Taking a trip two hours northwest from New Your City will get you to the little hamlet of Narrowsburg, New York. It boasts a population of only 431 people and one of them is Tina Sprangler. After living for a long time in the fast city life she decided she wanted a change of pace. The beautiful vistas of the mountains drew her to Narrowsburg and so in 2004 she moved into a foreclosed cottage near the Luxton Lake area of town.
The house was built in the 1950’s but it was quite sturdy and was in good shape. What drew Tina first to the building was that it had hardwood floors, after some deliberation she decided she could make this cottage into something beautiful.
After cleaning up and restoring the cottage, Tina’s next step was to fill with different odds and ends she had collected over the years. She is a big fan of 1930-40’s décor. Even since she found some old furnishings in an apartment in Boston, she’s been collecting things and adding them to her collection. She even has a 1930’s monitor-top style refrigerator and her cupboards are filled with Fire King Jadeite cups and dishes. A linoleum rug from the 1920 covers the living room floor and protects the wood beneath. Everywhere around the cottage there are interesting objects to look at like old glass bottles from the 1920 or Joseph Unger artwork hanging on the walls.
What Tine achieved is kind of like a time portal, as soon as you step into her cottage is like going back in time. The décor and furnishings give you a feeling that this home has been lived in and loved for a long time. Tina says it perfectly when she describes her cottage “my goal isn’t to have a perfect house, it’s just to have a house full of things that I love and that have a history.” And by all accounts, Tina has done just that.
Below is a video tour of Tina’s Cottage in which you can see all the different historical items she has collected over time. She is very versed into the history of the items in her collection. At the end, what she has created in a once foreclosed cottage is nothing short of astounding.
YouTube: Etsy
Beautifully done!!! I love it.
The orange flower picture. My mother had one exactly like that in her home. I love it.