A Guest Bedroom in a Rural Coastal Vacation Home

Continuing from the previous posts, I’m featuring some of the near completed spaces in a clients vacation home that I had the enormous job of furnishing and outfitting from top to bottom a few seasons ago. The new owners purchased the traditional shingle style house as a seasonal holiday home, located in a remote coastal setting on the South Shore of Nova Scotia. The house is situated on gently sloping lot overlooking the coastal waterways and surrounded by many acres of woodland. The project didn’t involve any renovation or remodelling design work on my part, not even paint colours (!) my task of furnishing and outfitting the home mandated working with the existing spaces as is, and completing it all as quickly as possible so it could be used without prolonged delay. I say these are near completed spaces because our photos were taken after all the main furniture pieces had been installed but not all the small accents or accessories were in place, in fact the photos of this room were simply taken with a phone-cam during install days. This is a peak at one of the 6 guest bedrooms which was designed to be a Twin-King Bedroom.

As we had done throughout the house, this room was furnished with a mix of new and old. The lighting, bed and all the bedding were new, the rug is a new but one of a kind, the dresser, mirror and artwork are all antique or vintage finds I had collected along the South Shore over a couple of seasons.

The Nova Scotia antique pine dresser adds character and warmth and was in fantastic ready to use condition. I found the mirror at the same dealer and love that it still had the original glass with all its imperfections. There’s probably nothing more exciting than finding some great looking vintage wall art, and when the subject matter is also on point its a double score. I found a series of these vintage line drawings of renown historical buildings of Halifax which is the arrival destination city for all of their visiting family who come from over seas. Used as is, without needing any reframing or matting they were a steal. Im a huge fan of pairing black and white pieces with old wood case goods because the crisp black and white lightens them up and makes the arrangement look fresh and current. A leather tray with brass snaps sits atop the dresser as a handsome catchall for personal items or bug spray ; ).

Over the course of a year and a half I collected as many vintage and antique pieces I could find for the house, often not knowing exactly what room they’d be used in until everything was delivered en masse to the client’s house. Here’s a glimpse of this dresser and other antique finds stored in our barn shortly before they were all loaded up for delivery.

There are few indoor accessories that bring me more joy than foraged branches and wild flowers, and in reality there’s nothing more fitting to this location which is far removed from any flower shops or tended gardens. Cow’s parsley is one of my personal favourites for their large white heads and spindly extra long stems. I sometimes have a hard time telling it apart from Queen Anne’s lace but generally the cow’s parsley grows so much bigger and taller. It grows in abundance on the South Shore (like a weed!) and you can still find it growing, although more sparingly, right up until Thanksgiving. I can often be found on the side of the road picking it by the armful.

The single piece that anchors the entire room is the one-of-a-kind hand knotted wool rug in a deep dark red. It provides colour, pattern, texture, coziness and essentially enhances everything in the room - it compliments the ‘splurges’ and elevates the ‘saves.’ I’m typically a ‘never red’ person no matter what the space or occasion, except for traditional red rugs which I feel behave similar to a neutral with their all over colour and pattern which is very grounding in an all neutral room. The bedding is Brian Glukstein’s Home Collection and I love the casual but timeless hankerchief stitching detail, in navy.

If I could have found a king sized bedskirt in-stock in any other colour but white I would have considered other options but the white worked in a pinch and with 2 other King sized bedrooms this can easily be interchanged. The bed itself is a made up of a pair of Twin XL mattresses with twin headboards so the room can be set up as either a twin or king guestroom. When set up as a King its installed with a conversion kit that connects the two mattresses together and has a centre strip of foam to level out the middle joint, this all fits underneath the sheeting.

The woven rattan headboards evoke a coastal vibe with their weathered grey wash and tuck nicely under the sloped ceiling. The rattan bedside trunks were temporary at the time of this install (destined for another room) as the hunt for another pair of nightside tables continued. Pairs of anything are a challenge to find whether you’re looking for new in-stock, vintage or antique so whenever I come across pairs at the right price, right size, right style, I rarely hesitate. I have to say its equally challenging to find a twin size headboard that doesn’t look like it belongs in a children’s bedroom - there’s such a limited selection and sadly I did miss out on a couple of vintage beauties more than once. The Ralph Lauren tripod lamps in polished nickel and black leather are height adjustable which makes them so versatile regardless what style of table we ultimately use here, or how tall the guest might be if reading in bed. A bronze metal industrial style swing arm lamp lends a bit of modern edge to the antique dresser and makes an interesting use of what was an oddly placed light box.

The home is used during spring, summer and fall months so it was important that it wasn’t specifically outfitted for just a summertime look and I think the classic mix of white, navy, red and wood achieves a wonderful balance that’s fresh, inviting, and cozy for all seasons while creating a fantastic foundation for layering in accessories and vacation time keepsakes.

What truly completes the experience of this space though is what you can’t see, the smell of the salt air, the sound of water lapping and the leaves rustling outside the window…..