The latest stories from Remodelista

by Annie Quigley

This week we’re revisiting some of the most popular summer stories from the archives. Here’s one:

Every summer I make a beeline for one of my favorite summertime haunts: Nunan’s Lobster Hut in my hometown in Maine. My favorite thing about it is not the long rows of benches that line the interior or the way the building is perched over a salt marsh, but the gray boat paint that covers the wood floors and tables. I imagine that the owners stock gallons of it and add a new coat each season, the layers built up over 65-plus summers.

Like splatter-painted floors (which “hide a multitude of sins,” Justine writes of her own cottage floors in DIY: Splatter-Painted Floors), painted wood floors—so often seen in summer cottages in Maine and on the Cape—are all about New England practicality: They’re cost-effective, brilliantly conceal summer debris like sand and dirt, and need only another coat of paint when they wear. They’re also wholly unfussy and evocative of the carefree summerhouse.

Take a look at a few favorites in summerhouses past. (And for much more on the merits of boat and deck paint, check out our new book, Remodelista in Maine.)

Above: In a cottage perched on a salt marsh in Falmouth, Massachusetts, the architect/designers painted the wood floors throughout in a California Paint high-gloss finish, for practicality’s sake (and brightness). For more, see A Shipshape Cape Cod Cottage Inspired by Wes Anderson’s ‘The Life Aquatic’.

Above: Further inland, in the Catskills, Lisa Przystup and Jonathon Linaberry painted the existing wood floors of their farmhouse in Sherwin Williams’s [product id="757491"]Extra White[/product] as a cost-saving measure. Photograph from The Catskills Farmhouse of Two Brooklyn Creatives, Weekend DIY Edition. Above: The floors in Mjölk’s Renovated Scandi-Style Cabin on a Lake are also painted white, these in Benjamin Moore’s [product id="621644"]Cloud White[/product]. Note how some wear is part of the appeal.

Above: Justine’s 1807 cottage on Rock Harbor on the Cape has painted and splatter-painted floors throughout, like here, in the sunny master bedroom, where the wide-plank floors are a light shade of gray. Photograph from The Soulful Side of Old Cape Cod: Justine’s Family Cottage.
Above: Elsewhere on the Cape, Julie’s cottage bedrooms have white-painted pine floors. For more, see Cape Cod Summer Bedrooms Refreshed with Farrow & Ball Paint.
Above: More white-painted floors, which add brightness but don’t necessarily hide as much dirt, from A Tiny (but Glamorous) Seaside Cabin on the Riviera.
Above: A Cottage Reborn in Coastal Maine has hardwearing bathroom floors in a light gray.
Above: An unexpected shade that works: pumpkin-hued, splatter-painted floors in Justine’s yellow summer kitchen. See The Soulful Side of Old Cape Cod: Justine’s Family Cottage. For more on splatter-painted floors, see DIY: New England Splatter-Painted Floors.
Above: Designer C. S. Valentin preserved the original yellow-painted wood floors in the bedroom of a sea captain’s house in Bellport, Long Island. See A Colonial House in Bellport with Uncommon Style from French Designer C. S. Valentin.
Above: More yellow, these in a Hawaiian cottage. The paint color is Benjamin Moore’s [product id="953838"]Pale Moon[/product]. See Hawaiian Summer: A Charm-Filled Stone Carriage House on the Maui Coast, Restored.
Above: Green splatter-painted floors in Justine’s guest bedroom on the Cape. Photograph from The Soulful Side of Old Cape Cod: Justine’s Family Cottage.
Above: Narrow wooden stairs are painted in Benjamin Moore’s [product id="617813"]Martha’s Vineyard[/product] in An Artist’s Cottage in Truro, MA, Gets an Overhaul from a Boston Design Duo (Ikea Included).
Above: Dark gray floors add some drama in the 1900s cabins of a California lodge. For more, see Steal This Look: Manka’s Vintage Bath in Inverness, California.
Above: Simple gray-painted floors convey summertime in stylist Tiina Laakonen’s Hamptons home. See Rhapsody in Blue: A Finnish Stylist at Home in the Hamptons. Photograph by Matthew Williams for Remodelista; for more, see the Remodelista: A Manual for the Considered Home.
Above: Designed to hold up to foot traffic from summer guests: navy-painted floors in the living room of the Bellport house. See A Colonial House in Bellport with Uncommon Style from French Designer C. S. Valentin.
Above: In Justine’s cottage dining room, the black splatter-painted floors make sand harder to see, all part of the charm of a summer cottage. For more (and how to get the look), see DIY: New England Splatter-Painted Floors.

