Lipstick on a Pig

Everything about our beach cottage has been kind of like putting lipstick on a pig.  We don't have the money to completely redo anything (except the kitchen, where we had no choice), so we do the best we can with what we have and hope that the lipstick will cover up the pig.

We've been working on the inside of our porch, which now has a new floor, "new" vintage screen door, new screening, and now a new ceiling.

My initial thought was that we could paint the ceiling a nice light blue or bright white.

Then I looked at it:

I realized it was going to take a lot more than lipstick to fix that mess, with rusty nails showing through and water stains on the wood:

Bead board to the rescue, with trim to cover the bad seams, which of course didn't match up well because everything on the porch is crooked.

We also installed some bamboo blinds that were left over from my son's ranch house makeover:

All that's left is some painting, which I'm going to complete tomorrow, and then I can start adding furniture.

That's when it goes beyond lipstick and we start applying mascara, eyeliner, and concealer because paint and cute furniture hide a multitude of flaws.