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With the winter holidays fast approaching, you might consider gifting The New Cottage or The New Small House to the home-design enthusiast on your list.
You can also find the cottage book and the small-house book at an independent bookstore near you!
Perhaps, gift both books together ;-)
by Katie Hutchison for House Enthusiast
Pick up a copy of The Vine from The Vineyard Gazette for a story I wrote about three cottage kitchens found in my latest book The New Cottage from The Taunton Press. Better yet, pick up a copy of the book ;-) Available at Bunch of Grapes on Martha’s Vineyard, a local bookstore near you, and online.
by Katie Hutchison for House Enthusiast
Kitchen addition by Katie Hutchison Studio (KHS) featuring O&G stools at the breakfast bar peninsula. (Also note some Oliveira Textiles custom pillows in the “Spiral Tide” pattern on the built-in bench to the left.)
Next up in “Get the KHS Look” is O&G Studio furnishings as seen in my book The New Cottage from The Taunton Press and here online in the KHS Touisset Small House renovation/addition. This new kitchen/dining/sitting space, which resembles a crisp enclosed porch, is an addition to a c. +/- 1910 cottage in Warren, R.I. The renovation/addition includes design elements inspired by tradition that we’ve updated for a cleaner aesthetic. The white, reveal board wainscot is a more contemporary take on the tried-and-true beadboard found elsewhere in the original house. And clear-finished mahogany ceiling beams reinterpret the exposed ceiling joists in the adjacent original living room, while lending the kitchen a bit of a nautical finish. So O&G stools and chairs, which reinvent classic design, fit right in.
The O&G seating is the “Wayland Fan-back counter stool,” made of maple and sporting an Azimuth stain, which suited the mildly nautical vibe.
At the nearby KHS-designed custom mahogany table, the O&G “Wayland Low-back side chairs”, also in maple with Azimuth stain, sit opposite the KHS-designed custom banquette. (And, yes, those are more “Spiral Tide” pillows by Oliveira Textiles)
Here’s another view of the side chairs.
Near the cottage entrance, the “Moana mirror” by O&G captures a view of the original stone fireplace surround which was fitted with a new wood-stove insert, new soapstone mantel, and new soapstone hearth as part of the KHS renovation.
It was important to this homeowner to utilize local vendors and craftsman, like Warren’s O&G Studio, where possible. But you can acquire O&G furnishings and KHS design services, too, even if you’re somewhat farther afield. Don’t be shy; be in touch.
by Katie Hutchison for House Enthusiast
This cottage architecture, complete with cottage garden, speaks to me every time I pass it. In the ten + years I’ve been admiring it, the house has changed color, and the garden has evolved, but my affinity for it has never wavered. This romance is founded on curves.
The curved-top casements and trim, just kissing the eave fascia, and the decorative shared pilasters between them suggest a cheerful, well-crafted, and sunny space within. The gate with its varied height pickets picks up on the curve theme and, when slightly ajar, allows passersby to peek into a whimsical garden. The robin’s-egg blue house-color accentuates the bright palette of the flowers, which border the serpentine, stepping-stone path, and lends it a storybook look.
It’s a romantic ensemble for which I’ll never tire.
by Katie Hutchison for House Enthusiast
Waumbek, a cottage on Bustins Island, Maine, is one of roughly 100, mostly antique, small dwellings that ring the three-quarter-mile length of this summer community.
The deep porch, wrapping around the narrow, one and one-half story gable-end shades over-sized windows from harsh afternoon sun, while low window sills welcome softer daylight. Such generous windows can help a small space feel larger. I’ve written about the appealing pattern of “small house, big windows” in a previous design snapshot. The windows' black sashes add crisp borders, like eye-liner around twinkling eyes.
Waumbek is practically a porch with a house, rather than the other way round. The sizable porch adds invaluable outdoor-living space, furthering Waumbek’s surprising sense of spaciousness, considering its size.
Wide, cross-braced guard rails pick up on the broad strokes of the windows and ample porch, suggesting a more generous space than a busy, smaller-scale, baluster design would. Angled brackets on the porch posts quietly echo the cross rails and frame a more personable space between bays.
No surprise, I favor the gable-end treatment of green, accent shingles defining the tippy top, while a white, trim board, in-line with the second floor window-head trim, transitions to the yellow clapboards of the upper-middle section, above the lower porch roof.
To me, Waumbek is an ideal cottage, one to inspire future designs.
For additional reading about Bustins Island and its history, consider The Story of Bustins, a Maine Summer Island.
by Katie Hutchison for House Enthusiast
