Restoring a vintage stove isn’t all cupcakes and rainbows. This week we pull back the curtain on some of the quirks you can’t spot in a pretty photo. We also share mistakes, regrets, and missed opportunities from our beach house renovation—what tile choice we regret, where the exterior fell short, and how we plan to fix things going forward. Plus, we explain why we’re investing in something that will simply make the house smell better. Not glamorous, but necessary.
You can download this episode from Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, TuneIn Radio, or Spotify — or listen to it through your podcast player. Then use this page to catch photo references and notes mentioned in the episode. Note: if you’re reading in a feed reader, you may need to open the post in your browser to access embedded audio.
What’s New
- For background, we originally wrote about finding the pink stove and what drew us to it in our initial post about the vintage pink stove.
- Can you spot the red light that’s always on in the first photo above?
- Here’s “Ol’ Pinkie” right after we moved it in last October—when it unexpectedly “popped” while plugging it in. Luckily it’s mostly better now after a few fixes.
Beach House Regrets
- Below are the key renovation missteps we discussed on the episode. Listening to the audio will give you the full context, but these notes summarize the lessons we learned so you can avoid the same pitfalls.
- First, the hall bathroom: we installed a blue accent tile in the shower, but the layout hides it behind the door. Code required the light switches to be on the left wall, which affected the door swing. In hindsight, that tile would have been better used in the downstairs bathroom where it would be immediately visible from the entry.
- Here’s the downstairs shower—tucked beside the mudroom/laundry room—where the blue tile would have been appreciated by everyone passing by. Lesson learned: think sightlines through the whole house before committing a special finish.
- We also debated a breakfast nook versus a pantry. The charm of a breakfast nook almost won us over, but function ultimately mattered more. Converting that space into a walk-in pantry proved the more practical choice for our needs.
- We’re happy with the pantry we built; it functions well and makes daily life easier. You can see how we installed the built-in walk-in pantry shelves in an earlier project post.
- One of the few shots of our en-suite bathroom sink shows a fixture that some visitors adore and others call too small. We’ve decided to keep it for now because the shower and tub make the room feel special, but it’s on our long-term “maybe” list for an update.
- For comparison, here’s a sink from our previous home that still charms us. It worked well in a compact, vintage-tiled space; in the beach house’s larger bathroom, our chosen sink feels a little small.
- The porch on the pink house still needs work, which we regret not addressing sooner. The porch and front door staining are on our to-do list for the near future.
- We’ve talked about the exterior steps and porch in a previous episode. Internally, a couple of installation choices caused minor headaches—for example, the original placement of washer and dryer outlets was higher than ideal, leaving plugs protruding above the appliance tops and interfering with shelf placement.
- We resolved this by having the electrician lower the dryer plug about six inches so it sits under the back lip of the machine. The other plug is concealed behind a storage cabinet. The washer and dryer shelves rest on brackets and are easily removable to access hookups.
- Thermostat placement is another small detail that can affect wall usage. Early photos show thermostats near corners, which left central wall space free for art. We later swapped the stock thermostats for Nest E models for better control and a cleaner look.
- Downstairs, the thermostat sits near the dining room light switch, which preserved uninterrupted wall space for hanging artwork. You can also spot a threshold transition between rooms that is higher than we’d prefer—another small thing we’d change if given the chance.
- On a brighter note, the back bedroom addition with pocket doors has been a huge success. We worried a wall with pocket doors might block light, but it has provided privacy at night while keeping daylight flowing and maintaining access to a private staircase out the back.
We’re Digging
- Sherry has been loving a selection of travel photo prints from an Etsy shop called 527 Photo. The shop offers many options in affordable sizes; she picked a favorite for our living room and plans to add more. Prints are a quick, cost-effective way to introduce color and calm into a space.
- For podcast recommendations, we enjoy episodes of Every Little Thing for curious, well-researched stories that make great background listening while you work around the house.
If you want to find items or topics we’ve mentioned in past episodes, we keep a master list of everything we’ve been digging in our episodes and show notes.
Finally, thanks to Universal Furniture for sponsoring this episode. They ran a giveaway for living room furniture—always appreciate sponsors that support the podcast and allow us to share projects with you.
Thanks for listening and following along with our projects and lessons learned.
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