Lake House Renovation: Our Before & After Bungalow Transformation
Welcome to the Lakehouse! Back in 2013 we did something crazy: we unexpectedly purchased this beautiful little bungalow on the shores of Lake Superior while still living in our townhouse (a thousand miles away).
Since then we have tackled a complete, whole home before and after transformation, turning a 1990s builder’s basic house into our mid-century meets coastal dream home.
Scroll down to find our complete room-by-room makeover reveals (with before and after photos) plus a whole exterior renovation. You’ll find links to step-by-step DIY renovation tutorials alongside smaller home decor DIY tutorials. Check out the DIY Reno Gallery and DIY Craft Gallery to peruse all of my tutorials in one place.
Complete Exterior Renovation: Modern Metal Siding & Painted Copper Roof
When we bought the bungalow, we loved the original cedar siding on the lakeside but the real bummer was that the other three sides were covered in damaged, beige vinyl siding. Because we also needed a new roof, we decided to start from scratch with a major modern metal exterior renovation. We replaced all the mismatched siding with durable, glittering (!) residential metal siding and a matching, long-lasting painted copper metal roof. Triple pane black windows completed the look.
We paired these major updates with a handful of simple exterior DIY projects (like a new DIY fire pit area and DIY cold frame garden boxes) that gave our home and yard a natural but beautifully refreshed, cohesive look – making it even more enjoyable to spend time outside!
Lake House Exterior (Before):
Lake House Exterior (After):
Mid-Century Coastal Kitchen Renovation Reveal: Walnut Cabinets & a Colorful Kitchen Design
Welcome to the heart of our home – and my favorite room reveal! This space has evolved significantly since our 2013 move-in. We kicked things off with a quick, budget-friendly DIY kitchen update, using DIY open shelves and painted turquoise cabinets. Over the years, we continued to have fun making over the kitchen, first re-painting the kitchen cabinets an inky teal (then a soft watery aqua) and building unique, modernist cubbies.
A decade later, we executed a full-scale mid-century modern kitchen remodel. We brought our coastal vision to life by pairing warm walnut cabinetry with crisp white uppers, a bold green backsplash tile in a beachy fish scale shape, and rare, colorful quartzite countertops with gorgeous blue and teal veining.
Check out the dramatic transformation photos and source links in our kitchen remodel project guide.
Lake House Kitchen (Before):
Lake House Kitchen (Various DIY Makeovers):
Lake House Kitchen (After):
Small Living Room Transformation: DIY Fireplace Bump Out & Prioritizing the Lake View
Like the kitchen, our living room went through a few different style iterations. Honestly, with its stunning vaulted ceilings and fireplace, this small space didn’t need a total gut job to look amazing. Installing new windows and applying a fresh coat of crisp white paint to the walls and trim instantly made the room feel larger and brighter.
To anchor the room, we painted the fireplace wall a deep charcoal grey and executed a clever DIY fireplace bump-out hack to safely hang our TV above the wood burning fireplace. This simple change created a beautiful focal point and allowed us to arrange our furniture to face the gorgeous Lake Superior view. We finished the space with thoughtful custom decor projects (like getting a vintage chair reupholstered) and small budget DIYs (like sewing custom velvet pillows) to add that signature MCM character. We still plan to build a walnut media unit and side table with storage.
Lake House Living Room (Before):
Lake House Living Room (After):
Coastal Dining Room Makeover: DIY Floating Credenza and Large Scale Coastal Art
Nestled between our open-concept kitchen and living space, our small dining room floats in a bit of an awkward location. To make the most of the layout, we built a custom DIY floating credenza inside the wall alcove and hung a gorgeous painting by Hubby’s Grandpa over it. Because we have the ceiling height, we installed a stunning statement light fixture that feels more like sculpture than lighting.
While those design elements have remained since day one, our furniture needs eventually changed. We sold our mid-century teak dining table and upholstered chairs because they required too much maintenance for lakeside living!
