The Project:
Transforming this little beach shack in Heceta Beach was a dream come true.
It was built in 1962 and hadn’t changed much since then.
The Goal:
Reimagine this tiny beach shack as an open and airy Beach Cottage with ample flexible space for entertaining, work and relaxation.
The Challenges:
Mitigate the smell of mildew.
Create a fully functional kitchen, bathroom and covered outdoor space. Update and refresh everything from country cabin to coastal cottage.
What about the property worked?
Tiny homes are often built in a long, narrow configuration with limited common living areas for entertaining and relaxing.
Heceta Beach Cottage is a square with each side at 20 feet. This allowed us to more easily meet our challenges and transform it from dank and dark to light, airy, and entirely functional.
And, it’s a few blocks away from the beach.
In a tiny home, usable outdoor space is really important. We immediately went to work expanding the deck to wrap around one side of the cottage.
There was a very strong smell of mildew in the cottage. We removed all the old insulation and demolished everything down to the studs hoping that would solve it.
Still smelly.
After some research, we got a 5 gallon container of BIN Shellac Primer and hired a painter to spray the interior top to bottom. If this product is used, personal protective equipment (PPE) must be worn. Include a proper vapor mask, eye protection and painting suite to protect your skin, eyes and lungs.
The BIN Shellac was the magic bullet!! Issue Solved!
With the smell gone, we could move on.
One advantage of revealing the studs, is the opportunity to document what lies within the walls. After rewiring and plumbing the cottage, I captured photos of each wall to create a record of what would be concealed behind the drywall.
It also made configuring the kitchen and bathroom for highest efficiency much easier. With ample crawl space under the cottage, we were easily able to move the plumbing for the kitchen sink under the new window and add plenty of electrical outlets.
Due to the limited space, we chose a corner shower pan and round sliding glass enclosure for the bathroom. We incorporated a niche and corner shelves in the shower for bottles and essentials.
By prioritizing space-saving measures and meticulously testing the spacing, we achieved two essential goals: creating a small shower that could accommodate larger guests and ensuring that a taller person’s knees would not hit the vanity while using the commode!
After removing the old water tank from the kitchen, we installed an on-demand water heater with capacity for a four bedroom house. The most practical location was on the bathroom wall. Unable to conceal it inside a cabinet due to code, we painted the thick conduit to match the wall color for minimal visibility.
Placing doors on both the bedroom and the bathroom posed a challenge as they would collide, creating a hazardous pathway. Our solution was a Hawaiian themed beaded curtain for the bedroom, because the bathroom must have a door.
Plus, it added a bit of kitsch and fun to the bedroom along with pieces of thrifted wall art.
Open, airy, fun living area transformation!
Now Heceta Beach Cottage is open, airy, functional and fits right in on the Oregon Coast!
Plus, it Tripled in value within two years!
Large or small, what about your space could be more functional?
Let’s chat and explore solutions!