Decorating & Design
June 6, 2022
Inside The Most Charming East Coast Homes From Our Pages
The East Coast is known for its wealth of natural beauty, from stunning shorelines and rugged coasts, to sweeping views of the mountains and quaint harbor villages. Taking cues from the breathtaking landscape, East Coast style is equally as charming. Browse through these East Coast homes from the H&H archives that perfectly balance serene palettes, natural materials and personal touches that evoke a sense of coziness and relaxation.
A Cape Cod-style House In Chester, N.S.
Chester holds a special place in seasoned designer and stylist Deb Nelson’s heart. “It’s an incredibly charming seaside village filled with classic historical homes and beautiful ocean views. I’ve been coming here since I was a teenager, and I always wanted to have a place in the area.” The picturesque village has been home to not one but three of Deb’s dwellings — all within a few blocks of one another, and all gracing the pages of H&H. She sold her former house to buy two places: one in Halifax (where she often needs to be for work) and this one in Chester. “It’s smaller and has a quiet location in the village, which made it appealing to me,” she says. The modest three-bedroom, one-bathroom, which she shares part-time with her partner, Ken, puts her style on full display.
It’s not unusual to find the designer sleuthing for treasures in secondhand shops in Great Village, Nova Scotia, or Halifax, where she does a lot of design work and once owned a shop called Nelson & Co. “Many of my favorite items have been found at antique shops or passed down to me,” says Deb. “I attended my first auction in Nova Scotia when I was a teen and still have some furniture from those early auctions.”
An antique French door with a matching screen door was a real find. “I’ve been collecting for years, and I absolutely love looking for unique old pieces,” says the master of the high-low mix. As a backdrop for her evolving collection of bits and bobs, Super White by Benjamin Moore creates the perfect blank canvas and coats just about every inch of the house. “I always go for white interiors with colors and texture added through art, accessories, rugs and a little of the unexpected,” she says. “I love the character and uniqueness that antiques bring to a space.” White high-gloss marine paint — an extra-durable alkyd paint that’s used on boats — was applied to the upper level and porch floors and will ensure they look good for years to come.
A slim freestanding island with built-in shelves adds storage and seating in the kitchen.
A sofa bed (slipcovered in white twill) and a new set of French doors turn the den into an impromptu guest bedroom. “Those doors allow light to come through but can be closed in the winter months, which helps retain heat,” says Deb.
The principal bedroom has lots of natural light and a queen bed that fits neatly under the eaves.
A slim vanity and medicine cabinet add storage in the home’s only bathroom.
A Circa-1890s House In East LaHave
Halifax designers Colin Blanchard and Kenneth McRobbie of 31 Westgate spotted an Italianate house for sale on the shore of East LaHave, Nova Scotia. Their dream was “to find a historical home on the water where we could welcome clients, friends and family all summer in a relaxed environment,” says Colin. They bought the derelict three-bedroom, 2,600-square-foot structure — cobwebs, cracked plaster, leaky ceiling, toxic wallpaper and all. Aided by their trusted team of craftspeople, they rolled up their sleeves and went to work. The end result is a nostalgic getaway perfect for summer.
At the entrance to the store and studio area, clients are welcomed by a basket of vintage croquet mallets and an antique wing chair originally designed to curb eavesdropping.
Preferring intimate gatherings, Kenneth and Colin chose a dining table that only seats eight when expanded. An antique butler’s tray (left) works as a serve-yourself bar.
Salvaged cupboards and a counter fashioned from old boards create a vintage vibe in the kitchen.
An elegant corner of the studio serves as a summer office, complete with a working rotary phone. “There’s a romance to intimate task lighting rather than lots of ambient light,” says Colin.
An antique French daybed in an upstairs hallway is used for afternoon naps or as an extra bed for guests. A vintage pickle jar (back, left) serves as an informal vase for privet branches from the garden.
A Storybook Cottage In Chester, N.S.
Even with offices in New York and Toronto, clients all over the continent and a recent book, Collected Interiors: Room That Tell A Story for Rizzoli, Philip Mitchell (left) prefers to spend most of his time ensconced in the quaintly named White Cottage. He shares this rambling home in the village of Chester, Nova Scotia, with his husband, advertising executive Mark Narsansky, and their two Ganaraskans, Jacob and Wylo, plus a whole lot of nostalgic Christmas decorations and treasures, when the season rolls around.
Instead of a front hall, a striking panelled dining room leads on to the rest of the house, enfilade style. “This place is super traditional, mainly because it was built in 1795 and we wanted to honor the history of the home,” says Philip. “The house has Cape Cod touches, even Georgian aspects, but there was a lot we wanted to change.”