We replaced them with a durable, coastal indoor/outdoor dining table and easy-to-wipe chairs. Turns out, living lakeside means tracking in a lot of sand and dirt. Now, we can easily pop inside for a quick lunch break without worrying about ruining delicate fabrics or changing out of our beach clothes.
Lake House Dining Room (Before):
Lake House Dining Room (After):
Coastal Main Bedroom Makeover: Beachy Wallpaper & Mid-Century Modern Bedroom Furniture
Our bedroom is the most personal space in the entire lakehouse. Finding my signature style in our primary bedroom took a little bit of time and experimentation. After freshening up the space with a coat of paint and replacing the standard closet doors with a beachier green glass sliding door, we started layering in our furniture. We moved in a custom metal headboard that I designed and my grandfather welded, along with two matching nightstands. To complete the set, we built a custom DIY walnut bed frame with welded legs to match his work. When we needed more storage, instead of replacing the glass shelf nightstands he made, we came up with a clever DIY nightstand drawer hack to add storage to his original design.
At first, I leaned heavily into vintage bedroom decor with mid-century modern poster art and heavy tweed curtains. But then a serene beachy wallpaper installation and DIY linen drapes completely transformed the space, effortlessly tying together our mid-century meets coastal vibe.
A pair of beautiful vintage dressers (inherited from my late grandparents) is my favorite part of the room, because I feel like we wake up to the same view they did!
Lake House Bedroom (Before):
Lake House Bedroom (After):
Mid-Century Coastal Bathroom Renovation: Walnut Cabinets & Turquoise Sinks
Like the kitchen, the main bathroom also had a quick & easy DIY bathroom makeover phase before we renovated for real. At first we simply painted everything! Years later, we finally watched our dream mid-century coastal bathroom renovation come to life.
A walnut floating vanity and linen tower, beautiful and quirky turquoise sinks, and natural textural elements like the quartzite counters create a beachy bathroom with vintage vibes. Simple luxuries, like a towel warmer and ceiling mounted shower curtain hack, make this small bathroom renovation feel more grand.
Lake House Bathroom (Before):
Lake House Bathroom (After):
Mid-Century Home Office Makeover: DIY Walnut Desk & Slatted Accent Wall
Our second bedroom serves as my dedicated home office, blending beautiful solid walnut wood with smart, budget-friendly storage. To tailor the room to my needs, we built a beautiful, custom solid walnut desk and added instant mid-century character with a DIY slatted wood wall detail.
Because keeping a workspace organized is a must, we did the easiest IKEA shelf hack to neatly hide office clutter on the lower shelves and crafted custom plywood magazine files to keep my paperwork organized and out of sight.
My favorite piece is a vintage chair I heaved out of a trash heap on the way to a Weezer concert, shortly before we moved to the lakehouse. I refinished the wood arms and legs myself, then had it recovered in a gorgeous teal velvet. The art is by Hubby’s Grandpa (we made the DIY canvas frame for the larger piece).
Lake House Home Office (Before):
Lake House Home Office (After):
Small Wallpapered Powder Room Makeover: Turquoise Cabinets & Copper Sink
Our powder room might be small, but it is a little jewel of this house – thanks to some serious family teamwork! My Mom and I tackled the bold powder room wallpaper installation, I painted the turquoise bathroom cabinets and matching trim, and then Hubby and I installed a gorgeous IKEA walnut countertop paired with a stunning copper sink featuring a whimsical butterfly detail. Inspired by nature and a beautiful autumnal painting (also by Hubby’s Grandpa), this colorful powder room is a whimsical addition to the lakehouse interior design.
You can read all about the complete step-by-step powder room makeover right here, but check out the dramatic before-and-after transformation below!
Lake House Powder Room (Before):
Lake House Powder Room (After):
Small Hallway Laundry Transformation: Hiding Machines on a Budget!
On the way to our powder room sits our laundry area, which is barely a room and more of a high-traffic hallway closet. Because our washing machine and dryer are ancient – and a full laundry room remodel wasn’t in the budget – we had to get creative.
