This Colorful Cottage Is the Perfect Summer Getaway
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“I have never had a client who loves color as much as she does,” designer Bella Mancini says of the owner of this charming Bellport, Long Island, cottage. “She has to live with it in every single room.” And not just in the accessories, as most people prefer: From fabrics to furnishings, it soon became clear to Mancini that vibrant hues would be dominant throughout the home. So when revamping the interiors, the designer had her work cut out for her—and it involved a full color wheel.
She set the tone right away with an exuberant teal door. "You can't actually see the front door from the street because the house is hidden down a long driveway, so we did something a little more bold that we maybe wouldn’t have done if she had neighbors," the designer explains. It's the perfect welcome to a happy, cheerful home that's become more of a respite to its owner than she likely imagined when she first purchased it.
"She works really hard, and this was kind of her escape," says Mancini. But when COVID hit, the playful design proved even more purposeful than originally expected. "A lot of the rooms became very flexible—as they have for all of us," she says. Here's how Mancini created a space that's bright, cheerful, and useful.
Living Room
When the homeowner moved in, the beams in the lofted living room were a natural wood grain, which Mancini covered for an airier feel. "We cleaned everything up," she says, a decision that included swathing the fireplace (converted from wood-burning to gas) in Calacatta Gold.
But it's not entirely sleek: "All of my projects are very much about natural materials," says the designer. "I think that's the California girl in me—I always want everything to feel very handmade and organic." Here, that meant pairing a custom textural rug with a petrified wood table from Homenature, and a Maguire sofa with a Wayne Pate fabric that serves as the "anchor piece in that room," says Mancini.
Dining Room
In the dining area, Mancini mixed high and low, flanking a table from Crate & Barrel with Maguire dining chairs. A pendant from Oly hangs overhead, a nod to a slightly more glittery kind of hanging sphere: “[The client] loves having dance parties, so we felt like it was kind of the modern, slightly subdued version of a disco ball,” laughs the designer. Art from the homeowner’s collection lends a more serious touch: “It really gave it some gravity,” Mancini says.
Kitchen
“She wanted a hypermodern kitchen, something really clean,” says Mancini. “She likes that very European style.” To keep with her promise of color in every room, Mancini swathed the backsplash in a blue glass tile. The light, bright space opens up to the living area, where French doors are often left open.
“It's a real indoor outdoor vibe,” says Mancini. “She hates the air conditioning, so she always just has ceiling fans and everything is really wide open.”
Porch
One of the home's most multifunctional spaces may be this enclosed porch, where Mancini devised a custom banquette fit for lounging solo with a good book or holding guests for cocktail hour. The modern table complete with Yves Klein blue chairs can serve as both breakfast area and home office.
Bedroom
In the bedroom, Mancini, who has designed a few homes for the client, reused curtains from a previous abode. "We love that fabric, and it was such an investment at the time that when we redid the room we used them again," she explains. The subtle pattern is a pretty contrast to a bold, red bed from Serena & Lily.
Bathroom
Penny tile and a bold shower curtain pack a punch against the more classic backdrop of white subway tile—allowing the owner to switch up the color scheme down the line if the mood strikes.
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