in the Sarah Richardson way.



The kitchen...well, not much we could do at this stage. Just a good scrub, a new oven given to use by our best friends, painted the underneath the bench white and put on some new taps. Eventually, I will get an IKEA kitchen like on this fabulous blog A Beach Cottage

I think give 4 years and we may be in a position to set it up as a Holiday House. I still need to do some research and see if its a viable option for the area. At the moment, we need a steady income flow from a long term renter. Already, we have had a number of people just knock at the door wanting to rent it but not go through an agent. This is just not going to happen as an agent checks references and deals with issues that may arise. I will always use an agent as its my peace of mind. Now its finished (to a tidy up standard) I can see the potential that this little 1960's beach shack has to offer. No longer have we any desire to knock it down but keep the house the way it is just add 2 major outdoor areas with decking, barbecue area and of course beautiful seating so guests can enjoy the views. So many of these type of houses are being knocked down and replaced with big double story contemporary homes that are capable of sleeping up to 12-15 people. I think this narrows your market as these houses rent only to the family market in Summer time. My idea is to appeal to couples as a weekend retreat throughout the year. It will only sleep 6 and I think this is a good way to advertise it.

The curtains are from IKEA and although the photos do not do them any justice, they look fantastic in real life. I wanted to get the big ringlets (not sure of the correct name) so they are easy to open and shut. These windows took 6 large panels with 2 panels worth $50. I got them all taken up professional so the end result looks like they were custom made for these windows. The floors Mr B and his friend did theme selves. almost killed both of them. They are also the most beautiful feature of the house. Not sure if the pics show (Mr b took the pictures of course LOL) but they are red gum parquetry and very expensive in today's dollars. So for a cheap 1960's beach holiday home, it now starting to show its beautiful features.... I just had to look past all the other stuff.

http://interiordesign-us.blogspot.com/

So who wants to rent a beach house....

A beach view from our front window

Life changes.

After many sleepless nights, it has come time to acknowledge that we have to do something about my parent's beloved beachfront 'shack' (shack sounds soooooo much more romantic than house) so we have decided to rent it out for the first time ever. As you will see from just a few photos I dared to put on my blog for now that nothing has changed since it was built in the 60's. It will not be a holiday rental but a permanent rental for somebody who wants to live on the beachfront...no roads, just walk to the beach outside the front door.

What would I love to do....

via...house of turquoise

This is what I would love to do haha! Just imagine sitting in this room, surrounded by all these beautiful colours right on the beach front. Sadly, not for this little house as it is purely a rental property that needs to bring in income and be rented asap. We met with the agents a few days ago and they told us what needed to be done on the inside and out. Their advise was not to do any thing that wasn't urgent as it will not bring us any more rent. I find this concept really difficult as I want to 'pretty the interior' and put in new things that will make the renters happy. This is not how to approach a rental property apparently. Oh well....at least I am allowed to paint it in a colour I like.

Our little beach shack

Open living...most houses along the beach don't have front fences. The original concept was for all the kids to play together. We do however need to put up a side fence just to have some privacy from the neighbour. I wonder how they are going to react when they get the fencing notice as the do love to 'spread out' when they come up.

Oh! see those 2 trees in the background...they are in our property and have to come down. The root systems have not only got into the sewage but has made our driveway almost impossible to drive on. Problems, problems, problems. Thank goodness Mr B has taken over as property supervisor and meeting with all the tree cutters, plumbers, painters etc etc All too much for me and to think I watch all the reno shows. I will stay home and watch the kids I think. My idea of renovating is picking pretty colours and going on shopping expeditions LOL

One scary picture coming up.......

The 1964 interior!

This is a before shot....of course you knew that. the agents said not to change a thing, just a good scrub and to change the stove to a new one. A bit of paint, new appliance , nice roman blind and a floating shelf on the left hand wall (we already have one...bonus!) and hopefully this kitchen will look sweet for a beach shack. By the way...have a look at what Michelle has done with her kitchen on a shoestring budget.

Before Shot...image via De Novo Concepts

After Shot...via De Novo Concepts

This is what I am going to do!....A bit of paint can transform a Kitchen immediately.

Hope you enjoyed my rambling beach shack post...updates in the next few weeks as this project needs to be completed immediately.

Mrs B