Eight years ago, Nicole Curtis of Rehab Addict bought a cottage in her hometown of Lake Orion, Michigan. She’d seen too many historic homes demolished over the years and didn’t want the beautiful house to be one of the many. She thought her little lake cottage would be a breeze to renovate — turns out, she was wrong. It took eight years for her and her team to finish the remodel, but now the family's lakeside adventure home is ready for years of memory-making. Let's take a look around.

Nicole made sure to welcome friends and family with an inviting entry. An extra-large chalkboard allows kids to get creative and guests to leave notes to one another (while relaxing in a pair of Adirondack chairs). But the pièce de résistance is the front door. Nicole had it in storage for 10 years, waiting for the perfect project to come along — which it turns out, was her cottage. “This is the house for that door," she said.

The top floor was formerly broken into four tiny sleeping quarters, but Nicole’s vision called for a grand main bedroom and bathroom. She and the team tore out everything that wasn’t original to the home and discovered a stunning vaulted ceiling and rustic wood walls. The original space boasted only four small windows, but Nicole wanted to flood it with natural light. So, she replicated the look of the original windows and installed them, along with a couple of skylights, to create a bright retreat.

What once was a sleeping porch is now a spa-worthy bathroom. For the first time ever, Nicole decided to try wallpaper — and she dove in completely. An old-school-meets-modern tropical pattern covers the walls with natural color and plays off warm wood and bright white touches. Nicole didn’t let a narrow staircase or the fact that she was three floors up keep her from her dream shower either: Large marble slabs and a cast-iron tub came in through the balcony, bringing ultimate opulence with them.