Maine Cottage Interior Design
For those of you who don’t know, I grew up in New Hampshire so New England is home. It’s interesting how you can move 1100 miles south to Atlanta and end up working on a project close to home.
This cottage was purchased as a second home by a Mainer who moved to Atlanta 20+ years ago for work. He wanted to have a cottage in the Harpswell area to be close to his family, and be able to share the Maine way of life with his children, then 9 and 12.
I am posting interior shots only here since this was my focus, but this home is in such a magical setting. It sits on a dead-end private road overlooking the Atlantic ocean and a sweet little cove. The rocky coast juts out just beyond the porch railings and when you are inside the home, all you see is ocean. Harpswell is a quiet town and a nice antidote to the more hectic energy of Atlanta. Arriving at this home fills your nose with salt air and your mind with an ease that you just don’t experience elsewhere. Like a deep exhalation.
The home was previously owned by an older couple and was sold ‘as-is’ which means it was sold full of the belongings their family didn’t want. There were kitchen items to weed through, stuffed animals galore, books, puzzles, games, and furniture crammed into every nook and cranny.
The first order of business was to create a furniture plan to flush out the layout and functionality of each room. You can see in the before photo below all of the oddball chairs and lamps. All of the elements look uninviting and uncomfortable. Metal lamps and hardwood chairs? No thank you. (Although, I do think there is an aesthetic traditional with cold and uncomfortable in New England.)
There was an L-shaped wall that blocked the view of the ocean and created a dark and narrow hallway that did not have any purpose.
We tore the wall down (pictured below) and removed the floating red enameled stove (you can see the red pipe above the art.) This allowed the space to really open up and connected the kitchen with the dining and living room.
This change also helped to accommodate more seating in the living room and allowed for better circulation in the dining room because we were able to center a large table in the middle of the room to accommodate nine lovely people. Previously they had a rectangular table that was off to one side of the room near the French doors. Relocate a chandelier? No problem!
“That creepy crow has got to go!” was my cheer.
Having said that, however, there were a lot of treasures to keep. I love a day spent rummaging through second hand shops. I repurposed several pieces of furniture— wicker chairs, a few small occasional tables, and wood dressers, and kept several pieces of original art, and a few decorative items like a brass dolphin and a wooden boat. I also found a gorgeous clay pot in the shed (pictured below) and really great books like, The Great Romance of Casco Bay.
It never fails that the before images are always SO BAD! Rather than have lot’s of lamps everywhere, we added 3 plug in sconces along the walls in the living room. This saves table space and looks fabulous. The small living room can now accommodate 10 people very comfortably.
Seen that wicker chair below? I spray painted it fire engine red, made a new cushion and put it on the front porch. It’s the most coveted seat outside with the best view.
The kitchen had been renovated not too long ago. My guess is in the early 90’s so we kept most everything as is and just updated the plumbing and the lighting, added a more appropriately sized island, and of course styled the space. This is a tribute to well made things. Spend once on quality items and they generally last. This kitchen had all of the functionality needed — a large farmhouse sink, a built-in breadbox, plenty of storage for pots and pans, and plenty of lighting.
See how much better this new island fits the space? And the ceiling light? That light reminds me of a wine bottle. People tend to get scale wrong. Usually you can go bigger than you think. Also the dark color works so much better than the pine color. There is a bit of an art to styling open shelves. You want items in different sizes and shapes but typically not too many tones so there is a relationship between them. I love when beauty and function combine. That is exactly what is happening on these shelves. All of the items are useful and also, beautiful.
In the bathrooms it was the same idea, though we had a bit more work to do. The cabinets were in great shape but we wanted to update the feel and add less rustic/ campy lighting, add another element with the countertop, update all of the plumbing, and improve the bathroom mirror situation. We also ripped out the plastic tub enclosures and tiled those areas. We replaced one of the tubs and made one of of them a walk in shower with a glass door.
Awww isn’t that so much better? Clean and fresh but still cozy and cottage-like. (Yes, that is me taking the photo in the shower…I suppose I could have cropped it but it’s nice to see the new subway tile in the shower.) You can also see how wood when exposed to sunlight darkens over time. I removed a square picture that had been hanging on the left.
We used the same drop in sinks, plumbing fittings and sconces in both of the bathrooms. I like to keep it simple when I can. There is no need to reinvent the wheel.
Odd location for a hand towel, don’t ya think?
There are 3 bedrooms in this home and the guest room below has sort of a “Coastal Grandma” vibe which we decided to expand upon.
We updated the furnishings in the bedrooms and the roman shades (after these images were taken.) We added blackout shades which is so nice for guests when the sun rises at 5 am in the North East.
Do you see those stuffed animals tucked into the closet drapery rod? If you want to torture me, make me live with stuffed animals. I don’t think I ever liked them even as a kid. I wanted to talk about the wallpaper and your parent’s bedroom.
I cannot emphasize enough how important accessories are! I hope this before and after helps to deepen this point. Accessories personalize any room and bring interest and texture. Here we have a beautiful nautical feel, brass mirror, more art, hats as a collage, and dried foliage. I am pretty sure that this makes me a typical interior decorator, but I love fresh or dried flowers and greenery. They are always appropriate. That basket of guest towels is pretty cute too. The painting on the right side is a watercolor of the cottage that came with the house… you can see how it sits on the rocks. Don’t you want to be a guest here!?
Below is my Pinterest inspiration for this project. I love the discovery part of a project and looking through the work of so many talented and creative folks. It gives me all the feels, as they say.
As I am pulling a project together, I create a private Pinterest board to organize the final selections. It’s very helpful to see how the elements come together digitally. The items below were all sourced for this project from a variety of places. I use a mix of trade-only vendors and retail stores depending on the project budget, location, and timeline. The client and I loved each and every item below. Do you see most of these items in the finished space? I suppose I am a nerd, but it’s a fun game to play.
Moving upstairs to the principal bedroom, you can see we kept the ceiling light and the bed frame. There was a lot of hunter green and cranberry red in this house which are two popular colors from the 90s. We neutralized the color by adding lots of black and white and a touch of green. Have I mentioned how much I love pillows yet? You can’t have enough! A window seat is the prime spot for layers of pillows so you can actually sit there and be comfortable. I see so many window seats that don’t have ample cushioning. We can do better than that.
In the kids room, we went a little more playful and light. Aren’t these high ceilings lovely?
A home is always evolving and changing just like we are.
The end.
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