My Cabin-Cottage-Cabin Addition!!!!

When I went to winterize my cabin, 
I gained a
whole nother floor!!!
Yippee doodle day!!!! 


Not that my 9 foot by 9 foot master bedroom wasn't spacious.....
or my crappy little bathroom wasn't an ablutionary delight.....
but the true gift to an interior designer is
A WHOLE NOTHER EMPTY FLOOR OF A HOUSE 
THAT IS MINE, MINE, MINE!
Now I needed to buy 
MORE STUFF!!!!

At the bottom of the
new stairs 
is the study.


I had
no good place
to install stairs to a second level, so I had to cut into part of my screened porch with a trapdoor entrance to the new level.

(This is another image I stole off the real estate agents website, so it's really blurry....)
Since the cabin is on such a steep hill, it was possible to go down a floor rather than up, and still be 
way 
above grade.

This view shows the new doors and windows of the downstairs addition.
(Another gem from the real estate agent....)


Before I added the downstairs,
 the cabin just had little square windows along the side facing the lake.....

It was just dirt under there, 
with a lot of spiders and creepy crawlies....


So when I added the stairs to the lower level, 
I had my carpenter make a railing out of birch trees from my lot.


I guess the wood was still too green (ya think???)
because a branch sprouted from one of the vertical posts
 after
it was installed on the porch......


I wish I had a picture of the way the trap door worked. 
To make it easy to open and close
 (because it was heavy), 
I worked out a pulley system with a counter weight. 
For the weight,
 I had a 
copper fish from a broken weather vane.
It blew off my house at the cape.....
(but that's another story....)

source
Since it was hollow,
my carpenter was able to add buckshot to make it heavy,
 and we hung it on a hook,
 like it had been caught right out of the lake!!!


Every time the trap door opened or closed, the fish went up or down.....
The trap door had to be really heavy because it was insulated,
 and was clad with both the flooring of the porch, and the beadboard of the downstairs room's ceiling.


So, back to the first picture.....

This little room was my drafting area. 
I set my portable drafting board on the table and worked my magic,
 as I looked out over the lake,
 wondering..... 
why I was working in a vacation house.....


You can see Winston outside the window, standing up at attention......
That bear never caused me a lick of worry.
I just had to 
Cuprinol him once a year.....

I discovered the floor lamp in a local shop and had the shade made with some vintage prints I found.

Not one to beat a theme
into the ground
but....
one of the prints was of a bear......
(in case you didn't notice.....)


I like mixing fabrics, so thought I would be 
very clever
and use two on the window treatments....

I fell in love with the star wallpaper from Osborn and Little.
Thought it was the
height
of style and flair,
so I used it in three different colors on the three downstairs rooms.
In case you can't tell, this one was
GREEN!!!!!

The hall tree was in an antique store in Wellsley MA for a 
#$% load of money.
I lusted after this thing.
And lusted....
And lusted........
Well it didn't sell.....
and it didn't sell.....
So the dealer finally was willing to 
deal!
('cuz that's what dealers are supposed to do!!!)

Yes, you're eyes are not deceiving you!!!!
THAT IS A VERY STYLISH 
FISH HAT!!!!
I am one fashion forward babe.....
I was years ahead of my time.....
This picture was taken in 1993!!!!!


Before I sign off for today, I just want to share one more shot of some of my bears.

OK....
one more.....

I swear,
when I went away for the winter, the damn things would breed.....
There's no other explanation for how I ended up with so many.
It's not like I buy collections of stuff.
(By the way, this Tuesday, I answer some questions!)
 (If I remember....OY!)


Latah Gatah 

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