50's Beach House Makeover

We got the opportunity to take on a cottage from the 50s and give it an upgrade!!! This cottage has been rented out for YEARS and loved by many. It already is super cute, but very lived in and really needed some love so that it can continue thriving. The owners of this cottage really didn’t give us any prompts or directions to go in while decorating, so we thought we’d run with the fact that the cottage is from the 50s and right by a lake to create a “retro beach house”!! These rental spaces are always our favourite to renovate because we can really step out of our comfort zone and try something that we wouldn’t do elsewhere! Not gonna lie, loving the way it turned out and will probably let this aesthetic slip into my own home!!

As you can see, this cottage was already super wholesome. It had a strong Ontario cottage vibe (heavily based on Muskoka styles like red plaid and loons), but it didn’t stand out, it was pretty worn out and needed a lot of work.

In order to instantly brighten the cottage, we painted the walls white. This made the space look so much bigger and more inviting. That being said, there were pre-existing wood beams that we decided to keep raw to bring in an almost “drift-wood like vibe” (really feeding into our retro beach house theme).

We picked a colour scheme that really felt appropriate to the theme and brought it into the furniture. Some were already in the space and just needed a few coats of paint, whilst some we thrifted to really get that 50s feel. We also added photos from the 50s when the cabin was built all throughout the cottage.

A trip to the vintage shop in town, and some serious cleaning and repairing around the cottage brought us to final touches!! We love the way it turned out, what is your favourite part?

To watch the full transformation of this space from start to finish, check out the episode over on our youtube channel below!! Don’t forget to comment your favourite part of the makeover there and while you’re at it, if you’re not already, subscribe to us to watch more videos like this every tuesday!!