To hide the washer and dryer, we used the same easy small space laundry hack we did in our previous house, with a few tweaks: we installed a floor-to-ceiling DIY curtain on a track system that completely conceals the appliances when they aren’t in use – but easily slides out of the way on laundry day. This budget-friendly solution instantly cleaned up the sightline of the hallway, proving you don’t need brand-new appliances to make a laundry room look good.
Lake House Laundry Room (Before):
Lake House Laundry Room (After):
Art-Filled Hallway Makeover: Small Space Storage & Bold Turquoise Front Door
Connecting our main living spaces is our hallway makeover, a zone where we maxed out both personality and function. First we painted everything white and installed new mcm inspired door levers. To anchor the long pass-through, we hung large statement art and brought in a clever, inexpensive hallway storage solution to keep everyday clutter completely out of sight. The first thing that greets you is our bold, turquoise mid-century modern front door. Painting the entryway door this vibrant coastal hue instantly cheers up the space, ties into our home’s overall color palette, and makes a beautiful first impression the second you step inside.
Lake House Hallway (Before):
Lake House Hallway (After):
Craft Room Makeover: From “Fish Room” to Creative Studio with DIY Marbled Plywood Floors
Our final stop on the lakehouse tour is the craft room, which we jokingly call the “fish room.” With its own dedicated exterior door and utility sink, we can only guess that the previous owners used it to clean their daily catches from Lake Superior!
To turn this quirky utility zone into a highly functional craft room for me, we added tons of inexpensive custom craft room storage solutions to keep my supplies organized. But the true star of the space is underfoot: we built a gorgeous, custom DIY marbled plywood floor completely from scratch. It was a budget-friendly flooring option to hide the existing ratty vinyl tile floor and it adds a fun, artistic flair to my favorite creative space.
Want to build your own DIY plywood floor – or snag the watercolor wood stain effect for other projects? Learn how to achieve the aquarelle inspired wood finish and then read the complete step-by-step marbled plywood floor tutorial right here!
Lake House Craft Room (Before):
Lake House Craft Room (After):
Lakehouse Bunkie Tour: DIY Stock Tank Shower & Cozy Pine Walls
Last, but certainly not least, is the bunkie! While I did incorporate my favorite bold turquoise on the bunkie front door and wood trim, inside the vibes are very different! This little three season guest cottage features a cozy bedroom and a tiny bathroom that we updated with a beautiful, modern small bathroom hex tile installation. To maximize the tight footprint and keep costs low, we built a creative, rustic DIY stock tank shower for this small bathroom renovation.
The entire space is wrapped in warm pine paneling and features a sauna. While the full sauna makeover is still a work-in-progress, the rest of the cozy guest suite is officially ready to welcome friends and family to the lake.
Lake House Bunkie (Before):
Lake House Bunkie (After):
Modern DIY Chicken Coop: Insulated Mini Barn & Sheltered Chicken Run
We didn’t just limit our mid-century coastal style to the main house – our backyard flock lives in style, too! We built a modern DIY chicken coop designed to look like a charming (but modern) mini barn.
Because our winters on Lake Superior can be absolutely brutal, we built a fully insulated chicken coop inside the barn and also built an attached sheltered chicken run to keep the chooks safe and warm year-round. To tie the structure into our overall home color palette, we finished it off with a cute, bright DIY aqua door. Functional homestead structures can still look beautiful in your landscaping.
Lakehouse Chicken Coop:
Thanks for Stopping By the Lakehouse!
Transforming this 1990s builder-grade bungalow into our dream mid-century modern coastal home has been an incredible journey of sweat equity, family teamwork, and lots of satisfying before and after DIY projects. Now that you’ve seen the entire house tour, I’d love to know: Which room transformation or DIY project was your favorite?
Even though we’ve done a lot of work, I’ve also tackled room makeover for others, which you can find in the DIY Renovation Gallery. For smaller DIY home decor projects, check out the DIY Craft Gallery.
If you would like to see more DIY home renovation ideas, clever furniture hacks, and coastal home decor projects, make sure to Sign Up for the Newsletter to get step-by-step tutorials delivered straight to your inbox.
I hope to see you around the lakehouse again!