The Lovejoy Cottage (2024)

09/12/2023

Little holiday cheer in bedroom one. With vintage ornaments I found in the clean out before the renovation.

Cottage is available for bookings through December granted we don’t get a mayor snow storm (it happens!).

We will be closing off January and February but are available for March and beyond.

Happy holidays from TLC! 🎄

06/10/2023

There it is…
Super host status!!! 💥

This is our first super host designation 🙌🏻

Super host status means we’ve provided an excellent experience for our guests - our goal all along. But it also means we’ve had amazing guests and I’m very grateful for that.

It also means increased exposure for The Lovejoy Cottage online.

Here are some recent pics.
Newly painted porch columns, new rug in the living room, and the swing is back! Thanks to my handy husband Dan.

Fall is a fun time to stay in WNY. You know where to find us 😁🍁

And I realized I never posted the full before and after pics. Who wants to see the total makeover?!

05/10/2023

The swing is back!
We took down the old swim in January of 2022 maybe? It was falling apart.
We had all the parts to build a new one (found in the attic during the clean out) but Dan ended up customizing this to work the best way and he put it all together including, drilling new holes in the metal bar to hand it, sealing it, getting chains etc.

Since it is October, we’ll keep it up for a little bit until the weather gets wet and cold.

It’s a lovely spot to watch the sunset 🌅

05/09/2023

Big news 🗞️ We got a rug for the living room!

Having this means the space is more comfortable, the rug will keep it warmer in the cooler months, and it ties everything together.

I have a couple more small projects for this space and it will continue to evolve as time goes on, just like the rest of the cottage.

We put this in yesterday after our guests left. What do you think?

26/08/2023

We spent so much time getting the inside of the cottage ready for this summer that we haven’t yet don’t much work to the outside.
Aside from regular lawn care, there are several projects that we plan for the future to make the outdoor living areas a whole lot nicer.

Particularly the backyard. The patio is very cracked in places and cement needs to come out. We don’t yet know what we’ll replace it with.

The shed and garage both need new roofs and I’d love to get metal siding on the garage.

Sadly the chimney is coming apart so we will need to replace it.

All in time! But we didn’t want any guests to think we neglected the outside, we will be working on it!

11/06/2023

We hung this mirror in the living room today.
It actually hung in this room for many years before the renovation so this is the perfect spot for it now.

We’re adding things here and there to make the place a bit more decorated. We still don’t have much up on the walls but are getting there!

P.S. We have lots of availability for June and August if you are looking to stay!

26/05/2023

I’ve added solar lights to the back deck to help people see at night.
It adds nice ambiance and an element of safety so you can see where to walk and move.

I also plan to get patio/party lights to hang between the shed and garage to light up that side of the yard.

Plus some solar spotlights for the front areas.

These are things I’m having fun with now that it’s summer ☀️

15/05/2023

More noteworthy moments - a couch!

My dad didn’t even have a couch here when he lived here. So I don’t know when is the last time there was one here? Maybe never?

Second couch arrives tomorrow. It’s green 💚

14/05/2023

We got internet this week!
With Wi-Fi of course.
Now I’ll have to check to see what we can get on the tv 📺

The cottage has never had wired internet before that I know of. Now we’re connected 🙌🏻

07/05/2023

Our new logo!

Created by me (branding is what I do for my day job 😁)

And new website, in our bio. Excited to be booking after a 2/12 year renovation 🙌🏻

01/05/2023

TV! 📺
Now we are legit right?! 😆

Many thanks to Dan for getting this and hanging it up.

Notice there are no cords! Because we had an outlet put half way up the wall to deal with that.

Couch gets delivered this week too 😁

22/04/2023

It’s listed!

Today I published the listing for the cottage on AirBnB 🙌🏻

Guests can start booking in 24 hours so we will see how it goes!

