A photographer uses her artistic vision to bring bold '50s flair to a charming Cape Cod-style cottage in need of some TLC.
When Nova Scotia native Stacey Van Berkel set out to buy a house in her adopted city of Greensboro, North Carolina, she knew exactly what she didn't want. "I didn't want a ranch house and I knew I didn't want new construction. Oh, and I didn't want to spend a lot of money," says the photographer, a Style at Home favourite. As soon as she stepped inside this tiny clapboard cottage, she knew it was the one. "It looked like it belonged on a beach in Nova Scotia."
Though it had plenty of charm, the 1,200-square-foot Cape Cod-style house needed some updating. The wall colours were tired, and the wood floors were worn and grey. And then there was the home's layout: dark and tight, with many small rooms. So Stacey came up with a plan to refinish the floors, remove a dining room wall to brighten and enlarge the space and install crown moulding throughout for polish.
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House tour: Cape Cod-style cottage
Inexpensive kitchen update
The kitchen got an inexpensive update with peel-and-stick floor tiles and eye-catching paint. "The colour looked a lot more yellow than I'd expected," says homeowner Stacey Van Berkel. "But it was so cheery, I left it."
House tour: Cape Cod-style cottage
Bedroom colour
In Stacey's bedroom, a turquoise feature wall provides just the right amount of colour. She paid a blacksmith to cut the footboard of a three-quarter bed frame in half and add it to the headboard making it king size.
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