I’m back from Wisconsin! (I kind of wish I wasn’t! I have a whole lot of tiling and repair work ahead of me, and it was SO nice up there.)
We go up most summers and spend time at the family lake house. The kids love it, we love it, and the puppy loved it! Lots of dog friends, lots of deer and fox poop to find, and an accidental swim in the lake. A pretty great start to summer.
The vintage yardstick transformation into DIY wainscoting is complete! The family lake house bathroom is looking pretty dang fantastic.
There is no natural lighting in the bathroom, and you have to get inside and close the door to take pictures, but here’s what the light fixture actually looks like when it isn’t on. You can also see that the wall color isn’t quite as warm as it appears under incandescent lighting in the other photos.
Here’s the bathroom in context.
And here are a few other details around the room. The squirrel switches things up seasonally.
The yardsticks vary in age and were picked up over many years at flea markets and antique shops. Some of the oldest have 3-digit phone numbers, and many have the old letters and numbers format. Also, apparently furniture and funeral service was a thing? There are three yardsticks offering this darling combination, all from different providers. The one below notes ambulance service, too. One-stop-shopping!
Tree stump sink!
Done. So happy to be able to help Brandon’s mom by doing this project.
Last night, I started a fun DIY project at the lake house. If you have a very good memory and have been reading here since 2010, you may remember this post, in which I wrote about my mother-in-law’s idea for wainscoting made from vintage yardsticks. (Go read it! I’ll wait.) Seeing as how I’m up here for 3 weeks and this project falls squarely in my skill set, I’m taking it on.
Here’s what the bathroom (powder room, really) looked like before.
Here’s the view from outside the room.
The yardsticks are going up today!
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I keep thinking about our recent trip to Wisconsin. Looking through the photos (there are hundreds!) makes me smile. I think about the memories we’re creating too. Do you know the German word, Sehnsucht? I’ve been feeling that way. Wistful. Nostalgic for a past I never actually experienced.
I’ve shared photos of our trip, but I didn’t write about the meaning of the place. Brandon’s family has been returning to the same spot in the north woods of Wisconsin year after year, decade after decade. I met Brandon shortly after his dad passed away, but there’s a picture of them together, taken in those woods when Brandon was the same age as August.
His family used to rent a place when they went up there, and they eventually bought a little cabin on the lake in 1987. Five years ago, Brandon’s mom and step-dad completely remodeled it, but the spirit of the place is the same.
There’s magic in returning with your family to the same places you frequented as a child. Someday, hopefully, our kids will know the feeling.
That was the place Eleanor had her first s’more. The place where our dog had free roam and a dip in the lake. The place where August could run and run and run. The place where the kids first went fishing, where it took a 30 minute drive to get into town, and where they watched their dad shoot off Roman candles, thinking they were the most amazing fireworks in the world. I didn’t have the same experience as a child, but it sure is nice as a mom.
Did you go to the same place each summer when you were growing up? A little cabin in the woods? A beach you returned to year after year? Summer camp? My family didn’t travel much or take vacations often, but I hope to be able to create those memories now.
It’s a six-hour drive and a tank of gas away.
I set foot on another boat while we were at the lake in Wisconsin! I didn’t leave the dock!
Everyone else did though.
Many times.
