Style on a shoestring
Lexington cottage gets a casual, whimsical makeover on a budget
Khristi Zimmeth / Special to The Detroit News - Friday, July 10, 2009
Anyone else might have passed up the 1930s-era desk with its $7 price tag at a Lexington-area garage sale. It was missing a drawer, after all. Lynn La Rue, however, saw something in the blue-painted piece that others didn't. She brought it home, giving it a place of honor in the living room of her Lexington cottage, placing a bird's nest in the cubby where the drawer would have been and adding a favorite seashell to the nest for good measure.
"There was something about it that I loved," she says. "I didn't mind that it wasn't perfect. If something speaks to me and the price is right, I never pass it by."
It's a telling detail -- and one that sums up La Rue's way of looking at the world and at interior design.
"I've never met a garage sale I didn't like," she admits with a laugh. And while one man's trash has long been another man's treasure, La Rue seems to have the rare ability to spin other people's cast-offs and clearance-table rejects into gold. The eagle-eyed secondhand shopper seldom comes away from a sale without something special for her home in Grosse Pointe Woods and her cottage. Favorite spots for bagging a bargain include the Croswell Stockyards flea market and the annual 200-mile Antique Yard Sale Trail (yardsaletrail.com), held in August. "It's all in the thrill of the hunt," she says. "I love not knowing what I'm going to find."
Nowhere are her skills more apparent than the charming cottage she shares with her husband, Joe, and their sons Storm and Jack. Lynn spent summers in the area as a child and long dreamed of owning her own before making it a reality in 2001. "I'm the fifth generation to have a cottage here," she says. "My fondest childhood memories are of summers by the beach. I didn't want to give that up, even as an adult. Joe and I have six children between us, and I wanted them to have that experience, too."
The La Rues looked for six years before happening on a run-down 1930s brick bungalow near Blue Water Beach. "I would have taken anything, but Joe was more particular," Lynn remembers. With 500 feet of shared Lake Huron frontage, you can see the lake from the end of the driveway. "We're there pretty much every day," she says.
Because of that, La Rue wanted a cottage that was stress-free. "It needed to be kid- and dog-proof and bathing-suit friendly," she says. And it needed to be fixed up and decorated on a budget.
When they bought the cottage, "it was in dire need of some TLC.," says Lynn. They added a new roof, updated the kitchen and bath, and painted the once-drab brown exterior a shade inspired by a box of saltwater taffy. "We wanted it to be whimsical, a true getaway," Lynn says. She painted the porch floor in a harlequin pattern, lined one wall on the porch and in the living room with bargain-bin wallpaper (the toile in the living room was just $5 a double roll at Lowe's) and went on to furnish the rest of the cottage for approximately $1,000. Enviable deals range from the sea-green dresser in the living room (snagged for just $10) to the patio set now used as a dining room table ($20, complete with cushions).
"Ironically, I paid more for the vintage sand pails I collect that are displayed throughout the cottage than for most of the furniture," Lynn says. Some of it -- including the sofa on the sun porch and the table, chairs and umbrella on the porch off the living room -- was even free. La Rue saved the striped umbrella from a neighbor's trash heap. When she was dragging it away, the neighbor asked her if she also wanted the table and chairs that came with it. Other deals: the farm sink in the kitchen ($25) and the rattan couch set in the living room ($50 for three pieces), both garage sale finds.
The second floor features a large, dorm-style area for the kids, a small master bedroom and a sitting area. La Rue painted the plywood floor white and the ceiling a soft blue. Two metal hospital beds ($40 each) were spray-painted lime green.
The creative homeowner lives by a few simple rules. Look for diamonds in the rough. Be open to possibilities. Make it fun. Pay attention to details. Value charm above cost. And finally, stay away from anything too expensive or irreplaceable.
"I often have a house full of kids, some for weeks on end," she says. "I try not to get too attached to things. Things get broken. Anything can be replaced. When it's all said and done, it's all about the memories you make."
Khristi Zimmeth is a Metro Detroit freelance writer.
