Project Journal: June 16, 2025

We had a list of what had to get done this weekend at The Beach House. Little things, big things. Construction, painting, organizing, cleaning. Outdoor, indoor. But what did we actually accomplish?

I'm starting a project journal to share with you all. I may be more than half-way through this Beach House & Cottage Project (at least I hope so!) but better late than never. I am starting this writing not because I am bored and needed something else to fill my time (haha), but because I am driven to do so. Journaling is something I have been doing all of my life - it helps me stay grounded and reflect on what matters to me. I feel that I have been running from thing to thing since this whole project started and wanted a practice to help me be pay attention to this journey! I am also inspired by the book my dad has at his cabin in Northern Wisconsin that must be completed during each visit. In this book, it is customary to document what was done, what wasn't done, what the weather was like, what food was consumed, who was there -- really, anything that was meaningful to the person writing at the time of their visit.

interesting closet #1

I arrived Friday afternoon and applied a second coat of paint in one of the bedrooms. What bedroom? I've been trying to come up with a name for it. We have two bedrooms in the Beach House. One I've named the Captain's Quarters, and maybe if we are lucky I'll get around to sharing images soon, because it's so quaint. But this other bedroom... it doesn't have a clear identity yet. The color of the walls are "Beach Grass" and the room has three "interesting" closets, two doors, and a bank of two windows with a lovely view of greenery. We have a big bed and no other furniture yet. It's cozy and brings me a sense of calm. Regardless of the name, it now how has no more dark navy blue peaking through the first layer of paint.

Mike arrived late Friday night and we had a cooked Hello Fresh meal that we brought from home with our limited, temporary kitchen and supplies. What did we do then? No idea. This is a theme for us - we do so many things and stay up too late that we can't remember all of the details.

I can tell you that the next day I worked on painting trim and moulding in the unnamed bedroom. The base boards, the trim around the windows, the trim around all three closets and two doors, the trim around the ceiling. Other than the quantity of wood to paint, there were of course other challenges. In an old house, nothing is square or in smooth condition, so we do the best we can. Layers and layers of old paint require cleaning, patching, sanding, smoothing. Also, there is carpet in this room, which required ample painter's tape and the arranging and rearranging of drop cloths to protect the carpet from my painting frenzy.

In between my painting, Mike was fixing and rebuilding the interior of the closets. As you could predict from the "nothing is square or smooth," that created challenges for my painting, Mike had to remove strange pieces of wood, strange nails and screws, and strange layers of old wallpaper. There are always surprises and maybe even a bit of confusion with all of our projects. Our favorite phrase during our work so far, especially in T

he Beach House, has been, "Why did they do that?!"

While we didn't finish finish the construction and painting of the unnamed bedroom and all its aforementioned closets, we did get pretty close. We did other things, too. We added more backing board to the bathroom shower, hooked up the washer and dryer, added a railing to the side porch, and cleaned and prepped The Cottage for our next guest. We made lots of lists of what yet had to be done and purchased, we looked out the windows in exhaustion, we even ate a few times.

When we finished the weekend, I felt like we had run out of time and felt disappointed that we didn't get our list completed. Now, writing this, I realize that we did get a lot done. And we made progress. And we had fun doing it. We had a list of what had to get done this weekend at The Beach House. There is always next weekend.