Here is the short description. Website to come soon 😁

Welcome to The Lovejoy Cottage, a newly renovated 5 bedroom retreat near Lake Erie. Accommodating up to 9 guests, the cottage is perfect for families or friends seeking a relaxing beach vacation. Bedrooms have fresh linens and blackout curtains. Kid-friendly with new appliances, fully equipped kitchen, covered porch, back deck, outdoor eating area, yard space, fire chimney, and picnic table. A 5-minute walk to the beach through the town park, with restaurants within walking distance.

31/03/2023

Bedroom 1’s dresser got a little upgrade today with these glass k***s.
The previous set had a mis-matched k**b so I replaced them all.

This bedroom will get more of a feminine touch with some floral elements and details.

Last things I have to do for this room is to get a mattress, mattress cover and some blankets.

30/03/2023

This Philco Radio has sat in the living area at the cottage for decades.

I always remember seeing it when I walked in that room. It’s such a unique piece, I’d never seen anything like it before.

After the reno, we brought it back to this room and I plan to keep it here. Perhaps we can put a Bluetooth speaker in it?

All of the internal parts are there and I see online that people restore them. I don’t have plans for that yet.

In 1939 when it was made it cost $89.95. Today in 2023, that’s the equivalent of spending $1946+ on audio equipment!

I’m going to confirm with my family members who originally purchased this. I assume it was my great uncle Frank who built the cottage.

20/03/2023

Recent pics of the cottage. I took these just last week.

Things are shaping up. Now I’m hanging curtains and shopping for fabric to do furniture projects and put the beds together.

As soon as we do that and hang some things on the walls, we will be very close to done with at least this part and can get the place listed for rental.

More to come as always!

05/03/2023

Things are looking more like a real house in here!

I’ll be painting this cabinet soon. And we are getting ready to hang a lot of curtains.

Moved in a lot of furniture last weekend and it all needs to be cleaned from being stored in the garage for 2 years.

I’ve been here most days last week and will be back to work on everything as much as I can.

I’ve made a list of all that needs to be done, we are getting close and that’s exciting because this is the very fun part 🙌🏻

14/02/2023

45 degrees and sunny allowed me to paint outside today unexpectedly 🙌🏻

Glad I got this done. That means all of the beds are painted!

Now we work on putting the house together. We need to get several mattresses and box springs. Plus lots of bedding and curtains.

I’ll be shopping for sales. Where should I look for nice sheets and blankets?

05/01/2023

Can you see the dill pickles?!

Dan hung these 2 wooden boards as shelves in the kitchen last weekend and when I was preparing them, I found a surprise.

In the second picture, there is black marker writing on the edge of the board.

It says “Kosher Dill Pickles” so I assume this board was used as a shelf in the delicatessen my grandparents owned many years ago.

We found these boards in the garage and I knew they’d be perfect for wall shelves. Here they are in their second life in the cottage reno.

We are finishing things up so I’ll stock and decorate this kitchen soon. It’s exciting to be this close to the finish line in this long project!

We are finishing up painting the trim and have some small projects to do, then we’ll be done 🙌🏻

More updates soon 😁

22/11/2022

Here’s how much snow we got at the cottage!

The temps are nearing 40 now which means this is thick, heavy, compacted snow.

Dan finally drove down Monday night after the travel ban in the town was lifted.

The town doesn’t plow our road (not sure why - it’s a huge safety hazard) so he parked in the town park across the way and trudged over. He said it was exhausting.

Considering the weight of the snow, this is all he could snow blow.

This week it will be sunny and 40’s so hopefully we will be able to drive down the road and get in.

All things in the house are good. Power has been on (it tends to go out a lot in that area because of the wind). And we are waiting for the generator we ordered.

And to think, 2 weeks ago I was painting the porch 😆

20/11/2022

The front door is one of the projects that was neglected this past summer.

I’ve been working to finish stripping the paint from the original wood and now that it’s snowing I can’t work on it anymore until the spring.

The storm /screen door on the outside of this is just a screen and is broken so cold air is pouring in to the downstairs. The door is wood so it’s not insulated of course.