Upper cabinets were sacrificed to make room for the sink and banquette, with the latter designed to offer spectacular views across the water.
“We have three bars in the house, and everything is always stocked,” says Philip. “We love classic martinis, but we have anything from champagne to Chablis on hand to keep our guests happy.”
While much of the house is light and bright, Philip chose a richer, darker palette in the powder room. An old chest was repurposed as a vanity.
The bedroom is a medley of pale neutral tones to keep the focus on the antique pine mantel, a favorite piece that Philip had built into the space.
A Tranquil Seaside Summer Home On P.E.I.
Kevin and Bernadette spend most of their summers at their 3,100-square-foot home by the sea. Bernadette, a retired medical professional, and Kevin, who runs a global analytics group, built their waterfront retreat in 2012 after falling in love with P.E.I. on family trips with their three now-grown children. “We wanted something that we owned and enjoyed but that didn’t own us,” says Kevin. To that end, they kept things simple with a clean, coastal vibe finished with a crisp blue and white palette coupled with modern furnishings.
In the living room, slipcovered furniture sets a casual tone. The fireplace is Wallace sandstone, which is also used for the home’s front stoop.
When you have the beach in your backyard, putting the dining room next to a wall of black-framed French doors seems like a no-brainer. Who doesn’t want to watch the waves while you eat the catch of the day?
Bernadette’s love of sea glass was the inspiration behind the frosted-glass backsplash in the kitchen. The smooth Carrara marble countertops are perfect for making pie crusts. When guests are in town, Kevin sets up an omelette station on the island. In the evenings, guests sip wine while he shucks oysters.
A guest bedroom is accented with a nautical striped lamp, miniature model rowboats and a vintage-look map to reference the coastal setting. Accent pillows have line drawings of plovers, birds commonly seen on the nearby beach.
Architect David Lopes designed the deck off the principal bedroom to be a sunny, sheltered retreat from the active main floor. “It gives you the feeling of being in your own private crow’s nest,” he says.
A Food Blogger’s Historic Halifax Home
Food writer and blogger Lindsay Cameron Wilson in her historic home’s kitchen. “Our home dates back to the early 1850s. It survived the Halifax Explosion of 1917 and housed many families and tenants after the Second World War — I didn’t want to be the one to ruin it.” The kitchen was in a tiny room tacked on to the back of the house and Lindsay’s husband James kept walking through the big dining room that was often empty, wondering out loud why they didn’t just move the kitchen into this room.
Lindsay wanted to create an “invisible kitchen” so she panelled the fridge and dishwasher in the same color and used a muted Caesarstone countertop in Frosty Carrina for the backsplash behind the sink. She kept the fireplace as a focal point. “I often feel that we’re just stewards of this home, taking care of it until the next family comes along.”
The painting over the kitchen’s original mantel is by Toronto artist Andrew Rucklidge, and it informs their color and furniture choices for Lindsay’s kitchen.
An Architect’s Black Harbour Family Home
Homeowner and architectural designer Nicholas Lewin never thought he’d end up in the coastal town of Black Harbour in Chester, Nova Scotia. Originally from Montreal, he “thought this was the last place we would want to live,” he says of his family’s deep gray abode. Now, he can’t imagine living anywhere else. “As a family, we’ve become much closer here.”
Drawing on the comfort and ease associated with seaside living, Nicholas opted for beamed, 18-inch ceilings that impart an airy feel to the kitchen.
A wooden dining table adds warmth against polished concrete floors in the dining room, while ample windows and doors can be opened up to let the ocean breeze in.
Floor-to-ceiling shelves provide storage space for the family’s impressive book collection in this guest bedroom. The colorful spines pop against the room’s white envelope.
A striped blue rug punches up the principal bathroom’s clean white and wood aesthetic. An ornate baroque mirror is an unexpected choice.
When designing his East Coast home, Nicholas opted for clean, pared-back lines indoors and continued the feeling outside. A rectangular pool contrasts the wild and organic tumble of the garden plantings.
A Designer’s Eco-Friendly Home In Taymouth
At her quaint home in Taymouth, New Brunswick, Maritimer Kelly Anderson grows herbs and perennials in a greenhouse built from lumber and windows salvaged from demolished buildings. As the designer and owner of Refreshed Designs, Kelly coaches clients on how to live beautifully while reducing their eco-footprint.
With shades of blue, a reclaimed-wood bench and touches of greenery, the porch is a beautiful bridge to the outdoors. Maritimers rely on screened porches from May through July to keep out black flies and mosquitoes.
