What Do I Do With Dark Paneling At The Cottage?

Q:

I bought a cottage that has dark wood paneling what should I do with it?

A:

There are several things that you can do with a cottage that has dark wood paneling; this is a common problem I see with a lot of new cottage owners when they purchase older properties.

Most cottages that have paneling on the wall actually have the 4 x 8 foot sheets of paneling. These are about ¼ inch and have a pattern cut or painted into them to make them look like the more expensive 1x6 v groove paneling that is extremely popular in cottage country today.

The reason that cottages were finished in these 4 x 8 sheets of faux paneling is because they are inexpensive to buy and you don’t require any expensive equipment to install. Because they are giant sheets they are easily and quickly installed on the walls of your cottage. In cottage country when these cottages where built in the 60’s, 70’s and even 80’s there weren’t a lot of professional drywallers so finding the appropriate trades was harder than it is today. Most faux paneling is installed with a small simple finishing nail and a hammer.

Here is a brief list of what you can do with faux dark wood paneling at your cottage;

• You can paint it a lighter colour. One thing to remember when you are going to paint this kind of faux paneling is that you will need a heavy primer. You might have to prime twice just to protect the paint against the darker paneling from showing through. Don't be surprised if you have to put more then a couple coats of paint over the paneling to get the true colour to hold and not be affected by the darker paneling underneath.

• You can remove it and install another kind of finishing; drywall or real wood paneling. If you do this you might want to take the time to fix the insulation and the vapour barrier behind the paneling. To do this I would hire a professional to do the finishing; drywall or real wood is an expensive product to purchase and finish, you want it to look good so you should hire a carpenter or a drywaller to complete the work and this will guarantee that it looks great at the end.

• You actually can still buy faux paneling. Today it comes in a lot of different finishes. So if you don’t have the budget to drywall or install real wood on the walls and ceilings you can remove the dark paneling and install new faux paneling that is a lighter colour. This is done fairly easily and does not require a lot of special equipment.

If you are planning more renovations and updates at you’re newly bought cottage but you want to wait a couple of years before jumping into all of that then I would recommend that you just paint the paneling out. This will allow you to use the place right away and also to live in the cottage and use it so that you know what you need to change. This is the best way for you to maximize your renovation dollars.

Remember if you take the time to properly plan out the way you want your cottage to function then your renovation will proceed smoothly and on budget.

Rob Abbott
Village Builders Inc.

Designing your waterfront cottage: Interior Finishes

Designing your waterfront cottage: Interior Finishes

You have bought that little piece of heaven on earth, it’s away from the city and you are really looking forward to those quiet relaxing days on the lake with a warm cup of coffee and nothing but the sounds of nature to make you forget those hectic days in the city. Keeping this in mind is essential when you are planning your new cottage and preparing for the build to come. One of things that will help give you that relaxing feeling is how you go about finishing the interior of your new cottage, after the overall layout and design of the exterior of the cottage you should be putting some serious thought into the interior and the finishing’s that you will select for it.

Interior finishing’s in a cottage will help set the mode and can go a long way to helping people relax by creating a general feeling throughout the cottage.

In the older cottages no one really worried about the finishing’s, it was whatever was cheapest and won’t get damaged when a party got a little out of hand. Today cottages are basically custom homes; the only difference is that you plan to not live there all year round. But like your primary residence in the city you are going to want to enjoy the cottage and to enjoy it you have to enjoy the look of it inside.

This means that the finishing’s of the cottage are a very important part of creating that feeling of peace, quiet and a place to hide.

Here are some tips to providing a setting that will allow for those feelings that you are going to want to create;

• Natural everything. That means that you should try and stick to using as much natural products as you can afford. When choosing tile for floors choose a slate, it fits the area and is very durable. When choosing floors for common areas choose wood floors, hardwood will stand up to high traffic and will match the rural setting that your cottage sits on.

• Don’t get to bold with your paint colours. You want to create a space of peace and quiet, which means that you don’t want to paint the walls in your cottage a colour that is loud. Stick to soft earthy tones and something that will blend into the rest of the surroundings.

• When trimming a cottage try to stick to wood trim, stain them if you can afford it. This will help make your cottage feel like it’s a part of the outdoors.

• The more wood products the better. Wood doors, floors, trim, staircases and kitchen cabinetry the easier it is to create that feel of a true cottage.

• If you really want to get in the woody feel then t&g wainscoting of cedar or pine in the hallways or an accent wall in the great room will go along way into making it feel like a cabin in the woods.

• When tiling try for a random pattern instead of sticking to the traditional brick pattern. A random tile pattern can give the look that you pulled the stones right out of the bed rock of the Canadian Shield. It also gives the feeling that there was thought placed and a little bit of artsy involved as well.

• Little things like folk art and interesting and different trims around mirrors that are found only in cottage country are what really help set people in the mood that they are now to relax and enjoy.

• Wildlife art, paddles and creative things that are crafty will help bring you into that relaxing on the lake feeling.

• If you’re looking for something dramatic you can create stone feature walls inside. They can be erected in bedrooms around the headboard or at the end of hallways.

• For the lighting you can choose wildlife themed, canoe themed or other cottage life themed fixtures.

• Pine wood ceilings in bedrooms give that feel of a cabin; it’s a natural relaxing feeling.

• Rounded wood banisters and railings with twig or branches for spindles make a wonderful talking point and are a natural look for your cottage.

Whatever you decide remember that the theme that you should be trying to create is one of peace and relaxation, so don’t choose products that require a lot of maintenance. You want to relax at the cottage not work.

Rob Abbott
Operations Manager
Village Builders Inc.