Despite the recent drops in nighttime temperatures in the Wasatch Back that threaten to take out our tomatoes and basil and the orange leaves on the northern slopes of the Wasatch, I maintain that summer is not over! I’m a self-admitted lover of warm weather and summers. With COVID, it was hard for many of us to escape to somewhere wonderful and to enjoy a summer vacation this year, so I’m indulging in a fantasy week at a seaside cottage.
The rocking wicker chairs look out to the Atlantic in Manasquan, New Jersey. The beach is wide and sandy, and in addition to sunning and chasing frisbees, people are out swimming, surfing, fishing, boating and sailing. Manasquan holds the distinction of being the northernmost point of the Inland Waterway.
I met Tom Bateman of Imagineered Homes when I photographed homes for The Coastal Cottage, a book written by my trusted photo assistant, Ann, and published by Gibbs Smith in 2017. Tom and his team designed and built this and a number of other homes in the book, and Tom and Cathy Bateman lived in this one for a period of time.
The living room represents a mastery of living well in a small space. The white board and batten walls and open-beamed ceiling make the room feel larger and airier. The Maine Cottage furniture adds bright hues reminiscent of summer sherbets, and the ships, fish-motif accessories, and oar curtain rods are a reminder of place, even if you are shut in during a summer rain.
Continuing through the home, the dining room looks out three windows. It is a part of an open plan with the living room. The painted green floors were difficult to see in the living area shot, but continue through. The home is on a corner lot, and the design had to address the proximity of the adjacent neighbor and maintained privacy between the two by eliminating windows on that side. The ample windows on the opposite side compensate for the loss of light.
The kitchen is another interesting use of space. It cuts across the width of the home in essentially a long hallway with a door to the outside to form an efficient galley kitchen. For more light, there is a transom above the door with its glass window.
Moving upstairs, the painted floors transition to a deep red, but the walls and ceiling stay cottage white. The home office is “found space” in the bedroom hallway.
The upstairs bedroom’s furniture plays with tones of blue that work well, not unlike the blues of the sky and the sea.
This cottage offers my fantasy vacation: just enough space to be comfortable for a week. To top off my perfect imaginary week, I’ll return to the seafood restaurant on a pier that the Batemans introduced me to and again order macaroni and cheese with lobster. Consider it an Imagineered vacation!
Take a trip to Scot’s other Photo Fridays here.
