COTE DE COTTAGE

I have always had a strong connection to the beach.  I attribute this to being a water sign, a Scorpio, born in November.  But most likely it is just that my family also loved the beach.  There are home movies of me in Galveston, taken by my father when I was just a baby.  His camera is trained on my face, framed by my wild curls, while I fall asleep in my stroller, lulled by the ocean’s waves and wind.  My large extended family went to Galveston every Sunday in the summer.  We drove the fifty miles from Houston in the early morning, the car laden with ice chests filled with watermelon and cherries along with lunch and Dr. Pepper.  We spent the day floating on the gulf, getting sunburned, and then, we drove back home before dark, still feeling the motion of the waves.   I’ve always loved Galveston and for years I imagined that one day I would live there.  It’s a small, friendly town with many historic houses that miraculously survived the terrible hurricane of 1900. 

   

Besides the beach, Galveston’s architecture, reminiscent of New Orleans’ Garden District is another appeal to me.

      This 1874 beauty has recently been restored and will be opening as a boutique hotel this winter.  HERE   It’s a fine example of how historic this island is but at the same time, it can be surprisingly chic. 

The architecture and beach was always a draw.  But, personal issues put off any discussion of moving.  Although my elderly parents had round the clock caretakers, they still relied on me for companionship, and errands – such as driving them to and from family events and just being 10 minutes away.   We would never know when they might need something and moving to Galveston was just not feasible.  As you probably know, my parents both succumbed to Covid that first year.   Then, our daughter Elisabeth was getting married and moving into her own home. 

Suddenly, Ben and I didn’t really have any reason why we couldn’t move to the beach, after all fifty miles isn’t really that far away.

One late night my BFF Lisa and I were perusing real estate photos of houses for sale in Galveston and we saw this small cottage.  Bright yellow, it looked so charming, and it was new!  Ben is a hard sell for an older house.  To him, it means expensive repairs – even if it has been restored from top to bottom.   This photo of the yellow cottage stuck in my mind.  It was located in a newish community, Evia, that had its start 15 years ago.  Recently, the building in Evia had begun again and desirable lots were getting hard to find there.

Built up on higher land with large retaining ponds for hurricane protection, Evia lies between the bay and beach.  Miraculously, during Hurricane Ike, Evia had sustained only light wind damage.   I showed Ben the photos and we decided to drive to the island and take a look around.  An hour later, we had written a check as a down payment on the last lot available on the lake!   We drove home in a state of shock.  Were we really moving to Galveston??????????

Finally?????

We bought the lot (where the red X is, above) along with the house that was to be built there – a one story, the only one story floor plan available.  We could customize and upgrade some choices, but for a designer like me, the process was a bit frustrating – not being able to choose exactly what I wanted.

I finally just thought, well forget all that.  If I want to change something, I will - after we move in.   This all happened during Covid and the building went very slowly, which was actually the best for me.  I spent months thinking about decor choices –did I want a change or was I going to decorate in my usual way?  

Our new house is a small cottage – three bedrooms and two baths, but the third bedroom is really used as a study.  This study has large pocket doors that open directly to the living room, making them seem like one room.  We gained some extra square footage by adding a large bay window in the dining room.    There were a few things that are not available in these houses - which I really still miss:  no fireplace and no library with lots of shelving!!  

About a year and a half after that fateful Sunday, we moved into our Cote de Cottage.   Thank God for my daughter who actually does house organizing now that she has left the fashion world.     The morning after we moved in, I woke up and sobbed.  There was no way I was ever going to get all those boxes unpacked and put away.  But our little angel came to save the day.  Elisabeth organized our closets, kitchen, and pantry – in one day.  She was such a huge help.  We also hired a few helpers from online apps like Handy who have been an enormous help these past months since last June.   And honestly, we aren’t through yet.   The guest room and master bedroom aren’t finished.   I just got tired of the continual check writing!!!  I’ll finish soon, but it seems to matter less and less. 

In the end, Ben and I couldn’t be happier.  We think we’ve never been this happy before.  It’s all so casual.  Getting our new drivers license took 15 minutes.  Anywhere you want to go on the island takes no time at all.