All-natural materials like jute, wood, linen and cotton abound in the living room. Kelly used leftover paint to create the graphic artwork above the sofa.
Kelly claimed the light-filled former principal bedroom as her studio. She created the shiplap doors from scrap lumber — with help from her brother and father — enclosing a formerly open closet.
Natural light pours through the skylight into the functional galley kitchen. Open storage and white walls keep the look bright and airy.
Multigenerational family gatherings are an easy fit around the oversized dining table that Kelly’s brother Luke made from reclaimed bowling-alley flooring.
A Family’s Log Cabin In Maces Bay
This Maritime log cabin outside of Saint John, New Brunswick, has been in designer Fenwick Bonnell’s family since the 1950s. It was carefully renovated to maintain the charm that has made this spot a treasured family hub. Fenwick made concept drawings for the cottage’s new addition, which was designed by architecture firm Fellows & Company. The updated exterior is shingled in white cedar shakes and black corrugated steel to blend into the landscape.
The great room’s 15-foot-high, trussed-wood ceiling has always been a grand feature of the cottage. Fenwick had the leather ottoman custom made with legs from his old cottage bed. Even in the summertime, temperatures on the coast can be quite cool. Here, Fenwick’s brother-in-law, Wayne Burley, stokes the fire.
The simple white bedroom in the new addition was designed with ceiling-height built-ins that maximize storage. The blanket chest at the foot of the bed was moved from the original part of the cottage, while sunny yellow accents brighten the space.
A traditional ladder-back rocking chair and two watercolor paintings by Fenwick’s mother create a classic cottage vignette. He found the damaged chair in the trash in Toronto and sent it to his sister, Suzanne, who fixed up the frame and re-wove the paper rush seat herself.
Black-oiled, rough-sawn oak flooring keeps the new streamlined kitchen from feeling too contemporary. Open to a sitting area, the room features a stained-oak island and white lacquered cabinets.
Fenwick’s parents brought the mahoe wood coffee table in the great room back with them after a trip to Jamaica. Many of the furniture pieces and accessories preserve the cottage’s history.
Architectural details visually link rooms. For instance, the white V-groove panelling and frieze band on the sun porch repeats in the dining area. The rattan sofa and chair were reupholstered and paired with wire chairs for a modern twist. Fenwick’s late mother, Lois Ramsay (pictured), bought the coffee table on a trip to Vancouver in the ’60s and Suzanne restored the top.
The cottage’s original log cabin frame opens into a quaint dining area. A contractor replaced the windows and redid the exterior walls with painted V-groove panelling, while Fenwick added floor-length linen drapery to dress up the space.
One of the three small bedrooms holds twin beds. Fenwick designed the headboards and the night table and refreshed the other two bedrooms with identical furnishings.
A CEO’s Saltbox In Cape Cod
Gardiner Museum CEO Kelvin Browne refurbished this quaint 1780s saltbox in Cape Cod, Massachusetts. The two-bedroom home was in rough shape, but it was set on a magnificent, if untended, 1¼-acre property overlooking a pond and with access to the Pamet River. It also came with a stable-turned-cottage with two bedrooms and a kitchen-living room area that would be perfect for guests or to rent out in the future.
Modern icons — like lights by Isamu Noguchi and George Nelson and a glass and metal coffee table by Warren Platner — offer a striking contrast to the rustic wooden structure in the living room. An antique carpet found in Marrakesh injects more warm color.
Kelvin upholstered the guesthouse’s sofa and chairs in summery and washable white Sunbrella to contrast the dark, rough wood walls. The painting on the mantel depicts the nearby dunes in Provincetown and dates back to the ’50s, while the herons are pieces Kelvin has had for decades.
The Danish teak dining set and sideboard feel like a natural fit with the exposed hardwood beams. The sideboard houses three contemporary metal pieces from India and a ceramic lamp bought in the nearby town of Wellfleet.
The high ceiling in the completely rebuilt kitchen is a welcome change from the coziness of the lower ceilings in the rest of the main floor. Stainless steel countertops and a slate floor infuse a contemporary spirit that works well with the simple, traditional cabinetry and classic double kitchen pantry — the left side for food and the fridge, the right for dishes and the bar.
The guest house kitchen was pushed from the middle of the main room to one side. The cabinets were reused from the main house and ooze cottage charm.
A peaked ceiling makes the principal bedroom feel larger and introduces subtle texture against plush linens. Blue-painted hardwood floors are original to the home and give it a relaxed, vacation-villa vibe.
