With just $20,000, Cambria homeowner transformed a shabby rental into a cute cottage

Ann Tye took the long, hard road to her dream of living in a Cambria coastal cottage.

It started with a neglected foreclosure.

Tye is a fan of shabby chic – but this four-bedroom home, built in 1971, was the wrong kind of shabby. The house had spent years as a rental home and possessed a hodgepodge of low-end materials and a 1980s design scheme.

“I don’t know what possessed me to buy it,” Tye said of the home she purchased in 2012. “My friends thought I was crazy.”

But Tye saw potential in the Cape Cod architecture, which she said “seemed to lend itself to a cottage look.”

Her renovation budget was a mere $20,000. She made up the difference with her seamstress skills, creativity and hundreds of hours of work.

Flooring took up more than half of the budget. Replacing the home’s mix of carpet, vinyl and damaged wood was non-negotiable.

The new hand-scraped engineered hardwood in a dark stain adds elegance and a contemporary undertone to the cottage-style interior.

Most other upgrades were achieved with a sponge and paint brush.

Tye spent her weekends deep cleaning the house, then painting nearly every surface.

Doors and cabinetry were painted white then distressed. Walls were cloaked in a creamy off-white, a suitable backdrop for her cottage look.

Tye isn’t opposed to painting family heirlooms and even added a coat of white to a hutch she inherited from her grandmother to help it blend with her kitchen cabinetry.

Pulling together her look took time, work and a lot of antiquing.

Tye’s last home was Tuscan in style, so she kept only a few favorite pieces, including several family heirlooms. The rest came primarily from local antique shops.

Her cottage style mixes wood and white painted furniture, slip-covered upholstery, wrought iron furniture and salvaged pieces. She has no design formula, instead relying on instinct.

“I change things around until I like it,” she said. “I just make it work.”

In the living room, a table that once belonged to her parents sits next to a white slip-covered sofa and two rusty wrought-iron chairs with new cushions sewn by Tye.

Over the mantel are two weathered outdoor sconces and a driftwood-and-seashell sculpture made by her brother.

On another wall is a wood shelf Tye found on the beach, then sanded and painted. The bar beneath it is a vintage piece that she painted to match the shelf.

Simple, handmade curtains replaced vinyl blinds. Hand-sewn pillows add color and comfort to seating areas.

More recently, Tye replaced tile and fixtures in the bathrooms and kitchen — upgrades not included in her original budget. Most notably, she got rid of the tan tile in the kitchen and installing quartzite countertops that look like marble.

Tye dedicated the majority of her weekends to this project for more than two years. She recalls spending long hours, often staying up until after midnight with paintbrush in hand.

The payoff? “It’s pretty much the way I pictured it years ago,” she said. “I just can’t believe I did it.”

Cambria Christmas Home Tour

Ann Tye’s house is one of six homes on the Cambria Christmas Home Tour, which will takes place on Saturday, Dec. 7, from 10:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Tickets cost $45 and include refreshments, wine and admission to six homes, all decorated for the holidays.

Tickets are available at the Cambria Center for the Arts Gallery, the Cambria Chamber of Commerce and The Ball and Skein in the East Village, and online at cambriacenterforthearts.org/christmas-home-tour. All proceeds benefit Cambria Center for the Arts.

The other five homes on the tour are:

• An 1865-built home that is one of the oldest buildings in Cambria. It sits on the banks of Santa Rosa Creek and is now a quaint Victorian inn.
• An oceanside home that has recently undergone a major renovation to take advantage of majestic coastal views.
• A lovely home in the pines in the Leimert area that will feature festive decorations by Cambria store Home for the Holidays.
• A residence in the neighborhood known as the Top of the World that features a beautiful collection of the owner’s late husband’s artwork.
• A home in the Happy Hill area designed and built by an architect who apprenticed under Frank Lloyd Wright.