The Cowboy Casita: Before & After
welcome to the cowboy casita, our cozy little 1 bedroom apartment, adjacent to the poolhouse at blanco bungalow ericeira. This space was generally in good shape, but needed a little tlc.
before
after
when we first got the keys, the casita was very dark, and had pretty intense humidity, odor, and water damage. there were two pretty significant cracks in the roof, which had began to run horizontally throughout the walls, and i swear, the minute we got the keys, we got hit by storm after storm.. what first appeared to be minor cracks, quickly became urgent fixes.
the first order of business was to fix the roof. thanks to a freind, strader got a crash course in roof repair.
They first took the roof tiles off, and once they could see underneath, they could see where they needed to repair. They ended up having to cut a big chunk out of the wall where it had cracked, so they fill in with concrete.
for the interior, we started by scraping the bubbled plaster off the walls, and treating them with a salt treatment that’s supposed to kill the mold, then we primed and painted.
before
next up, was this horrific closet. the unfortunate part about this particualr closet, was that the back was made from thin particle board - not concrete or plaster, and was covered in this lovely orange contact paper. behind was a hollow section, and if time would have allowed, I would have loved to rip it all out and start fresh with a cool built-in concrete closet, but time and money were not on our side. our friend mark thankfully came over to help us come up with a quick, budget friendly hack.
we live in a micro-climate in portugal, and humidity is probably one of the biggest challenges. the basic idea here was to open up the closet, creating air flow, and make it look as pleasing to the eye as possible, especially since it’s so focal. we took out the bottom drawers because they wreaked of mold. I actually liked the wood color and thought about trying to keep them, but once that mold smell is really baked into something, it’s really difficult to get it out. we all voted to start fresh and take them out.
we purchased a few sheets of pine wood from leroy merlin. mark cut and fit them for the shelves and bottom cubbies.
once the pieces were cut, i started staining them. i used a natural honey stain and finished with a sealer to prevent any wood worms or moisture.
not my best staining job, but we were on the clock, trying to get this place open for summer, so I wasn’t too concerned about it.
I painted over the old contact paper particle board, and made sure i used a really good primer and several coats of paint. it’s not the most ideal and probably won’t last that long, but for now it works.
once i finished staining, mark came back to fit the pieces and drill them into place. we cut and stained a wooden dowel rod, and hung it from the shelf above with natural rope for the clothing rack.
and once the closet was finished, it was time for some fresh new beds and mattresses. i used this simple oak wood bedframe from zara in all of our bedrooms because it’s affordable, really good quality, and wood worms tend to avoid the hard woods such as solid oak. and i love the design.
before
after
before
everything was so dark and needed to be brightened up.
after
before
and in this photo you can see some of the water damage that was running through the wall. it was pretty bad.
before
after
light, bright, and happy.
after
after
after
after
after
we opted for two single beds that push together to form a superior king bed, giving us more flexibility with the space. the living room sofa folds out as well, making this the perfect spot for a young family, and sleeps 2-4.
before
the living room wasn’t terrible. we ended up keeping the futon because it was in great shape, and super comfortable, plus it folds out to a queen size bed. I bought a new cover, and it’s like a new couch.
after
we swapped out some furniture, brought in some greenery and changed out the light fixtures. and in the photo below you can see the water damage in the celiing.
before
after
BEFORE
AFTER
BEFORE
after
in the bathroom, we didn’t change much. we’ll do a full makeover at some point. we’ll do a tadelakt and concrete bathroom, but for now we gave it a quick refresh - replacing the shower door, swapping out light fixtures, painting, and updating decor.
and after!
I love it so much more now. I can’t wait until the bougainvilleas i planted start to go nuts next spring.
SHOP THE POST
honey oak sideboard 2. adobe blanket 3. marshall speaker 4. arcalo chair 5. white sands blanket 6. golden coast candle 7. kambas ladder 8. solid oak nightstand 9, retro mini fridge 10. canvas pillow 11. linen bedding 12. record Player 13. Hermanos gutierez Record
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Obrigada!
ICYMI