A Vacation Getaway In Northumberland Strait
Designer Sarah Richardson and her team brought coastal charm to this Prince Edward Island beach house, perched at the edge of a cliff on the Northumberland Strait.
A steel roof and hurricane-strength windows can withstand Atlantic weather. The decks and cedar shakes were specially treated to prevent blackening.
Sarah used a classic, coastal-inspired palette in the living room. “The home is so beautiful and commanding that the rooms needed a sense of simplicity,” she explains.
A blue beadboard backsplash brings an element of the landscape indoors. The smoky shade lets the homeowner’s collection of Eva Zeisel ceramics pop.
A pale blue palette and the fresh sea air makes this P.E.I. bedroom conducive to a tranquil sleep. Dark wood twin headboards, bought at auction for $60, feel light and airy with a coat of white paint.
Unadorned glass windows let natural light stream into the dining room. Minimal decor prioritizes the view.
Bunkbeds are a practical choice in a vacation home or whenever space is tight. Sarah accented this children’s bedroom with plush blue pillows and blankets that suggest a seaside theme without going overboard.
Sarah punctuated ceramic shower tile with striped limestone bands for a budget-friendly, modern touch.
A nook at the top of the stairs is a favorite spot for kids to read or play. The Tom Dixon light fixture is a crisp, modern choice.
Philip Mitchell’s Coach House In Chester
Despite being a new-build, designer Philip Mitchell’s Nova Scotia coach house was designed to capture the beauty of the past. Divided windows, an Enviroshake roof reminiscent of authentic cedar and trim details are true to the period of the main cottage, which was built in 1795. Pretty hydrangea bushes keep the coach house totally private.
With views of the Atlantic ocean visible from guesthouse bedroom, it’s no surprise Philip felt inspired to use a coastal palette. “It’s fairly neutral, but we’ve thrown in some turquoise and blue accents, which pick up on the fact that the guesthouse is on the ocean,” he explains.
A gallery wall filled with maps of the East Coast nod to the home’s location and pick up on the sitting area’s blue, white and brown decor.
In the stairwell, a rope handrail pays homage to the sea. Paintings of sailboats play up the nautical vibe.
Philip maxes out space with clever storage solutions. Along one wall of this narrow hallway, he installed a bar with fully stocked cabinets, a mini fridge and sink.
In the bathroom, Philip modelled the floor after a 1940s lavatory, using practical black grout to give the space a vintage vibe. The tub deck is antique Labrador brown granite.
Deb Nelson’s Dream Home In Chester
Striking black shutters are what give distinction to designer Deb Nelson’s Nova Scotia home in Black Harbour. The Woodbox — the home’s moniker — is inscribed over the font door. She spent years waiting to buy this three-storey Georgian Revival beauty.
Deb says a high hedge gives her coastal home privacy. At the same time, “it’s got that secret garden feel, even though it’s right in the middle of town,” she says. Two slipcovered armchairs at one end of the kitchen are a favorite place to chat with guests.
To maintain the home’s history, Deb purchased several antique pieces, such as the ladder-back chair in the entrance hall, which was from the former owners. A rich antique rug anchors the airy front hall.
A richly-hued rug grounds the welcoming white kitchen, while a black door punctuates the space. Brass hardware introduces a warm element.
Plenty of windows keep the dining room bright throughout the day. A combination of benched seating and Wishbone-style chairs prevent the space from feeling too formal.
On the top floor of the home, French windows open up to a breathtaking view of Chester Harbour. Deb whitewashed the space for a laid-back, breezy feel. “There’s so much blue reflected from the water, especially in the summer, that the room could only be warm white,” she explains.
A mod task light updates a grouping of antiques in one of the guest bedrooms.
Natural linens soften the principal bathroom. A kilim rug gives the space a decorated feel.
Deb turned a nook next to the den into a mini library with custom-made bookshelves that fill the wall above an original cupboard. She added accessories that reinforce the home’s subtle nautical vibe.
A Designer’s Rustic Cottage In Chester
This quaint fixer-upper cottage is a former home of designer Deb Nelson, also located in the charming village of Chester, Nova Scotia. “I grew up in the Maritimes. The town is really me,” she says.
A sisal rug warms up the black-and-white entryway, while a bouquet of flowers adds a cheery pop of color. A tall window keeps the space well-lit.
A round pedestal table fills an unused corner in Deb’s living room. When paired with vintage chairs and a modern Tizio lamp, it makes for the perfect place to enjoy a game of Crokinole.
Blanched floors and bed frames — painted in a crisp white shade — temper this guest bedroom’s rustic canopy. A wooden chest in between the beds makes for a simple but functional storage unit.