Bracket Bonanza

In 1984, the Latham’s (previous owners) put a new porch on our cottage.  They removed an ugly double-decker, screened porch to install more appropriate porches for an historical cottage.  However, we felt that a Campground feature was missing from our porches.  We need brackets! 

Our cottage in 1890's

In 2014, we presented to the Architectural Review Committee an old photo from the late 1800's of our cottage with brackets.  We requested permission to duplicate those brackets and put them on our porches.  Upon approval, a local wood-crafter created our new brackets.  We have 10 brackets downstairs and 2 upstairs.  Due to perspective, we made the upstairs brackets 50% larger than the first floor. 

We chose to paint them 2 colors, Artichoke on the flat surfaces and Hot Tamale on the insides.  This year, we took them down, washed and sanded them and put several coats of new paint on them.  Because of all the rain, we did the work in our dining room!  Using small brushes, even artist’s brushes, we painted.  After painting a coat, we needed to wipe clean the spots where it bled onto the other color.  It was a time-consuming task that focused on the small details of each bracket.  The end result?  They look spectacular and we are thrilled to have them dress up our cottage.

Before brackets

With brackets