Daydreaming-Design Inspiration for Fun Stuff to Come

Just a few ideas for the very narrow closet/bedroom conversion. We will widen the doorway significantly to open up that space and add a small window, but it's going to be quite compact. Think tiny house living, but I do love the way they hung the TV screen here!

More inspiration with the banquette seating/dining. It will also have to serve as a storage area with shelves like this one, and probably under-seat storage as well. I can't wait to see what Andy comes up with.

Faux Beamed Ceiling Could really add something to the vaulted space. Andy definitely approves.

I'll be adding more inspiration boards so check back and let me know what you think! 

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Am I Opening a Ghost Kitchen?

Sort of. 

You may have heard of "ghost kitchens" recently when Uber Eats announced it was removing 5,000 of them from its platform. Ghost kitchens are essentially restaurants that have no seating or even a brick and mortar location you can order food from. They are take out or delivery only. 

Ghost kitchens, also known as virtual restaurants, have been around for a while, but they really took off during the pandemic, and they continue to be popular and on the rise.

They have recently received bad press when it was revealed that the gourmet grilled cheese you ordered from the trendy sandwich shop with the cool branding, was actually being made at your local Denny's. Other restaurants were setting up multiple listings with branding and logos, but essentially the food was all coming from the same place. 

Another issue with ghost kitchens has been the quality of food and the question of health inspection and regulation, but not all ghost kitchens are shady. Most of them run in accordance with food safety regulations and simply operate as a take-out or delivery restaurant to keep overhead low. 

Pete's Pizza in New Richmond, Wisconsin was a ghost kitchen back in the day. It was my dad's favorite pizza, and it ran out of a small kitchen in the back of the owner's house. No dining, just take out. We'd call in an order, drive to his house, my dad would run in and get our pizza and off we went!

Even as a kid, I thought it was pure genius! I think I've always wanted a restaurant in my house. 

One Li'l Kitchen will have a grab-and-go menu and frozen take-and-bake options and will also accept custom orders. I will keep regular, but limited business hours for pick-up and I will also offer delivery for a fee in my local area.

On the days I'm not keeping store hours, I'll cook and bake so I can keep the grab-and-go options freshly stocked. 

On the days I am open, you'll find deli salads, soups, sauces, baked goods, side dishes, prepared meals, and frozen items to bake at home like pot pies, calzone and lasagna. I guess whatever else I can come up with, too. There is a bit of a void in terms of fresh, homemade food options in our "neighborhood." 

I won't be making burgers, pizza or fried foods. We have plenty of that nearby. 

I might make fresh spring rolls, however. We'll just see. 

Learn more at hiddencottageatlinncroft.com

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The New(est) Floor Plan-Cottage Progress

We've come up with a new floor plan for the addition and it incorporates most of the elements I had in the original cottage plan. That was important to me because the illustrations I'm working on for the children's book were drawn from the ideas I had about the cottage and how it would look and feel.

Fortunately, Andy is a really good designer and builder and when I explained the ideas I have for the new plan, he was very enthusiastic. Some elements just really slid into place. 

Pictured above is what the addition is currently being used for. To be honest, there is a lot of unused space in the house, since we became empty-nesters. It makes sense to use the space to our best advantage. 

This addition comes in at about 100 square feet more than the proposed project in the machine shed and about 200 square feet bigger than the original shed idea, but there is no room to expand. I can work with that. 

The picture below is the proposed use of the addition once we mitigate the issues of the mold and the floors. We are going to have to go to "apartment-sized" appliances and I will not get a full kitchen into this cottage plan, but there will be a very robust "kitchenette." This plan will still sleep five, but with slightly less living area. However, this configuration allows for more of a "great room" v. the other plans, so the better use of space and vaulted ceilings should make it feel more spacious. 

Going this route will also allow us to include a nicer bathroom and direct access to catered meals from the commercial kitchen and also access to the grab-and-go retail that will be offered from the kitchen for quick meals that can be heated up in the cottage.

I'm losing a bit of space for classes in the kitchen but will still be able to accommodate small groups of up to six. 