I’ll be shopping for a storm door soon!

In the meantime I hung up this blanket to keep the draft out. Not ideal, but practical even if it looks ridiculous!

We’ll report on how much snow we got when we can ❄️

06/11/2022

The porch is done 🙌🏻

After 6 coats of product, we are happy to be finished resurfacing the very old front cement porch!

When you swipe through the pictures, you’ll see we started with lots of old paint that was peeling and some cracks that we repaired as best we could.

This is not paint!

It’s a concrete coating called RollerRock. First we used 3 coats of ElastoLock primer, then 2 coats of RollerRock in Warm Gray (the second of which I literally brushed on by hand), then 2 coats of sealer.

We are so happy with this makeover!

Next up we will get a screen door before the winter. Otherwise we continue to work on the trim inside and are thankful we had warm weather to finish this porch this fall!

26/10/2022

Amazing news today. We passed our final building inspection and will receive our certificate of occupancy soon!

And, fall leaves at the cottage 🥰🍁

25/10/2022

We passed our FINAL building code inspection and will get our Certificate of Occupancy soon!!!

23/10/2022

Cottage Renovation Updates!

My uncle Rich and Aunt Liz came to see the almost after state this past week. They visited and stayed here many times as kids and are happy to see how far the place has come.

My Aunt Liz kept saying “I never thought it would look this good.” 🥰

We are currently refinishing the front porch with primer and a concrete coating. I’ve been waiting to do this project for 3 years! It makes a huge difference in the overall outside look of the place.

The pics here are only of the primer. We are working on the coating today.

Last weekend we all (Dan, the kids, and I) stayed over for the first time in beds!! The kids love the big yard and sleep well thankfully.

That was the first time we used the stove, and made percolator coffee ☕️ I figured that was appropriate for a vintage cottage makeover - and it’s my favorite way to make coffee.

The percolator was found in the cottage 😁

What’s left to do is paint all the trim.

We are slowing moving in a bit of furniture here and there.

The kitchen is mostly done. We’ll have some old boards we found in the garage as floating shelves and unpack dishes and such.

We have 1,000 little projects to finish. I painted the garage and we are finishing outside projects as the weather stays good.

Then we set everything up, take a crash course on AirBnB hosting and go!

Plus enjoy this amazing experience and place 🏡

16/10/2022

Look who turned 6 today and got to hang out at the cottage all weekend.

Our smallest DIYer, my little man Cole!

We came to do some work and got to go to Trunk or Treat right across the street in the park. The kids loved it 🎃 🍬

Love you Cole. We hope your memories of this renovation and this place are meaningful to you always!

06/10/2022

Sunset at the cottage last Saturday night.

Love that we can see this over the lake right from the front yard.

01/10/2022

Doesn’t it always feel so good when you clean off your countertops?

I cleaned up the kitchen yesterday, put away lots of clutter and set out these simple items.

Slowly I’ll bringing things to the cottage so we can use it like a real house, like utensils for cooking.

We’ll be back today so look for more painting and cleaning up. Happy October!

02/09/2022

It’s been 2 years and I haven’t forgotten you.

I haven’t forgotten the short months when we got to hang out at the cottage and look through old family things. And how I got to hear your stories that I missed all those years.

Nor have I forgotten how comfy you looked sitting in your recliner every day.

We’re turning that room into a dining space. I hope you will like it.

Although this project has taken us much longer than expected, it doesn’t make things any less special.

I look forward to pulling out your stuff from storage and perhaps having it in one of the rooms.

And setting up the telescope to watch the stars. I know the kids will be excited to see that.

I even had some ice cream tonight because it was your favorite food 🍦

Miss you. Always. Now, no more tears. Just smiles.

15/08/2022

Bedroom 4 is the first one upstairs to get trim!

Window is done as is the baseboard. Next we work on the other bedrooms and then start to caulk a million miles 😆

02/08/2022

My bed hoarding continues 😆
Which room will this one end up in? Who knows!

