Better Homes and Gardens BH&G Cottage Style - Fall/Winter 2021

I lived in three different houses growing up, but my favorite by far was the cozy cottage my parents built when their second daughter (me!) came along. It wasn’t a big house by any means, but it was just perfect for the four—soon to be five—of us and our rambunctious Lab, Nelson. Even at a young age, I knew we had something special in that house. Space was at a premium, but love, humor, kindness, and fun were abundant. Such is the case with the many beautiful homes we’re sharing in this issue of Cottage Style. There’s the darling Tybee Island cottage that designer Jane Coslick reimagined for owners Lorraine and Scott Boice (“Sunny Side Up,” page 64). A picket fence and arbor gate welcome guests to the brightly painted front…

The scent of salt water and the faint sound of barking seals drift through the Dutch doors of Johnny and Anna Sherwood’s cottage as Anna chats in the living room with her mom. “We were just discussing green shag carpet,” Anna says. “When my grandparents lived in this house, I remember sorting my Halloween candy on that shag. My mom remembers sitting in the very same spot and watching the Beatles on Ed Sullivan for the first time.” When you live in the 1939 beach cottage your great-grandmother, grandparents, and parents inhabited before you, memories reach into every nook like grains of sand. Especially when that cottage is on California’s charming Balboa Island. To preserve the home’s classic character when renovating to gain space for their two young girls, Johnny and Anna…

The first thing Cheryl Commers does when arriving at her newly updated Wisconsin lake home is fling open the windows and doors. “I love to hear the loons and the boats on the water,” she says. “The sounds are so soothing, and that’s what I want my time here to be—soothing, casual, and relaxing.” Those three adjectives were paramount when interior designer Bria Hammel, owner of Bria Hammel Interiors in Minneapolis, helped Cheryl refresh her family’s summer gathering spot. Just 90 minutes east of the Twin Cities, the cottage’s picturesque setting and open floor plan are the stuff of lake-home dreams. But Cheryl was growing tired of the decades-old interior aesthetic, with its surplus of natural woods and heavy, dark furniture. “This lake home is idyllic in many ways,” Hammel says.…

Beth Odence knew tying the knot with her husband, Phil, would mean spending every summer in Cotuit, Massachusetts, the Cape Cod town he’d summered in every year since he was born. Fast-forward a few decades and Beth, a designer, suggested the couple shift to being year-rounders. Their main draw was an old sea captain’s home in the heart of town where the empty nesters could live full-time and Beth could focus on her new businesses. The late-1700s shingled Cape boasted plenty of seaside charm yet needed a lot of love. It had been added on to over the years and once operated as a bed-and-breakfast. In an extensive remodel Beth and Phil fixed the foundation, unearthed a hidden chimney, repaired water damage, restored plaster, refinished floorboards, and sent heat to the…

Blogger Sara McDaniel is a woman of many talents. Among them is the ability to see potential, coaxing the best out of people and places. As a former teacher and assistant principal, she travels the country helping educators and schools excel. So when she decided to move back to her hometown of Minden, Louisiana, after a stint in Dallas, she instinctively gravitated to a seemingly hopeless 1920s cottage, abandoned for nearly a decade. “I was unequivocally smitten,” Sara says. Barely visible behind an overgrown tangle of trees, bushes, and vines, the worn and weathered porch gave way to a warren of tiny rooms piled floor-to-ceiling with years of dust-layered belongings, yellowing papers, and long-expired canned goods. But even the caved ceilings, rotting wood, and critters in the attic didn’t deter Sara—she…