You might be wondering where we are going to live without the addition? We will be living in the 100+ year old original farmhouse that Andy bought when he was in his early twenties. Currently it's a one bedroom, one bathroom with a large eat-in kitchen, formal dining room, living room, office and laundry with an additional 600+ square feet of finished space upstairs that is currently being used as storage. It won't take much to add a half bath in that space, which is our thought. Overall, we've got more than enough room. It won't hurt us to monetize the addition and turn it into a business. 

Now for months of moving out, tearing out carpet, gutting the current bathroom, demolishing the closet in the second bedroom, running electric, etc., etc., etc. And all that before the contractors show up to deal with the roof and ceiling. Not to mention working on the grounds, planting trees and getting the gardens into shape.

It's been way too long since we focused our time and energy on what is good for us. 

It feels pretty good. 

More at hiddencottageatlinncroft.com

Yucky, Unexpected Issues-Cottage Progress

One of the reasons we finally landed on converting the addition to our house into the cottage/kitchen is because we discovered a few problems recently. The most serious is mold in the roof and ceiling due to poor ventilation when the addition was built. Andy refers to the addition as the project where he learned everything "not to do." The mold issue must be addressed regardless of what we choose to do with that part of the house (originally, we were going to convert it to an apartment for Andy's mother.) 

Another issue that came up, is the floor. When the foundation for the addition was put in, the sand underneath was not compacted enough so the floor has sunk and will need to be leveled. These are not necessarily minor concerns. 

After more consideration, using the addition for the cottage/kitchen space made the most sense and seems to be the most cost-effective. We will have to mitigate these problems, but we won't really know the extent of the issues until we get in there. It could be very costly. However, because this part of the house will be used exclusively for business purposes, we may be able to reap some tax benefits from the repairs. Cost-savings will come from the existing building with insulated walls, windows, doors, drywall, HVAC and relatively new plumbing and electric to help offset the cost of the needed repairs. 

This has turned from "build" to a "remodel with issues" overnight. 

I am going to lose room to expand and a little square footage, but we get to start right away. We are already moving out of that part of the house and getting ready for when the contractors start in June. There will be a lot of things Andy and I can do on our own so that will keep us moving forward until then. 

Andy said last night, "I'm going to be really hands-on with this project. I can really see it now."

Music to my ears. No one gets my vision like he does. 

Overall, I'm still getting most of what I hoped for.

I can live joyfully with that. 

More at hiddencottageatlinncroft.com

The Contractor-Cottage Progress

Well, the contractor came to scope out the projects we have for him and after assessing things, we realized we are not going about this on the most cost-effective route. We were once again in a situation where we had to rethink everything. So we did.

I will admit I spent some time feeling a bit defeated and discouraged. I just want to start! But I get it. We need to be smart about this and we need to make it legal and sustainable as a business. 

Details. 

So once again, everything on this project has changed. I'd probably be more frustrated and discouraged by it, but then I was reminded of something my brother, Brady, has told me several times over the years, "When you have a goal, get on a path and start moving in that direction. It doesn't really matter where you are on the path when you begin, just get on one and start moving. In the end, you may not reach the goal you originally set for yourself because that path will twist and curve and take you places and present opportunities. Where you end up might be somewhat or even very different than where you planned to go, but so what?  You got somewhere. You just have to get on a path."

So here we go, revising the entire plan again, but hopefully in the end it will be even better for us. 

Things that aren't changing: 

1. There will still be a cottage and a commercial kitchen.

2, We will still be able to offer all of the extra amenities and services we originally planned

Things that are changing: 

1. We will be able to start immediately on the project and opening up for business should happen earlier than expected.

2. I will lose some square footage and room to expand, but I will get better appliances, and finishes to the overall project.

3. There will be big cost savings and better use of current resources. 

How are we going to accomplish this? It involves taking a part of our house that we had originally planned to use for the apartment for Andy's mother and utilizing that for the cottage/kitchen space. It took me a minute to get my head around it, but I'll be laying it out here this week so come back and check it out! 

Learn more at hiddencottageatlinncroft.com