The Cottage Journal Summer 2017

In this issue of The Cottage Journal we celebrate warm days and summertime fun as seen in our visit to coastal Maine. We found waterside cottages, scenic views, and most of all, friendly residents. Take a look at “Home Sweet Harbor,” on page 33, and you will understand why we look forward to another visit. On the Gulf Coast of Alabama we found a one-of-a-kind gem. Featured in “Less is More,” page 63, light-filled interiors and white painted rooms create an inviting backdrop for a daughter’s artwork and provide a cool, relaxing ambience for family and friends. “Love Street Cottage,” page 53, is the story of the renovation of a quaint 1920s home. The couple created an open space where light spills in and all can gather. The design plan…

Being married to a builder, I have lived in a lot of houses. We built most of them, but the one house we purchased that was already built was because of the porch. The house was on a beautiful lot and had a fabulous porch overlooking a shaded pool with a waterfall. The porch drew us outside for dinners, afternoon naps, and visiting with friends—and all of it was better on the porch. A porch or patio space is an affordable luxury for most. If you are planning to add a porch or want to add some pizazz to your seemingly underappreciated porch, consider some of the following ideas as you plan to up the style. A breeze. The actual design of the porch can help this. A covered space…

“The point of interior design, really, is to add an unexpected touch to something ordinary.” —ASHLEY GILBREATH As a little girl Ashley Gilbreath played designer and decorator with her sister and, over the years, her play turned into her passion. She worked in residential design in New York with Richard Keith Langham and later moved to Atlanta to work in hospitality design. It was there Ashley met a Southern gentleman she would marry. The couple later moved back to his hometown of Montgomery, Alabama, where Ashley established Ashley Gilbreath Design. After a few years, the couple experienced the loss of premature twin babies, and they were heartbroken. Ashley says, “I needed something to use to take my mind off me. So I decided to open a shop, even knowing retail…

Beautiful is a word that conjures up many expectations. It is one of the highest praises given and exudes the essence of lofty perfection. Using the word “beautiful” in a book title sets its expectation even higher—for how could one have the audacity to proclaim that there is something on every page that encapsulates such a declarative word? Author and interior designer Mark D. Sikes dares to profess his designs as such. The masterful artistry in his book Beautiful: All-American Decorating and Timeless Style (Rizzoli, 2016), does not disappoint. The book and its preceding blog, Mark D. Sikes: Chic People, Glamorous Places, Stylish Things, came to be as he pursued his passion to curate all things beautiful. This universal idea of beauty is translated into the pages of this tome…

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Like anything else authentic, whenever you see a true, bona fide cottage that’s as quaint as it is inviting–you know it. It just so happens that this charming abode, with its picket fence and arched arbor above the entry gate, perfectly displays all of the style’s attributes. In fact, being located in Kennebunkport, Maine, the gray cedar-shingled dwelling not only has appeal going for it, but also takes full advantage of the surrounding views of Cape Porpoise Harbor. Lovingly renovated by the current owner, who is a real estate developer and hotelier, the cottage reclaimed its intended allure through both a sense of nostalgia and great timing. “Although the homeowner had built several houses in the area, he jumped at the chance to buy this little gem once it came…