Above: And, in the Catskills farmhouse, Przystup and Linaberry transformed a cluttered attic into a summer bedroom. The main change? Painting the tired wood floors in [product id="621671"]Tricorn Black[/product]. For more of the project, see Before & After: An Airy Summer Bedroom in a Catskills Farmhouse, Transformed with Paint.For much more on the pros of painted floors, see:

• DIY: New England Splatter-Painted Floors
• Expert Advice: 4 Affordable Floor Finishes from Dirty Girl Construction
• Steal This Look: White-Painted Floors from Frugal Farmhouse

N.B.: This post has been updated; the original story ran on May 30, 2018.

by Margot Guralnick

Interiors stylist Brittany Albert left much well enough alone in her Connecticut kitchen, and instead deployed cost-conscious tweaks to artfully transform an uninspired space: see The Cosmetic Kitchen Upgrade, Trade Secrets Included.

We originally presented Brittany’s kitchen a year ago and revisited it last month, and the queries kept coming on the one detail we hadn’t covered: where did those pleasingly simple overhead lights come from? We ourselves had been looking for months: it turns out the world is filled with flush-mount nautical lighting of the sort, seemingly all of it, unlike Brittany’s version, a bit too big, too refined, too brash, or too pricey.

Then, unaware of our search, Remodelista reader Brett MacFadden, of SF graphic design firm MacFadden & Thorpe, did his own hunt. Thank you, Brett, we think you found the light.

The Sighting

Above: The ceiling lights are strategically placed in several spots on the ceiling of Brittany’s kitchen, set in an 1880s Connecticut farmhouse that’s been updated many times over the decades. Photograph by *Kate Jordan.
Above: Brittany plans to eventually replace the existing appliances, but since they were in working condition—and she had a whole house to renovate—she decided to keep them in place while treating the room to some styling upgrades. These included brightening and warming the space with low-key touches of brass: the new cabinet knobs, light switch plates, and bridge faucet—for these details go to Brittany Albert’s Cosmetic Kitchen Upgrade—and yes, also the ceiling lights. Photograph by *Kate Jordan.

The Source

Above: The Battersea Wall/Ceiling Light from UK lighting co Felix seems a perfect match.
Above: Felix’s Battersea Light is £290—and the especially good news is that US and Canadian wiring is available on request.

Some runner-up flush-mount brass ceiling lights to consider—if only to give you more appreciation for the Battersea: Original BTC’s Miniature Ship’s Well Glass Ceiling Light, $865; Edison Light Globes’s Small Brass Flush-Mout Light, $240 AUD; and the Brass Capsule Light, ¥16,500, from R-Toolbox of Tokyo.

And thank you to the Remodelista reader who tipped us off about Shiplights of Marblehead, MA, and its solid-brass nautical brass lighting: have a look at its Open Flush Bulkhead Light; from $345.

Go to the Remodelista Reconnaissance archive for more design sleuthing, including:

• Brass Candle Sconces in an Editor’s Flat
• Reath Design’s Wrap-Around Curtain Rods
• Desks and Chairs from Ready-Made French Legs

*Kate Jordan’s photographs in this post are licensed for Remodelista’s use, and cannot be repurposed or used on any other website without the photographer’s explicit permission.

N.B.: This story originally ran on March 22, 2024 and has been updated with new links and pricing.