Hi, I’m Gina! Welcome to The Shabby Creek Cottage!
We began our journey of remodeling my childhood home in early 2009. We lived here for nearly 5 years before we finally got down to ripping out walls and installing floors. It’s been quite a journey, but it’s long from over!
My husband, Mr. SCC, and I have two girls, Lala and Bre. We enjoy our creekside life in our shabby little cottage. Our home is a calm, sweet place to be, wellll… unless there are skill saws buzzing during construction! We take on all of our projects with our own labor saving all the costs, but have the luxury of a custom home on a fraction of the budget.
If we don’t know a skill, we learn it. If we can’t find what we like, we build it. We share all those adventures, straight from our double wide mobile home – so if I can do it, you can, too!
Between construction jobs, you can find me working away filling up my online shop with lovely new treats, or reading a book between episodes of NCIS. Occasionally, I might even venture away from the creek to get my fix at Ikea or outlet shopping!
I’ve been blessed to see my work grace the pages of some pretty amazing books & magazines – like Mom Blogging for Dummies, Brides Magazine, Casa Romantica, Romantic Homes, Nashville Bride, Somerset HOME, and Better Homes & Gardens. Who knew this crazy remodeling adventure would take me on the ride of a lifetime?
Want to see more of my home? You can find a few of our finished rooms on Tour the Cottage.We’re always working on something, so new things are added almost daily.
FAQs
What kind of home do you live in? We live in a 1993 Clayton Homes Manufactured Double Wide. It’s not very large, about 1600 sq. ft., but it’s big enough to hold all our crazy adventures.
How did you do your floors? Are they holding up? I came up with the crazy ideas of screwing 1×8 pine directly to our subfloors in 4 ft. lengths – then we stained them with MinWax Jacobean stain and sealed them with a satin poly. They’ve held up amazingly well for over 2 years. It’s still one of my favorite parts of our home!
How do you run a blog AND a shop? I have an amazing (and seriously cool) assistant, Mariah, that helps me with my day to day studio work by packing orders & keeping me organized. My virtual assistant, Jessica, helps keep me on top of what’s going on online. Mr. SCC is my main help – he’s responsible for all the major builds you see here on the blog. He came from a long line of DIY folks (his grandfather was a no-power tools carpenter!) We just keep on keepin’ on, because we love what we do!
Did you really quit your day job in a year? Yes, I did! It was very fast, especially since I didn’t start this blog to make money, it was a hobby. After about a year of blogging (6 mos. of running a shop), I couldn’t keep up with my orders, blogging, and the pressures of a full time day job. I loved working as a journalist, but DIY is my passion. I’m blessed to be doing it full time!
Do you have a question?
Contact me any time at
gina@theshabbycreekcottage.com
I’d love to hear from you!
About Gina Luker
Hey there, I'm Gina Luker. I'm an artist, author and founder of The Soft Life Society. I am proudly a wild, witchy woman on a mission to make life magical. Alongside my husband Mitch, we are remodeling a 200 year old home we call The Enchanted Manor. I'm obsessed with estate sale shopping, Instagram, Practical Magic, disco balls, margaritas and doing whatever makes me insanely happy in any given moment.
I love finding someone that speaks my language…”Cheap”! You share beautiful ideas that stir the imagination. I am in a very frugal state of mind now and am scanning my surroundings, looking for ways to bring a little oomph to a corner, a couch, a shelf, etc. Thanks for the inspiration! Cindy
I absolutely admire you and how you manage to do all the things you do! You just gave me a new inspiration “wave”, and I’m thinking: I can do it too 🙂 Lovely shop on Etsy, too 🙂
Hi Gina love your blog. I only started blogging a couple of months back just really somewhere to put all my ideas & wow there are some fabulous blogs with some really inspirational ideas its really opened up a whole new world for me. Its really got my head spinning with ideas & things I want to try. All these link parties are such a fabulous idea (just need to work it all out lol) 🙂
My husband and I just bought an old house out in the country that needs some major TLC. I am so glad I’ve found your blog! I plan on coming back here for inspiration as soon as the renovation begins!! :o)
Gina: Just found your blog and I’m LOVE, LOVE, LOVIN’ your terrific ideas! We just sold our house and bought an old mobile home in a retirement park, so we are hard at work remodeling our little space also. Thanks for all the inspiration and fresh ideas! Eva
Wow, I just discovered your blog by accident while looking for ideas on how to paint an antique dining set I just acquired (for $100!)… I’m obsessed with the beachy shabby chic look, and so I was thrilled to find your blog, which is absolutely filled with things I love! I have a feeling I’ll be on here tons while I attempt DIY projects on my new home in the coming months (it’s finally summer here in Canada!). Thanks so much for this lovely & helpful site!
I just recently found you, and love your blog! We’re just about to break ground on our home, and plan to put a lot of “sweat equity” into it, so I look forward to learning from you!
I love love love your blog! Your Etsy shop is too cute! Keep up the good work 🙂
i randomly found ur site
luv it!
<3
which country are you from?
LUV,
K. McQueen
xox
Very cute site! [:
SO great to meet a fellow blogger at the post office yesterday!
Blessings!
Liberty
http://bit.ly/ek9kyi
I love finding someone that speaks my language…”Cheap”! You share beautiful ideas that stir the imagination. I am in a very frugal state of mind now and am scanning my surroundings, looking for ways to bring a little oomph to a corner, a couch, a shelf, etc. Thanks for the inspiration! Cindy
I absolutely admire you and how you manage to do all the things you do! You just gave me a new inspiration “wave”, and I’m thinking: I can do it too 🙂 Lovely shop on Etsy, too 🙂
All the best from Belgium,
Fellow Etsy creator, Sandra, alias http://www.lamiacasa.etsy.com
Hi Gina love your blog. I only started blogging a couple of months back just really somewhere to put all my ideas & wow there are some fabulous blogs with some really inspirational ideas its really opened up a whole new world for me. Its really got my head spinning with ideas & things I want to try. All these link parties are such a fabulous idea (just need to work it all out lol) 🙂
Great to know more about you…put your Transformation Thursdays button on my blog. so much fun. Thank you.
Mary Ann
I love the fresh look of your stuff. They all go so well together.. I can almost smell fresh linen when I loo at your pages. !
My husband and I just bought an old house out in the country that needs some major TLC. I am so glad I’ve found your blog! I plan on coming back here for inspiration as soon as the renovation begins!! :o)
Gina: Just found your blog and I’m LOVE, LOVE, LOVIN’ your terrific ideas! We just sold our house and bought an old mobile home in a retirement park, so we are hard at work remodeling our little space also. Thanks for all the inspiration and fresh ideas! Eva
Wow, I just discovered your blog by accident while looking for ideas on how to paint an antique dining set I just acquired (for $100!)…
I’m obsessed with the beachy shabby chic look, and so I was thrilled to find your blog, which is absolutely filled with things I love! I have a feeling I’ll be on here tons while I attempt DIY projects on my new home in the coming months (it’s finally summer here in Canada!).
Thanks so much for this lovely & helpful site!
Just wanted to let you know how much I enjoy your blog. I’ll be returning often.
I just recently found you, and love your blog! We’re just about to break ground on our home, and plan to put a lot of “sweat equity” into it, so I look forward to learning from you!
HI Gina, I just discovered your site,refreshing, I will be back.Thanks Teri