The Sea and Sky Cottage on Cape Breton Island
The Cape Breton landscape is dotted with small gable-roofed houses, often shingled and with minimal roof overhangs. The Sea and Sky Cottage was designed by architect Craig Applegath and artist Stewart Applegath to resemble those vernacular houses. However instead of the small, closed-off rooms that would be found in older houses, this updated version has an open floor plan and a ceiling that vaults up to the roof ridge.
The cottage sits on an exposed grassy bluff with sweeping views of the Gulf of St. Lawrence. Bright red shutters protect the windows from the storms that regularly sweep in from the Gulf, bringing winds of up to 130 km/hour.
The main floor of the 860 ft2 (79.9 m2) cottage has an eat-in kitchen at one end and the living area at the other. A bank of tall windows in the corner of living room offers a stunning vista of the ocean, with passing whales and lobster boats on view. Stairs placed against one of the long walls lead up to the only bedroom, a large lofted space overlooking the living area. The bathroom is located next to the entrance, partly under the staircase.
Pine was used extensively for the inside finishes. Maritime-style white-painted horizontal boards cover the walls, the ceilings are pine tongue and groove with a clear finish, and the floors feature wide pine planks. Exposed beams and rafters add a lot of architectural character to the interior. Heating is provided by a woodstove placed in the center of the small floor plan, and there is also electric baseboard heat.
The Sea and Sky Cottage can be rented for vacation stays through HomeAway.
Enjoy the photos!
Click a thumbnail to view a larger photo, then click on the photo to advance to the next one.
Photographs courtesy of Michael Sprague, made available under a Creative Commons license, and Stewart Applegath.
Text copyright 2013 SmallHouseBliss. All Rights Reserved.
Lovely.
Hi Rosemarie, glad you like it!
– Mili
Some good space planning, but having the toilet so visible to the kitchen/dining area is taking the intimacy a little far…
Hi Jack, yes, privacy is an often-overlooked issue with many house plans, large or small. In this case I don’t see any reason for not swapping the sink and toilet locations.
Thank you for your comments!
Mili
Lovely Cottage
Do you have the footprint as it appears larger than 79m2.
Hi Den, we don’t know the exact footprint but my guess is that it is about 20′ by 28′. The chimney is halfway along the length of the cottage and also exits through the 4th rafter bay from the front door end, so that means 7 rafter bays total. If the rafters are 4′ apart that makes the length 28′. The width appears to be about 20′ judging by the width of the front door. The exterior photo of the living room windows and shutters also indicates that the width is about 2/3 of the length. If 20 x 28 were right then the total square footage would be about 800 ft2 (560 main + 240 loft). It could be bigger than that, but probably not by too much.
Thank you for your question!
Mili
Would love to see an actual floor plan of this, as we are gathering ideas for our own small home. Any suggestions where we might find one?
How much would it cost to build something like this? It’s lovely.