A �COTTAGE� is defined as a small house. It may have some of the following attributes
-Under 2000 square feet, compact footprint on the land
-Human scale entry
-Intimate interior in which you feel warm, relaxed, cozy and most of all comfortable.
-Exterior made of indigenous materials (shingle siding, fieldstone, cedar-shake roof)
-Well crafted, good quality, attention to architectural details.
-Thoughtful orientation to the site and natural surroundings. The cottage home should look like it has grown from the landscape and not be intrusive on the surrounding neighborhood
To be simplistic in form and construction, with quality given to the details.
The Montgomery�s like to travel and spend time out of doors biking or kayaking. The spirit of this adventure in the out of doors will try to be captured in the cottage through the materials, textures, colors and spaces used in the home.
When I think of the Montgomery�s and their activities I envision rivers with white water rushing by. Huge rounded river rocks polished smooth by the rushing water pounding them along. Big beautiful Doug furs stretching to the sky with their contrast textures of ruff grooved gray bark and smooth forest green needles. As they bike along the back roads of Washington State they experience the vast skyline of mountains with their snowy caps and beautiful fields of wild flowers. They may even smell a campfire or two along the way.
I hope to help them achieve this goal and feeling by making sure that the cottage footprint allows us to retain as much of the natural landscape as possible. It would be especially nice to leave the giant western red cedar in the front of the property to help give the feeling of being in the woods and give feeling that the cottage grew along with the tree. I would like to use rounded river rock in the exterior of the house to bring them to the river like their kayaks do. This can be brought inside through surface material used in the fireplace. It could be possible to have an indoor/outdoor fireplace do give them a warm cozy comfortable feeling inside and the campfire feeling outside. The fireplace shield could have swirling puffs of smokes chiseled out of steel.
As they enter the house natural pine flooring may greet their feet. Natural materials shall be used in the cottage such as granite and clay tiles for the counter surfaces. Pine for the wood flooring and cabinetry.
The colors they like are eclectic, so a color scheme based on �shibui� will be used. This will mean using colors based on nature with one bright color as accent. The Ho Rain Forest is perfect in expressing the shibui color scheme. Colors and textures can be brought through the house based on this �shibui.� Naturals, beige, browns and grays with deep greens and a bright shock of color here and there, such as the yellow skunk cabbage may surprise one as they walk along the forest path. I would also like to introduce a splash of sunset orange- pink here and there. Possibly in the pink feldspars of the granite surface.
Another possible way to bring the outdoors in may be through the use of trellises. Outside they can provide shelter and a growing place for plants, they may continue indoors as ceiling pattern or room dividers and may or may not have plants growing from them.
Extra guest sleeping areas may appear at night as little surprises disguised as reading nooks during the day.
All of these things I hope to achieve while remembering to keep this cottage simple, clean, open, airy and most of all Comfortable.