  We go to the beach at sunset and listen to the waves.   We pick up shrimp and eat poor boys from trailers on the bay. 

And, our neighbors are the nicest people in the world, even though I do think we are the only Democrats living in Evia.  LOL.   I take that back.  We did see a Beto sign in a front yard!

Most important, this house seems a perfect fit for us.   For the first few months, we would catch each other looking around and smiling. One of us would say – “I just love my house!!!” 

That’s Cote de Cottage between the two two story houses.

 

 

A view of the brick flowerbeds and front porch.  Originally I had selected this color for the exterior, but changed it to a light blue.   As you can see that change order didn’t make it, but Ben really liked the color, so c’est la vie.

 

A view at dusk with the new lanterns that somehow look like Texas Longhorns.

Looking down at the row of houses to our left.

Our immediate neighbor to the left is a harbor pilot.  He guides all the huge ships into the bay.  There’s another harbor pilot that lives right behind us. 

To our right is a family from Houston who uses the house on weekends only.

Before I put up the lanterns.  The lavender faded within a week.  I’ll probably find a faux leaf for the basket.

 

Welcome!   You walk right into our living room.  The rug is from Erin Gates Collection.

 

Past the living room is the dining room and kitchen.  This was a big change order I made.  Before, there wasn’t really any division between these two rooms, so I had the builders build 3’ walls on each side to create a division.

The scallop shades came from Ballard HERE. 

Looking back to the front door.  At the left is the study, which can be closed off with two large Galveston styled pocket doors.

Across from the sofa is the Frame TV.  To the right is the study.

The view from the study into the living area.  The two white slip covered French antique chairs came from Eloquence.  The rest of this furniture I already owned, including the lantern.

The curtains are Fabricut

ARBORETUM RAIN.  Fabricut is one of my favorite fabric sources.  They make gorgeous linens and their prices are very reasonable.  The checks are Fabricut Trend, large and small in Sky.   The blue velvet is Stroheim, also Fabricut.

A view from the living room into the dining room with the large bay window.

The front side of the living room with Micki sleeping in her bed. 

 

Looking from the living room into the dining room and the kitchen beyond.

The study to the right of the living area.  These three rooms open  to each other – the living room, study, and dining room/kitchen.

Night view.

The rug is Amazon Here.

The windows look onto the front porch.  There’s a small Frame TV on the side wall of the pocket doors and this is where I watch TV away from Ben’s sports!   

Curtains, Fabricut Trend  02962
DENIM

This was the room that I knew immediately what I would do with it.  I wanted the antique Buffet Deux Corp to be centered on the back wall and act as a focal point when you walked in the front door and looked right at the study.  Also, it’s the focal point when you sit in the living room.   I filled it with my collection of Blue Opaline and the pieces of Blue Opaline that I inherited from my mother.  I bought the beautiful stool from blogger Architectdesignblog.  No clue why he sold it, but I grabbed it from him asap and then recovered it for the cottage.

Looking from the living room into the dining room and the kitchen.  Anchoring the space is the back wall with the stove.

The chairs came from Wayfair HERE.

Looking back from the dining room into the living room and the front door.  The table is the one I had in my old house’s breakfast room.  My BFF Lisa stored it for me while we lived in the apartment for a few years.  It’s from Joyce Horn, Houston.

Looking at the table and the bay window with two French slip covered chairs.  The chandelier came from Eloquence.

Two antique chairs sit in the bay window.   All slips by the incomparable Hien Lam. 

Everything on this table came straight from my parent’s house.  I’ve always loved this clock, but they never wound it and said it was broken!  It’s not.  It has the most delicate ring.   Betty Rae collected Masonware which started me collecting it too.  She had this oriental tray on her coffee table, along with these glasses.

This shows how the house is really open so it reads bigger than it actually is.  The kitchen dining room next to the living room next to the study.  At the hall – is the guest room and powder room.  

The Lone Ranger Mora clock.

The kitchen island is painted a deep blue/dark gray.  Above the island are the scallop pendants from Serena & Lily. These are an example of something we changed when we moved in.  And, boy, they are beautiful!!

