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A Very Modest Cottage Giveaway

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Welcome to day 2 of Wandawega Week! If you missed day 1, click here.

Today, we’re giving away a signed copy of Tereasa’s book, A Very Modest Cottage. If you’d like a chance to win it, just leave us a comment on this post between today (Tuesday, August 9th) and Thursday, August 11th at noon (Central Time).

But before you scroll down to comment, I’d like to share with you a few more gorgeous Wandawega photos, and a very special blog post Tereasa wrote about her Dad, Tom Surratt. It’s filled with love and heaps of hope, and I’m sure you’ll be as touched by it as I was…

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“An old car, a decrepit piece of furniture, a rusty old tractor, an abandoned cottage is never beyond hope. They just need to find someone who’ll believe in them.

Tom Surratt believed.

He didn’t see a worthless, geriatric farm machine that was too far gone. He had a gift to see the youth, the former self, the beauty in everything. He saw his grandson one day driving that tractor down Main street in the annual Beardstown Fall Fun Festival Parade. He didn’t see a rust bucket of a pick-up that was beyond repair. He envisioned the ‘country limoisine’ his son Sam would drive his bride Tara home in on their wedding night.

Tom’s ability to see potential where most saw junk was a gift he passed on to every member of his family. His son Sam can bring pretty much anything with an engine back to life again. And again. And again. His daughters Amy, Lisa and Holly married men cut from the same cloth. Men who know that the right combination of ambition, duct tape, and elbow grease make all things possible. His wife, Kay, held Tom’s hope in her heart as she hammered, nailed, painted, and restored half a dozen condemned properties into loving homes for low income families with her two hands. And my father Tom inspired me to see the beauty locked within an abandoned cabin bound for the wrecking ball. I saw a quiet, happy place where Dad could go to read his books and listen to his grandkids and watch the clouds roll by.

Dad didn’t make it to see the rebirth of the modest cottage.

Or to witness his grandson – with a grin a mile wide – old enough to pilot that old international Harvester tractor down Main street and win best of show for antique restorations. But his ability to dream and hope and believe lives on.

I hope this little story of a resurrection inspires you (like my Dad inspired me) to think twice before you lose faith in that old car, that weathered piece of furniture, that old tractor, or even an old, abandoned cottage.

(Tereasa’s Grandpa, holding up her Dad)

Even the most modest of projects can be become something beautiful. There is no such thing as too far gone. With hope and a hammer, I believe there is always a way.”

– Tereasa Surratt, author of A Very Modest Cottage

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(Photos 1, 2, 3, & 5 courtesy of Mary at at Home Is Where The Boat Is. Photos 4 & 6: AVeryModestCottage.blogspot.com)

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Comments

  2. Linda

    I’ve seen this book advertised in my Country Living issues and would love to win it! It could be inspiration to fix up a little storage shed on our property 🙂

  8. Marsha

    Very enjoyable read! Appreciate the time, hard work, and love that went in to this project. True act of love!

  9. Nikki

    Would love a copy! I grew up in Wisconsin going to camps just like this one 🙂
    Nikki

  12. linda t

    Oh my gosh, I would LOVE a copy of that book. I grew up in Wisconsin and for the past 32 years we have been driving back there from Arizona with my family. LOVE Camp Wandawega!!!

  15. Ginene

    As a long time fan of the Northwoods style, I’d love to own this fabulous book. Not only is it an update of the style but it gives readers the artist’s eye toward seeing what possibilities are. I’d like to do this myself and I’m going to look at property around Elkhorn and southeastern Wisconsin. I go there to auctions but I was used to Eagle River, Wisconsin and never even thought that I could find this closer to home.

  16. Jill Fisher

    This story is so heartwarming. I love the dedication to reusing and recylcing. The results could not be more beautiful or inspirational!
    I would love a copy of the book to call my own and hopefully to push me toward a similar goal.

  21. Toni Combs

    How sweet… I love how soft and gently Teresa’s words flow. I would love a copy of this book.

  22. Robin

    I love your site! Always fabulous before & after ideas to view! Thank you so much for sharing your treats with us all – you’re sweethearts! This book looks like a labor of love – and a real tribute to an inspiring father! I hope it sells well – and I’m sure it’ll be treasured by all who own it! My mother was my inspiration – and she was another ‘fixer-upper’ of old treasures! She taught me well! Thank you! x

  25. Michelle

    Unbelievable as always. I dream about doing the things that you and your guests do, but I wouldn’t know where to start! Thanks for being such great inspiration 🙂

  28. Sonya

    Wow, what a beautiful place!!!! would love to read that book………….! 🙂

  31. Audrey Roman

    What a great story from Teresa to her Dad. It’s so true and something we should all learn to live by. I love old things. Thanks for your great website too. I’m so glad I found you!

  37. Sandra

    I love a lot a things about this series of blog posts, so let me count the ways:

    1) Tereasa obviously follows her heart and delves into seemingly impossible tasks. I mean, really, I would NEVER (before reading this) consider moving a ramshackle, old ‘shed’ hundreds of miles across the country to refinish it. Now maybe I would consider such a task…in fact, I may start looking…
    2) Tereasa writes so poignantly about her father, and she clearly loved him and misses him very much.
    3) Layla somehow found Tereasa and blessed the rest of us with her family’s wonderful story. Thank you, Layla!
    4) Tereasa has a book, so what’s not to like about that? And it’s one full of great ideas and photos.
    5) Her name is cool! The extra ‘a’ in the middle makes it very unique.
    6) I’m getting many, many fresh ideas that really compliment my style of decorating, and paired with ideas from The Lettered Cottage, I think we have all hit a gold mine.

    🙂

  38. Becky

    Makes my heart go pitter-patter! This book will be at the top of my Christmas gift-giving.

  39. Sam

    My husband always complains about junk I pick up. It’s hard for him to see it’s potential like I can. Amazing work! I hope my kids carry on that sense of beauty beyond the surface as well. Some of us here are the real “tinkerbelles”. Lol!

  40. Jacque L

    Layla~I want to thank YOU for sharing this with all of us, as much as I’d like to thank Tereasa for writing something so heartfelt and inspiring…”awe”-inspiring, I should say. The sweet pictures of the cottage, and the sweet words describing the process coax us as readers to dig a little deeper and see the beauty in the things that may seem far past their prime. The few pieces you shared from the book made me want to dig my heels in, roll up my sleeves and get to work. What a beautiful family. What humble servants they all are. And, what a way to carry their Father with them throughout their lives? This truly touched my heart. I would be so blessed to have a copy of this book.

  41. Kristi Dvorak

    I’d love to have a copy of this beautiful book! Pick me! Pick me! (arms waving wildly above my head) 🙂

  42. Carrie

    I Wanna go to Wandawega!!! Thanks for this weeks posts Layla! I love the charm and character of this cottage retreat. I dream of one day having a little cottage on the lake. In the mean time I want to plan a trip to Wandawega!

  43. Kera

    Incredibly inspirational! Would LOVE a copy of the book.
    I need inspiration as we work on this old house!

  45. jennifer jacksonville,al

    I read your blog all the time and adore all you ideas. i would love to win a copy of that great book! thanks!

  48. Karen

    Love this post. Finally moving to my first house that will truly be my own, and am inspired by and getting ideas from this story!

  49. Farrah

    Wow! Very inspirational! Love making old things new again, it truly is a labor of love.

  50. Gina

    Saw an ad for this book in Country Living and was going to look it up online.. and then saw this on your blog! Looks like a wonderful and inspiring book. 🙂