East Cobb remodeling enhances cottage feel

Lesley Steinberg, an east Cobb mother of two, doesn’t go trawling for bargains. But when she wanted to transform an outdated, 26-year-old Cape Cod, she had limits.

“I’m not a budget hunter, but I have a budget,” said Steinberg, who took three years to turn her home into a cozy country cottage amid an almost acre of trees. “It needed so much work, but we had to do it gradually.”

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Bob Andres/bandres@ajc.com

East Cobb residents Lesley Steinberg and her husband Jon love their Cape Cod home’s ‘cottage charm’ and sought to enhance it.

• Photos: More pictures of the Steinbergs' Cape Cod remodel.

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Steinberg and her husband, Jon, think the house was overlooked by other buyers because it lacked a swim and tennis center, a foyer, a finished basement, smooth ceilings and symmetrical rooms.

“But we loved it for what it didn’t have — like a third bathroom,” Steinberg said. “As far as I’m concerned, that’s one less room to clean. And I’ve always loved awkward rooms that aren’t just boxes.”

One of the first remodeling changes involved ripping out carpets and putting hardwood in the living and dining room. A closed-in staircase just inside the front door was opened up and modernized with new wood steps and railings. The back wall of the living room was outfitted with a custom-made white bookcase for storage and display. The stippled ceilings were covered with white planks that add to the rustic look.

One of the few things that remained unchanged was the stone fireplace in the living room. The back wall of the fireplace creates a partial brick wall in the dining room. “We loved the stone and the brick on the other side,” Steinberg said. “It gives character to the rooms.”

With bead-board cabinets already in place, it took a red brick floor, Corian counters, can lights and new hardware to give the kitchen a country feel. Leftover planks from the new ceilings became the backsplash. An unused corner near the laundry room and back door was turned into a small desk area with built-in shelves to display a collection of glass canisters. Steinberg recruited her mom to create colorful, ribboned curtains in the bay window of the breakfast nook.

When it came to decorating, Steinberg took a mix of armchairs, dining chairs and footstools and had them recovered in bright, washable florals.

“Almost everything we have is a recovered hand-me-down or an item I swapped with a friend,” she said.

The two upstairs bedrooms under the eaves are full of attractive, affordable touches. The girl’s room, in a pale green, sports a wall-mounted canopy along the side of the single wrought-iron bed. The boy’s room holds a crib with custom-made blue and white linens. A matching swatch of fabric is draped on the wall above for dramatic effect. A single bed with a white wood headboard (purchased from Target) fills another corner.

Outside, the house now sports soft yellow siding. A white picket gate and a gas lantern greet visitors at the edge of the lawn. Inside the gate, Steinberg recruited her brick-mason uncle to create a brick and pebble walk to the porch. She dressed up the front door by lining it with two black headboard shutters.

But the makeover is far from finished, Steinberg said. “Next up, the kids’ bathroom,” she said. “It still has the original linoleum floor.”