This is the wall on the other side of the kitchen which gave me nightmares.  But in the end, I fleshed out the cabinet by adding plates and sconces and urns so that it fits the long wall better.   The bar stools also came from Serena and Lily.

I literally lost sleep over this long wall!  But I guess it came out alright in the end.

You can see the importance of the division that I added between the living room and the dining room.  I actually wanted the opening to mimic the exact size of the opening of the pocket doors into the study, but it would have been too closed off.  I guess. 

 

The stove wall.  Easy to decorate when you don’t cook!

The bar is just on the kitchen counter – purely for looks.  Ben and I haven’t had a drink in decades.  Although I must admit when we see someone having a whiskey in a beautiful cut crystal glass with tumbled ice on the TV – we look at each other and say – “I miss that!”

The pantry and back door that leads to a deck.  We are probably going to landscape the side yard this spring and replace the grass with gravel.  They wouldn’t let us do that before we moved in. 

 

The guest room which is Ben’s hiding spot when he has migraines.   The curtains I ordered are not here yet.

I made a few decor changes in this house.  Instead of seagrass everywhere – I put it only in the two bedrooms.  I just liked the dark wood floors.  I know light oak is in, but I just prefer dark wood with white slips. 

The other side of the guestroom.   The antique chair came from Eloquence.

  

The curtains and pillows are from Botanica Trading via James Showroom in Houston.

   

 

The powder room.  Can’t decide if I will wallpaper.  I also am thinking of doing the subway tile around the room as a wainscot. 

Off the kitchen is the laundry “room” and master bedroom.

The master bedroom which I haven’t decided what to do with yet.  Curtains?  Wallpaper?

All the Swedish furniture is from Lone Ranger through Chairish.

 

Right now I am keeping my decor book library in here.  I started building it back up after I had to let go of all my books when we moved to the apartment.  Ben’s books are neatly stacked on metal bookcases – in the garage.  I have to take a picture of the library/garage.

BTW, our neighbors are not happy with the books in the garage.  Lots of advice was thrown our way.  What they don’t realize is all these books were bought online at huge discounts.   Most were like $5 or $10.   A lot are from closed libraries, which is so strange.

The master bedroom and bathroom and closet are all rather large, which is really nice.   The shower is to die for!   But, we did just install two grab bars that match our hardware.  Hey!!!  We are 67 years old!!!

Well, these pieces were a gift from a friend/former client!  She was flooded out during our last hurricane Harvey and moved to a highrise and hired the fabulous designer Shabby Slips Renee Abbott instead of me.  LOL.  These two pieces were not needed in her new ultra chic highrises, so she asked me if I wanted them?  Seriously!!  The chest is from Chelsea Editions and the antique mirror is from Joyce Horn Antiques.  And wow. I think they look like they were made for this area.  Thanks, my friend!

By the way, the window shades came from Amazon.  I have ordered more shades for all the living room windows because the sun is bright and I don’t want the curtains to fade so quickly.  I ordered these white shades with a liner.  If I hate the liner – I’ll just cut it out?

One other comment on the shades.  I’m really going against all my previous advice – hanging the shades above the window so as to hide that dead spot between the ceiling and window. 

I really, really fretted over this.  I’ve never had such pretty molding on my windows before.  These are not custom molding at all, but they do resemble old Galveston house moldings and I just did not want to cover them up.  Also, since the shades are a soft white I think they will blend in and won’t be so harsh like the darker wicker shades.

Again, I suppose, if I hate the way they look I guess I can either not use them or reorder them larger to hide the dead zone.   Because they are from Amazon they are very very reasonable. 

OK, so this is it for now.  I’ll show the shades when they arrive and the new guest room curtains and the master bedroom changes, along with the side yard landscaping – if I ever get around to all this!!   There’s a big part of me that is so satisfied and happy with the way things are now.

 

 

There are other things that I SWORE I was going to change the day we moved in:

I swore I was going to replace all the white plastic AC grates, electrical plugs and the light switch plates.  Here

      Still hasn’t happened, but it will, probably.   

And, the door knobs. HERE They were going to be upgraded immediately.  But….   lol.  

     

I hope you enjoyed this tour!!!