Rosecliff Cottage

Rosecliff Cottage in Boothbay Harbor, Maine, is a cottage I have long admired.

A 1920's Gothic Revival cottage, it was owned by interior designer Cornelia Smithwick when I first came upon it a few years ago.  I believe it has since been sold.

The cottage began as a fisherman's shack and was added onto over the years.  However, once the Smithwick's took over the cottage (around 2000) they added the front veranda and surrounded the property with rugosa roses, lilacs, peonies and other cottage garden flowers. The front of the house faces the Atlantic ocean and the back yard was developed into a beautiful meandering path.

As their retirement home, Cornelia put her 30 years of design experience to work and filled the cottage with floral fabrics, lightening and brightening each room.  Surrounded by her favorite comforts and collections, it became their little haven by the sea.

Just love its charm!

This was the room that I fell in love with in a magazine 

(which I had to scan - hence, the faded look -

 it's really bright and cheerful in the magazine!)

A Lake Cottage by Sarah Richardson Designs

Sarah Richardson's design team has been hard at work on this newly built cottage for a family of six.

Even though it's new, it looks like it's been there forever.  

With beadboard, board and batten and vintage touches throughout, the cottage is a sheer delight.

Enjoy!

   

The soft green ceiling is a nice addition.  The large windows and natural light bring the outdoors in.

And the distressed looking floors would be so low maintenance.

Antique corbels add to the aged look.

Nice pattern on the ceiling.

Country Living

Palm Beach Villa

After a couple of days of black and white images and cloudy skies in Charlottetown, I need a dose of sunshine!

So-o-o-o, let's take a little trip to Palm Beach where sunny skies pour down over what is considered the prettiest town in all of America.

Strategically situated on the waterfront sits a grand villa that exudes sumptuous charm inside and out. You need only to glance at the yellow stuccoed, Palladian featured villa, surrounded by palm trees and stone balconies and stairs, to realize someone has given a lot of thought to making the most of its very special circumstances.

Having purchased this 1920s John Volk designed home years ago, the present owners worked with architect, Thomas Kirchhoff, to bring the home up to its present standards.

The American diplomat and his wife had spent stints in Europe and with her background in design and love of art, she has managed to lighten and brighten the previously darkened interiors with her swaths of custom colored Donald Kaufman paints in shades of blue that blend beautifully with the sea and sky.

With her wonderful shades of blue on the walls, blue and white ceramics, vases of fresh flowers throughout, mirrored furniture (for reflection), antiques, unique art work, and scads of luscious fabrics, the overall result is a breath of fresh air.

Notice the Picasso and Matisse studies on each side of the fireplace.  The buffalo check window treatments certainly lend a relaxed feel to the living room.

The dark antique Chinese cabinet holds Roman glass.

Love this mirrored hutch filled with a collection of blue and white ceramics.  Notice, also, the fabric panelled walls.

Soothing, calm and so, so pretty!

TBT - Ainsworth Noah Cabin

Hi Everyone,

I hope you don't tire of my cabin posts.  This should be the last one for awhile, but I wanted to share this beautiful home in - guess where? - Cashiers, North Carolina!!  Remember here and here?  So, Toby West, Ainsworth and Noah were neighbors with the late Charles Faudree who also had a cabin here and who decorated the home I featured in 'Cabin Fever'.  Apparently, this mountain area is a haven for other decorators, too.

It's a small world and a an awful lot of talent in these hills.

So, Hal Ainsworth and Winton Noah, who at the time of this publication, owned the largest space at the Atlanta Decorating and Design Centre, a condo in Atlanta, and an apartment in Paris decided to build this log home as their weekend getaway.

With it's massive 32-foot ceilings in the entrance hall and the living room, they needed large scale furnishings to make the spaces cozy and welcoming.  As an example, the living room sofa is 109" long and 46" deep.  The doorways are 8' tall.

Since they regularly travelled to Europe 6 - 8 times a year for their valued finds and clearly had lots of great pieces to choose from, they then proceeded to fill their home with a collection of antiques, folk art, twig and willow furniture - all complemented by the homey touches of quilts, toiles, plaids and checks.  All just beautiful.

But, the biggest surprise of all was the white shiplapped and beamed guest room with blue and white decor!  At first, I thought there were some pages missing from the magazine and that I was looking at another story, but, no it was all part of the plan......as well as another white walled guest room and games room.

Quite a partnership these two have considering that Ainsworth was quoted as saying in the article that "I can decorate and Hal can't add"!  Obviously, they work as a tandem team and fill in the voids for one another as needed.

Enjoy!

They have three wraparound porches.

The very big sofa I mentioned.

Hal's bedroom with a Niermann Weeks bed and Carleton Varney toile.

Winton Noah's bed is made from local wood.

And this is the surprise - love the shiplap walls and painted beams.  Also, the blue and white is just lovely.

Another guest room with patchwork and plaids.

 Games room.

The back porch.


 Veranda
July - August 2001

The Cuthbert House

Here we are again, as promised, with another of Furlow Gatewood's wonderful homes on his Georgia compound that I featured last week here.

Enjoy and have a great day!