Southport Magazine

Its an open concept kitchen that sunny and cheerful. Light bounces off the glass front cabinets and the recycled glass counter tops and the wood-planked ceiling adds architectural detail and a rustic flare to the cottage’s kitchen. There’s ample storage, plenty of lights and a butcher block island that’s well light with pendant lights and equipped with industrial styled bar stools. The island is equipped with pullouts on both ends to store small appliances. They can be accessed easily when needed and then tucked away again until needed again. It’s a perfect fresh space with plenty of room to spread out when in cooking mode yet keeps you in the mix of the action as it blends into the dining room space.

There were some issues to work around in order for this to work. For one, the original kitchen ceiling was really low and need- ed to be opened up. A small wall separated the dining room and kitchen and was cutting the space up too much. Fred fixed all of that by raising the ceiling and refiguring the space. He raised the ceiling, created a peak and covered it with wood. Dave had to cut the cabinets and molding to fit at the ceiling line and the finish is flawless. The butcher block was going to be too much so Dave decided to go with ash instead of butcher block to stay in budget and it works well with the design.

The home’s furnishings are a mixture of new and old. Some pieces were brought from Dallas and were converted to make them work. Practically everything else was sold. Tracy shares, “I really cleaned out and pared down. It was fun starting like that. I bought some things specifically for this house: the 2 plantation chairs on the porch and the 2 wicker (Havana) chairs I found at a consignment shop in Dallas. They were very expensive and I got a great deal on them.”

Tracy packed up a U- haul trailer in May and headed to Southport. It was loaded with the furniture, old and newly purchased as well as all the ceiling fans, faucets and light fixtures for the house. She hit all the sales before leaving Dallas and had friends that worked for a few of these companies so many of the items were purchased at cost. Everything, including her scooter and all her breakables fit into a 6 x 8 storage unit. Fred had a key to the storage unit and he would go over and get what he needed…When he needed it.

It seems like a difficult task to manage a renovation from another city. But Tracy was a Trade Show coordinator for 47 years so she is very detailed, organized and task oriented.

Just off the kitchen is a spacious laundry room… Which Tracy absolutely loves. She’s never had a laundry room before so it was a must-have in this house. It even has a sink and she thinks that is just awesome. The cabinets are fitted with pullout drawers for convenience and there’s tons of storage which is uncommon for an old home. The hot water heater was replaced with a tankless/continuous water heater so the closet that use to house the old water heater was transformed into storage space and it worked out beautifully. It adds just the right amount of additional closet space for the vacuum cleaner and other cleaning goods. Tracy smiles, “It’s perfect and it was such a nice surprise.” The other perk of this wonderful space is a cabinet fit with a pullout for the litter box and a cutout in the door for the cat to enter with ease as needed. A plain door was also constructed to put on when the box is not in use.

Dave Barker, with 50 Lakes Cabinet Design, did a wonderful job with these cabinets. The concept of the window seat built- ins was there but they just weren’t right and needed to be reworked to complete the space. So Fred tore them out and rebuilt them and the seats now make not just a cozy pillow-filled spot to sit but also provide additional storage below. Tracy keeps items tucked away here and it works well… They are stowed out of sight and are easily accessible when needed. The window seat is flanked by two custom cabinets and each provides storage and showcases found items, treasures, artwork and photos.

The pictures on the walls show how long Tracy has been planning for this house. The silk sea horse paintings are from when she lived in Germany back in 1997. Tracy smiles, “It’s been my vision for ever and ever.”

Tracy’s friend Barbara came to visit for New Years and they found some additional pieces at Uptown Market in Wilmington. She bought lamps, a chandelier, some other stuff and Barbara convinced her that the hutch would work beautifully in the living room. Oddly enough, Tracy had seen this piece three times but couldn’t decide if it was the right one for her. The cat prints were found in Atlanta and had been hang- ing in a garage. Judy, Barbara’s sister and professional decorator, found a couch and coffee table at Rebecca’s, hung the cat prints, added the old closet door, picked new fabric for the couch and totally transformed the room. Nothing like profession- al free decorating.

The fireplace can’t be used yet – it needs work and that’s an expense for next year but there are plans to use it often. Tracy bought the screen at Home Goods and her friend Barbara decorated it with Tracy’s shell collection. “She did it all in about an hour with my glue gun. There’s a lot of love from my friends in here. She did the shelves too. I had too much crap and she helped me pare that down.” Tracy shares. This is a warm and inviting space just per- fect for visiting. It’s not too big and it’s not too small. It’s just right and the mix of textures, materials and patterns ties the space together quite nicely.