Markham Roberts' old sea captain’s cottage on America's Pacific Northwest coast (2021)
There is nothing nicer than the cozy feeling we get from an old friend, and houses can be like the best of old friends in the joy they give us, the memories they hold, and the familiarity and comfort they provide.
James and I are lucky to have a cottage in the Pacific Northwest, where we can never spend enough time. It’s a place we long to get to and dread having to leave. It’s sort of an odd little house, full of quirks and charm, but it means so much to us in different ways. For James, it is steeped in history and family memories. For me, it is equated with vacation (and no phone calls or emails or decisions or questions). And for our pup, Harriet, it means the freedom to run up and down the beach and retrieve countless sticks. We all agree, however, that it’s the most beautiful and relaxing spot on earth for us.
The house, an old sea captain’s cottage on a cliff overlooking the shipping lanes of Puget Sound, had belonged to James’s parents, and he spent summers there as a child. Later, when circumstances in life brought the house back into his family, we were presented with an opportunity to redo it, especially because it had been neglected for a long period. But it took quite a few years before the house finally became James’s and mine alone, and with that security we were able to really go at it and make it entirely our own. The house is now truly reflctive of us and of our interests. And it is a perfect demonstration of how a house can evolve over time, getting better and better the more thought and effort is put into it.
MAY WE SUGGEST: A fantasyland in the Hamptons by architect Pietro Cicognani
The very first thing we did when we initially got the house years ago was to strip the awful mauve and burgundy fake-Victorian wallpapers and borders, cherished by a former tenant, from the walls and paint everything a cleansing white (we torched some sage, too, to exorcise any demons of bad taste). The house worked fine like this for many years, when different members of the family shared it, but once it became solely ours, we got to do everything we had dreamed of doing. Covering the walls with the fabrics and papers we loved was probably the most gratifying to me. I had come up with a custom colorway of my friend Nathalie Farman-Farma’s great Décors Barbares print 'Casse-noisette' especially for the dining room but had held the fabric in storage for ages, waiting to do a bit of renovating before putting it up. Now it seems like it has been there forever.
The walls of our bedrooms and dressing rooms upstairs are now covered in the perfect Morris and Godwin papers and fabrics. I had imagined them so many times in my mind’s eye, but nothing compared to finally seeing them installed. They make such a handsome backdrop to all our things and add a strong layer of depth and visual interest.
No longer having to worry about anyone else’s dogs shedding or messy children eating dripping chocolate Popsicles, we could use our collection of vintage textiles with abandon on pillows and the upholstered seating. We’ve commissioned and collected art for the house over the years, and with every addition, the overall result is better. A textural Palissy ware plate depicting sea creatures on a mossy water bed looks fantastic beneath a late eighteenth-century watercolor of a sea gull, and they both play off a contemporary painting of a garden by our friend the artist Anthony Prud’homme. Each and every addition to the house interacts with everything previously there, and the decoration evolves and improves.
The most recent and probably the biggest change was our renovation of the old carriage house, which now comfortably (and separately) holds guests. It was in terrible shape, mostly just used for storage, until we gutted it, opened up windows, and paneled the walls and ceilings in warm knotty pine. Guests now have their own spacious domain with views of the water and the back garden, which we’ve begun working on. And I have a space to sketch, draw, and design in front of a big picture window that overlooks the sea and the snow-capped volcano across Puget Sound.
MAY WE SUGGEST: Nathalie Farman-Farma's pattern-filled London house
I remember the first night I ever spent in the house almost twenty years ago, when James and his sisters first got the house back. The rooms were almost empty, except for a bed delivered from the mattress store and two Adirondack chairs from the hardware store in town. Now, with passing time and all of our accumulated stuff, it risks looking a little like Fred Sanford’s house, but it’s ours and we love it. We added things slowly over the years, and every last piece brings to mind a specific memory, whether happy or sad, but that is life. When a friend who had frequently hosted us at his weekend house in Connecticut passed away, we purchased much of the furniture from a sale of his possessions and had it all shipped out to this house. One of the paintings hanging above the mantel in the living room is an oil sketch of our friend’s living room, showing the old slipcovered sofa and wicker chairs and tables that now sit happily in our rooms. That little painting is a window on the past, and is but one of hundreds of happy associations we get from our collected treasures filling this house.
Nelson Hancock1/13We usually have drinks on the sun porch before dinner. The blue pitcher and glasses painted with sailboats seem appropriate to the setting. The large Native American straw basket holds minerals collected from the Grand Canyon.
Nelson Hancock2/13It is lovely to watch the light fade over the water and mountains beyond as we play backgammon. The painted-wicker chaise at the end of the porch makes an ideal reading (mostly napping) spot
Nelson Hancock3/13In our Port Townsend house, glossy painted floors and crisp white woodwork set off the patterns of colorful Bessarabian kilims and artwork.
Nelson Hancock4/13In the dining room, the charming, classical American chest holds linens, silver, and candles, and makes the sea otter statue, found in an antiques store in town, feel safe and protected.
Nelson Hancock5/13Fabrics, old textiles, and rugs that don’t match exactly coloristically can nevertheless work beautifully together to make an interesting scheme for a big room with a lot of seating. The red, white, and blue palette is slightly more exotic, yet still distinctly American.
Nelson Hancock6/13My movie seat (no cable TV in this house—just movies or downloaded shows) makes me feel like a patient in a fancy old Swiss sanitarium, where I plan to retire. Julia Condon’s mandala prints and Karen Connell’s fireworks photograph hang above a table covered with old American falling block–patterned quilt.
Nelson Hancock7/13The waterside guest room, with walls covered in the famous Colefax and Fowler Bowood paper, is an old WASP-y, hippie boho hodgepodge. I love the cheap, fragile paper parasol lantern that I had made (can’t believe it survived the shipment intact!) and the beautiful muslin curtains, which block the glaring morning sunlight from guests’ eyes.
Nelson Hancock8/13Harriet loves the old chaise in our bedroom, with its prime view of the cliffand the water below. The chaise isn’t very comfortable, but it’s fine, and the thought of replacing it seems extravagant and a hassle. I am my grand-mother.
Nelson Hancock9/13The big Victorian hulk of a chest was James’s first purchase at auction as a teenager. On the walls is one of my favorite fabric designs, E. W. Godwin’s Bamboo, which reminds me of pot leaves and lulls me peacefully to sleep.
Nelson Hancock10/13James’s childhood bed, which had been his grandfather’s and others’ before him, now resides in my dressing room. It makes a nice place to read or to lay out a suitcase when packing. Lots of pattern in this room, and it all works to
make me happy.
Nelson Hancock11/13We broke through the wall that had long covered up the old carriage house doors to make this big picture window overlooking the water. It’s the perfect spot for my very basic desk—from the purchase of which I learned that Ikea doesn’t deliver or assemble. I still love it and the task lamp too.
Nelson Hancock12/13We’ve transformed the former hayloft
of the carriage house into a nice big guest room. It has views of both the Sound and Chetzemoka Park, with its ancient trees. Okay, I do sometimes hum the Three’s Company theme when I’m up there—just needs a spider plant.
Nelson Hancock13/13This extract was taken from Markham Roberts' Notes on Decorating (Vendome, 2020). Buy a copy here.
