As I’ve told anyone (everyone) who asks about Butterfly House, this sweet little house needs some serious TLC. Really. “Oh, I’m sure it’s not that bad,” they reply. “Oh, yes it is,” I say.

Don’t say I didn’t warn you. Here are some “before” pics to give you a flavor of what we started with.

The exterior is peach—a color that was last in fashion sometime in the early 1990’s:

It’s got lots of knotty pine. On the walls. On the ceilings. So much knotty pine, and so dark:

Mom, you would have liked the frogs on the mantel:

Then there’s the dated bathrooms:

An old, rickety deck and an overgrown pergola (which made the house even darker, with all the shade it cast):

And the little kitchen was so sad, I didn’t even take any pictures.

But we are moving fast to turn this tired old house into a jewel-box of a cottage!