Cottage renovation opinions needed!

10 years ago

We just spent our first week in our new to us 1960s beach house. The place has character, just not our character as of yet. :) The main floor is open concept with cathedral ceilings and a massive fireplace in the middle. We met with a few contractors to begin getting estimates on some structural fixes needed as well as bids to remove the paneling from all the walls on the main floor. We will upgrade the electric and insulate as well. The post & beams on the ceiling and beach wall will remain. I'm stuck on a couple areas and would love to get Houzzers thoughts.

1. What can be done for the "bedroom" on the main floor. It currently has panel walls and no ceiling. Any thoughts on how it would look with a ceiling? Could the walls go up to the top of the cathedral ceiling or would everything become unbalanced? After spending the week in the dampish lower level bedrooms, I would love to have the master bedroom on the main floor but need privacy to do that.
2. The paneled closet shown in the pictures will be re-built with walls and placed in the corner, eliminating the 9 inch gap. Is there anything I should think about when building a closet? Standard sizes? We plan to store vacuum, beach towels, outside cushions, etc in this closet
3. The horizontal black beam at the top of the walls is not really a beam. It is a painted black thin wood. The contractors said it would be difficult to have drywall go up over this and around the beams. Thoughts?

I've always lived in standard subdivision homes. I love having this more unique home, but I have to admit it is challenging! Thank you for your thoughts!

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PRO

LB Interiors

10 years ago

last modified: 10 years ago

I feel that if the beams and ceiling are left with darker saturation of color, and if the floors are light, some light walls too, the room will look top heavy. I think the kitchen pic above shows that. However, if you have large dark accents below the ceiling, such as dark furniture and saturated rug, saturated wall paint, that visually feel heavier, it would balance the heavy ceiling. My Opinion.

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Comments (20)

PRO
LB Interiors
10 years ago
last modified: 10 years ago
Maybe paint the dark beams white. ... Paint some or all of the paneling if not removing it, to make it airy, breezy and brighter.
lefty47
10 years ago
last modified: 10 years ago
HI -- This is a great place , very warm looking . If you need privacy in the bedroom , then there is no choice but to build the walls up and I think it will look fine once you get use to it. I don't think it will cause any unbalance. The vaulted upper part of the walls could be lightened with some texture glass inserts . That would add some architectural interest. Not sure on the contractors problem putting the drywall up and around the beams other than maybe a little more work than he wants to do. The flat top board could be removed . For the closet ,- I would just buy a big cabinets / wardrobes and just bolt them to the wall instead of building in a closet. They could become a feature if you fancy them up . I like the dark ceiling beams ,it's a good balance to your darker furniture .
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PRO
LB Interiors
10 years ago
I think I would extend and continue the bedroom ceiling to the cathedral structure?
PRO
sstarr93
10 years ago
Right, you shouldn't drop a ceiling in this space. It will be fine to cut a room or rooms and run the walls all the way up.
The beams shouldn't be black; it's the first thing you notice about the house.
When you say panelling, really what this looks like is rather nice natural wood on the walls. In my opinion, it would be a real shame to rip it out and make the house ordinary via drywalling it.
The house has tremendous potential if you go with the original concept and find a modern take on it.
PRO
Lazzell Design Works Remodeling
10 years ago
It mostly looks like you live inside a tree.
The ceiling is great, I would keep it as is, but I would move away from the wood on the walls.
I also suggest extending the bedroom walls all the way to the ceiling and install the same dark wood freeze at the top as the rest of the ceiling has.
PRO
Bohnhoff Woodworking
10 years ago
I would not hesitate to take the walls to the ceiling. You might want to consider removing some of the paneling add drywall and color to brighten the space. Closets need to be at least 24" deep inside to be effective. I would not dry wall over those beams the ceiling has great character. Have fun with this project! I would be happy to offer suggestion if you would like along the way. I remodeled a 1960 flat top fishing cottage on the Outer Banks N.C. a few years ago. I would be happy to share some photos with you.
-David
PRO
Lazzell Design Works Remodeling
10 years ago
Drywall walls and a wood floor with area rugs would be nice. Or at least paint the paneling.
flermoen
Original Author
10 years ago
Living in a tree! Ha ha, that's exactly what it feels like. Very dark. We've talked about lightening/painting the beams in phase 2 or 3. I'm curious to see how light it will feel with the drywall on three walls. The floors will likely be wood-look tile in order to handle the sand, water and dogs. I appreciate all of your thoughts! This entire house is going to be a fun project.
PRO
LB Interiors
10 years ago
Xlnt idea to use tile for a beach house!
PRO
Lazzell Design Works Remodeling
10 years ago
I think the dark beams make the ceiling work. Don't be too quick to paint them, lighten the walls to brighten things up.
ohplease
10 years ago
last modified: 10 years ago
We had a similar space in our 1970's A-frame cabin. We had the ceiling and walls (leaving the wood)painted a creamy white which was a great contrast to the dark beams. It looks great! We actually carried the same color paint through the whole cabin.
Dar Eckert
10 years ago
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Here's something to inspire you. You could go all white, leave it black and wood or leave the beams and the rest white. Do bring the walls all the way to the ceiling but don't drop the ceiling in the bedroom. Keep the beams exposed.
imhofan
10 years ago
Drywall to ceiling for bedroom works fine; how awesome to have master on main floor. For a beach house, I would lighten up and brighten up! Paint walls and ceiling and beams the same warm white to expand the visual space. Love your floor tile idea. The fireplace could be a great focal point with resurfacing to fieldstone and big wood mantel... could drywall top and new stone below. Above mantel will be great spot for artwork or other fun object; if you can add light source above fireplace, will draw your eye up. Fun fabric panels on your wall of window. Regarding closet, I like previous suggestion of wall of cabinetry for storage vs closet. Perhaps stain in a distressed color that would coordinate with rest of your furnishings. Have fun! Lovely space!
Judy M
10 years ago
It looks like you might have sheet panels on walls and real wood planks on ceiling. We have a beach house with that combo (except the ceiling was flat not cathedral.
We painted the ceiling and the beams white in all the bedrooms to keep a rustic feeling.