Just got this off the curb around the corner. It’s in great shape. It’s a full size - but actually there are lots of options now to adapt these to fit queen mattresses.

Don’t know if I’ll paint it right now, we’ll see 😁

Now we have lots of bed options and I love this style!!

30/07/2022

Current state of the bathrooms 🚽
Have to do a list of things to each of these spaces.
The dryer doesn’t fit because the gas line is in the way and the vent doesn’t line up.
Shower curtain has to be moved.
Wallpaper hung.

All. The. Things 🤦🏻‍♀️

This last phase is taking a long time. Send me some motivation!

24/07/2022

Excited to have found this new place in the village while we were exploring yesterday.
This is and it’s exactly the type of place I was hoping to find!

They make dozens of fresh juices and healthy food. We stopped in for a bite to eat and definitely will be back.

My kids loved the juice and I had a delish breakfast sandwich.

23/07/2022

Camping at the cottage!
Two quick pics from last weekend.

The kids had fun and I did sleep well despite the music from the beach club pumping into the early hours 😆

Glad we can make these memories with them. This was our first time sleeping over at the cottage together, even if it was outside in the tent ⛺️

We stayed so we could save time and gas from driving back and forth, and get more done at night when the kids were sleeping.

We learned that the rabbit family that lives nearby likes to hang out into the night as well. So you have to be careful watching for them at night or they will scare you in the dark! 🐇

16/07/2022

Here is how far I made it on the garage 2 days ago. Swipe to see the front and the before state of the side.

I’ve been wanting to paint this garage for 2 1/2 years!

It’s actually going pretty well. First I scrape off the loose paint (there is a lot), and then I sweep off the dust and cobwebs with a broom.

Last I spray, which actually goes pretty quickly.

This is one of those 💄 on a 🐷 projects. Seriously. Much of the wood is rotten, especially along the bottom where the water has gotten to it.

So basically we are painting it for aesthetics only. Eventually we will either replace all of the siding or replace the entire thing, but that has to wait for now.

Of course I’ll be painting the door. Guess what color? 🖤😁

11/07/2022

We have a lot of doors!
And I’ve spent a lot of time on them! 😆

Here are the:

• Laundry is original finish
• Bedroom doors got stripped and painted white
• Utility closet is original dark finish
• Downstairs bedroom is yet to be painted

We will have a mixed set of colors on the doors but nobody says they have to match. I’m just trying to make them cohesive with the rest of the decor.

I think we have some of that. I think… 🤔😂

10/07/2022

Time lapse of me spraying a bedroom door.
It took me 14 minutes to spray one side and the edges of all four doors!
The funny part is that I didn’t have to cover the garage because it will get painted anyway 😆

For these doors, I shaved off the lead paint, sanded them multiple times, then primed and painted them.

Next we’ll hang them and put on the hardware. Can’t wait to see the Crystal k***s on there!

05/07/2022

View of the fireworks in the park from the cottage porch.

This video was taken by Dan, my husband.

My family had big parties at the cottage on the 4th of July in years past. So much that it’s all anyone ever talks about when they think of this place.

So this day always makes me think of them and miss them.

This 4th the reno was supposed to be done. We were supposed to resurrect the famous parties and have people over to enjoy the beach.

But that didn’t happen. I will be very honest and say I’m in tears over this.

I haven’t been on camera in stories in awhile because we are very frustrated to be in early July, the peak of the summer season where we are supposed to be enjoying this place. We were supposed to be finished by now. And it’s infuriating that we are not.

Some things have been in our control and some have not. There is nothing to do about it but to continue to press on and keep our momentum going to bring this almost two year long renovation to an end.

We’d be lying if we didn’t say it wasn’t stressful in every way. Days like today were supposed to make it all worth it.

For now the parties will have to wait yet another year. Even if it’s difficult to accept.

Hope you had an enjoyable 4th and got to see a spectacular fireworks display.