A Cottage Blossoms

A Long Island home gets a vintage makeover that blends classic fl oral patterns and British colonial charm to create a timeless getaway destination.

- Madison Nauta

For the Manhattan natives that reside in this 2,000-square-foot flower box of a home, a Long Island cottage was just what they needed to get away from the hustle and bustle of the Big Apple. The fixer-upper cottage was built in the early 1900s and was once an add-on to a larger property in the Locust Valley area of New York. The house underwent some major renovations and an interior makeover to bring it to the inviting North Shore cottage it is today.

A NOVEL HOME

The neighborhood seems straight out of an F. Scott Fitzgerald novel. The home is surrounded by a lot of larger houses and their adjoining cottages. The homeowners and Dean DeTura of Budget Contractors, tried to keep as many original elements as possible when they set out to revive the rundown property. Amal Kapen, the interior designer, says, “They tried to keep the original wide-plank floors where possible, and the outside was refurbished to its former charming facade.”

SPECIAL SYMMETRY

With any small home, there will be some design challenges. In this cottage, a main priority was disguising the multitude of eaves in the home. Amal says, “A busy, nondirectional pattern can help in blurring the many lines created by the eaves.” Paying attention to symmetry and balance is key, but that becomes difficult in a home where the windows and doors are not centered.

By using the furnishings and accessories as the focal points of the room, Amal was able to create balance where previously there wasn’t any. “When you are dealing with a cottage, your furniture must be in the right proportions so as not to overwhelm the space or make it look too crowded,” she says. With the abundance of prints, colors and furniture, balance is essential. Amal took special care to make sure that each room had just enough color and pattern to complement each other.