We made serious progress at the beach house this weekend. To be honest, we only checked off about half of the long to-do list, but after four days there it felt incredible to lock the door knowing we’d completed a huge portion of the kitchen.
There’s still a fair amount left: a fridge and dishwasher, floating shelves around the stove, a backsplash, toe kicks and quarter round at the cabinet bases, and a larger island countertop with a sink and a 12″ overhang for stools. But the perimeter counters are in place (they simply need to be screwed down and sealed), we have working drawers (hardware pending), and the hood is hung (the white is a protective cover — it’ll be stainless once removed). This stage of the kitchen is genuinely exciting, especially when I remember how it looked just a short time ago:
Progress indeed.
We recorded a video walk-through right before we locked up, showing what’s done and what’s next, along with updates around the rest of the house since the last tour. If you prefer photos or can’t watch the video, below are images and highlights to get you caught up.
The front bedroom is coming together quickly. We couldn’t fit the headboard in the car this trip, so that’s arriving next time, and we’ll hang curtains to ground the bed in front of the window. Moving the side tables from the back bedroom and rolling out an 8 x 10 indoor/outdoor rug made a big difference—soft, durable, and perfect for beach life. We’ve been leaning into blue accents (it is a beach house), balanced by warm tones in the refinished wood doors and floors and the warm textured rugs.
We added a sandy 5 x 8 rug to the guest room and a silvery gray-blue 8 x 10 rug downstairs. The latter might move to the back bedroom depending on how the sofa reads in different lighting—there’s a lot of blue in the house and we want to keep the palette balanced so it doesn’t feel overwhelming.
One rug we tried didn’t work out: it was darker and busier in person than online photos suggested, clashing with other blue elements in the house. We lived with it a few days but ultimately decided to return it. Rug returns are never fun, but better now than when everything’s final.
The hall bathroom remains my favorite. We found a great mirror (to be hung next visit), added a shower curtain, and finished caulking the tile edges—so showers are fully sealed. The remaining small tasks: a toilet paper holder, towel hooks, artwork, and window treatments to replace the temporary cardboard coverings.
Big news in the master bathroom: the shower finally got glass. Choosing a single glass panel instead of a bulky wall keeps the shower bright and open, so it feels roomy despite being slightly narrower than the hall shower. We still want to add a wooden stool by the tub, more wood accents for warmth, window treatments, and towel hooks, but it’s getting there.
Back to the kitchen: assembling the cabinets was a four-day DIY stretch of snapping, drilling, hinging, leveling, and patience. We chose simple Ikea cabinets to keep costs down while furnishing and finishing multiple rooms. We were happy with the Ikea kitchen pieces we used in other parts of the house, and the whole kitchen—including counters and sink—came in around $3,000, which felt like a fantastic value for what we achieved.
We only had eight cabinets to assemble, so the process moved quickly. We kept cabinet fronts simple so the vintage pink stove and original architectural details like the back staircase and glass-paned doors could stay the visual stars.
Our oak veneer butcher block counters were surprisingly straightforward to install. We measured twice (or more) and taped before cutting to minimize splintering, then cut each piece to fit. All four counters fit well; we still need to screw them down, seal them, and plan the island countertop, but the initial cuts were a relief and a win.
The butcher block color is a great match for the heart pine floors; once sealed they should blend even more naturally. The kitchen table we brought came with craigslist chairs, and while we like the table’s legs, we’ll swap the chairs for white ones to brighten the space. The chandeliers will be lowered about 10″ for proper scale, and then the remaining big items will be a dishwasher, a drawer below the microwave, a larger island with a sink, art, and finishing touches. For now: a half-functional, very promising kitchen.
Other small victories: I scraped sticker residue off all the windows and cleaned them so everything is shiny, and I spackled dozens of dings and dents for touch-ups on the next trip. When the hood went up I patched a ceiling ding immediately—priorities!
Here’s the view of the kitchen from the door—no more stacks of Ikea boxes on the floor. That alone made the space feel finished in a whole new way.
Below is the mood board and a list of sources we shared previously, now updated with the new additions and items we installed. It’s a handy reference for paint, rugs, lighting, and more as the house comes together.
In other news, on November 5th we had an unseasonably warm 70-degree day and actually went swimming at the beach. It was strangely perfect. The next morning it was back down to 40 degrees, but we enjoyed the brief, unexpected taste of summer.
Psst — you can find more posts about the beach house project in our category of updates that follows the entire process from the start.
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