Cottage - Then and Now, Bartlett Pond, White Horse Beach, Manomet, Plymouth, Massachusetts, USA

Back in 2000, after a few years of looking at scores of properties in southern Maine, southern New Hampshire, central and southeast Massachusetts and Cape Cod, we finally found the perfect diamond in the rough: a small cottage (850 square feet / 79 square meters) with two bedrooms, one bath, an affordable price, on a freshwater pond, within walking distance of the ocean, and a one hour drive from Boston. As a 50 year old neglected seasonal cottage, the place had seen better days. It was drafty, leaky, mice skittered around with abandon, and the septic system had failed and needed a complete replacement. These first three images are recent digital copies of the original 4x6 film prints taken shortly after the purchase date.

Dark wood and dark flooring was a common theme............... 

The living room  back then had a mish-mash of  campy furniture and a fireplace that leaked like a sieve when it rained.  But now...........

.....after a lot of blood, sweat, tears, and money.....the new updated version. And yes, the ottomans are pretty big for the small space but, they serve additionally as extra seats for guests, for cat lounging, and for sitting closer to the fireplace or window.

The kitchen is now much brighter and well-lit. But most importantly, for the first time ever, it appears that the mice population has left the premises.  All the former holes in the floor and walls have been closed so there is no way they can come up into the living areas from the creepy dirt floor crawlspace basement below.

It's taken almost 15 years of planning, budgeting, and saving but we have made some serious progress on fixing it up. I hope it will stand for at least another 100 years. That is unless the world's ice sheets keeps melting at the current rate - the house foundation is only 16 feet above sea level and about a quarter mile away from the sea. We shall see..........