A cottage, modern and vintage 1932

Another week has gone by without a post, but we have been busy.  We have had an offer on our house, and have put in an offer on another!  We saw this cottage on the weekend, and we all fell in love.

It's only small (for a family of 6 and an occasionally visiting son and girlfriend), with two bedrooms and a loft (parents retreat) and a little study nook that could be a small bedroom, but it has everything else we need - 5 acres, some cleared some bush, a separate bathroom and toilet, a good size kitchen, enough room for a dining table for six and a nice outdoor living area. It also is high-set at one end, with enough space to put in another bedroom and a bathroom.

And the kids favourite feature - a spiral staircase!

It also has a great outlook and is right on a half hour drive to the office. it's also ten minutes to the beach, and five minutes to the local school and shop.

It does have a lot of stairs though, and moving furniture in could be hard work. 

Anyway, we'll see what happens in the next day or so.  Meanwhile I will try not to be so emotional, about leaving a house we have been in for ten years and falling in love with another.  I am also reading lots of articles and blogs about living in small spaces, and have found a great blog called Apartment Therapy which has lots of tips for living in small spaces.

The cottage, with its dormer windows, reminds me a little of  this Cape Cod cottage I found in my copy of Better Homes and Garden from July 1932, which could have been built at the time for around $6,000.

The bedrooms are 12 feet by 13 feet (3.5 x 4m) and 13 feet by 17 feet (4m x 5m), which are quite good sizes, and there is "an inviting window set below the dormer in the hall."  Downstairs the living room is 14 feet by 25 feet (4.2 x 7.6m) and is "white wainscoted", which basically means this:

I love this look, don't you?

I think it's a great little plan, and love the fact there is a separate hall, which many modern houses seem to lack. A hall is great for when unexpected callers drop in, which happens a lot where we are in town now, but probably won't happen as much in the country.  The garage near the kitchen door is a very modern feature for 1932 (note the car!).  I might have to think about building something like this for my next home, once the kids are gone!

Keep your fingers crossed for us!

Deb xxx