I always enjoy featuring cottages, especially one like this whose interior has been very creatively opened up to the landscape and water. The site also includes two detached sheds, one for lawn and garden equipment and one waterside room divided into a screened porch and a sewing room for one of the owners who is an accomplished quilter. The story and a half cottage is clad in light blue shake siding, darker blue shutters and white trim with the front door’s accent of bright yellow. Previous owners had expanded the cottage on one side to enlarge the living room and to provide a window at the rear for views of the water. This expansion also created space for a double unit window at the front for additional sunlight. Another addition at the rear of the house added a family room as part of a great room concept of family-dining-kitchen. The family area’s wall of windows and French doors on three sides feels like a sunroom oriented to the water views. The second floor is also filled with sunlight from double unit window dormers and other windows at the side gable walls.
My tour began with the former front porch which is now a spacious foyer with the entry door surrounded by windows. The tile floor is a great walk-off choice for an entry and the pitched ceiling, walls and ceilings of creamy white beadboard gives the space a light and airy feeling. The clear vista from the front door ends at the rear wall of waterside windows of the great room. Offset from the foyer is the original entry space now furnished with a chest for gloves and scarves and a hall tree unit for wellies and jackets but could easily become an office. Past the stairs and cross the hall is the original living room with a fireplace that the current owners use as a primary bedroom. The built-in modular slate blue unit is now a clever headboard infilled with family photographs and books for reading before turning in for the night.
The stair hall blends into the great room beginning with the kitchen at one side opposite the dining area. A lovely hooked rug in red tones anchors the wood table and chairs in front of a wall inset with glass blocks that allows sunlight to filter into the dining area from the window of the adjacent laundry room. The glass wall projects slightly into the dining area to create open shelving for display. Opposite the laundry room is a full bath and like me, the current owners removed an existing tub/shower unit and extended the flooring into the new shower area. A great way to increase the floor area in a small space and an accessible shower is a plus. I also liked the vertical lighting on either side of the lavatory cabinet which is much better than overhead lighting alone.
The “U” shape’s Craftsman style kitchen cabinets have a lighter finish than the beautiful hardwood floors for a pleasing contrast and the corners of the “U” are rounded with open shelving at the ends of both the base and upper cabinets for display. The back to back base cabinets facing the family room makes a perfect spot for setting out the bar and buffet for family or friends. The stainless steel appliances and the dark solid surface countertops complete the look.
The waterside family room is clearly the hub of the house with its continuous wall of windows and doors to the deck. The comfortable furnishings in red, blue and white pick up the colors of the large rug. Next to the family room is a deck for grilling that connects the house to the detached shed containing the screened porch and workroom. Vertical rows of glass block are used again to filter the sunlight within and the screened porch with its two walls of screening is a great alternative for dining. The water views from the workroom makes a quite pleasant environment for the Owner and I admired the quilt in progress with its predominant log cabin pattern amid other patterns.
I never can resist the charm of upper floor spaces tucked under the eaves and sloped ceilings of the roof’s framing. This house’s upper rooms are light filled on all sides from the front double unit window dormers, the gable side windows and the rear shed dormer’s double windows. The high gable window in the primary bedroom is perfect above the bed’s headboard and I liked the angular geometry of the front dormers that follow the structure up to the collar beam at the flat portion of the rooms. The smallest bedroom is set up as a dressing room with a desk under the windows for a home office. I loved the interior design of the child’s room with the twin bed tucked into the front dormer alcove and open shelving recessed into the eave walls.
The house has undergone an extensive renovation that new owners would much appreciate including lifting the house onto a new foundation with a concrete crawlspace, solar panels for electricity, updated septic and new well. The property includes a private pier with 4-5 slips and boathouse, protected shoreline with unobstructed views of Balls Creek and waterside fire pit. The kitchen and baths in neutral finishes are ready for new Owners’ personal tastes. A great family home close to Neavitt Park!
For more information about this property, contact Brian Petzold at Chesapeake Bay Properties, 410-820-8008( v), 410-725-6852 (c) or [email protected]. For more photographs and pricing visit https://www.chesapeakebayproperty.com/ “Equal Housing Opportunity”.
Spy House of the Week is an ongoing series that selects a different home each week. The Spy’s Habitat editor Jennifer Martella makes these selections based exclusively on her experience as a architect.
Jennifer Martella has pursued her dual careers in architecture and real estate since she moved to the Eastern Shore in 2004. Her award winning work has ranged from revitalization projects to a collaboration with the Maya Lin Studio for the Children’s Defense Fund’s corporate retreat in her home state of Tennessee.
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