Clearing out the veranda

Last Saturday, my friend G and I started clearing out the veranda and took some rubbish to the recycling center. I returned on Sunday to finish the job. It looks so different when it's emptied out! Clearing out this space feels like claiming it for myself, more like it's actually my space. It's only now starting to sink in that this is my house. 

The hallway floor is covered with painted masonite, not the prettiest material. I think it was the 1950s and 1960s when there was this idea that surfaces should be even and "hygienic", which then resulted in these kind of solutions that look ugly through a contemporary lens. There must be a wooden floor underneath, as there is one in the store room. The antique doors and windows I love, though. And in some parts there's some pretty wood panelling. Below is what the hallway looked before.

Here is how the store room started out. It was in a state, as some birds had nested there at some point and had left twigs and droppings behind. I think the part where the wall meets the roofing I'll need to put some metal netting to keep this from happening again. There are also gaps in the siding that will need to be closed somehow.

But there were some very nice lawn chairs in there, yay! I put some of them outside for cleaning and others in the shed. 

The room is starting to take shape. I've found some fun vintage package designs in the house, quite a few of them in this room. But I think I'll make a separate post about those. 

The trash we collected consisted mostly of old textiles, soiled with mouse droppings and mildew. Kind of hard to throw some things away but it just wasn't salvageable. Also all of the electrical devices need to go, as mice have chewed on the cables...anything plastic will also be recycled. Old plastic may have chemicals that are forbidden nowadays. The funky chrome chairs from the 80s will also be going, in case you were wondering. As a side note, Finnish recycling centers are so cool. Practically everything gets recycled and is organised into their own neat piles in the recycling yard. It's really fascinating to see. 

There is a wall separating the store room and the hallway. I was trying to figure out if it should go, as taking it down would make the hallway much lighter. But if you look closely, you can see that the wall is load bearing, it's holding up the roof. So it's stayin'.

And here's the end result of the store room! Or, how far I got this weekend anyways. There are still some things in there that are waiting for recycling and some more cleaning to do. Plus, you know, holes in the walls. But it's coming together! Looks pretty bright in there to me, compared with the starting point.

As I had help on Saturday, I took the chance to move this very heavy cabinet to the kitchen. It's so pretty! This weekend, I'll try to clean it up best I can. It's going to be my kitchen sink cabinet, where I can prepare food and wash dishes. There's no running water here, so it's old school. I kind of like that. My agenda this coming weekend is to continue to make the cottage liveable again, and also prepare for the chimney sweep who's coming next week to check out the fireplace. More about that in next week's post!