In the living room and adjoining kitchen, we had Sheetrock hung on the beams (and added recessed lighting).

Painting the ceilings was a lot of work, as it was primed with shellac primer and then needed several a coats of paint.
But it is so much brighter and fresher now.

Cute house you have.
PRO
Kathryn Peltier Design
10 years ago
last modified: 10 years ago
Your house will look fine taking the bedroom walls to the ceiling. You will still have the benefit of the high ceilings within the bedroom itself, although you might want to sacrifice part of the open ceiling for built-in storage, if you need it.

I definitely would NOT drywall over the wood - paint it! You will have the benefit of lighter color but with the detail of the linear aspect of the wood. If you really want to drywall, then do the walls but not the ceiling - the ceiling is so much a part of the feel of that era, and works well with the fireplace. I wouldn't mind the dark beams even with a lighter painted ceiling (using a color similar to that of the grout in the FP could be nice), because you have large, dark furniture to balance it out, although lightening it to a gray or taupe color would probably work, too. Whatever color you use on the ceiling beams should be the same color of the horizontal wood piece along the top of the walls (which you referenced); that is part of the ceiling. I would add a large, patterned area rug under your seating to further ground it.

When you rebuild your closet, plan for all of the things you mentioned. You might want to build some shelving in or purchase a closet organizer. The one thing I would do, however, is have doors that open all the way across the front of it (or as close as you can get) because then the whole thing will open up and be that much more useable and accessible.
flermoen
Original Author
10 years ago
Just wanted to give an update. Building the bedroom walls up to the ceiling was a fabulous idea. It doesn't make the room closed in. It brings a certain calmness and openness to the space.
We also removed the dark trim around the top of the walls. After drywall is done we plan to add quarter round trim between wall and wood ceiling, and around the bottom of the black beams. Thank you all for the great advice! Now to pick out tile!
PRO
LB Interiors
10 years ago
last modified: 10 years ago
Nice, good choice! I think I would add wider molding, looks richer. if budget allows.
PRO
Kathryn Peltier Design
10 years ago
It looks great and really plays up the height and volume of the space.
decoenthusiaste
10 years ago
last modified: 10 years ago
Once did over an antique shop and we left the gap between upper and lower panels but filled it with a line of copper paint. It looked great with the hunter green walls. We also used the paint to accent some displays by painting the edges of the shelves with it. If you plan to paint the walls, fill-in paint in a complimentary color for metallic accent might be something to consider.

Cottage renovation opinions needed!

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