Charming fish camp style cottage invites relaxation in WaterColor

Fish Camp Beach Cottage-Historical Concepts-01-1 Kindesign

Fish Camp Beach Cottage was designed by architectural studio Historical Concepts, located in the master-planned resort community of WaterColor, in Seagrove Beach on the Northwest Gulf Coast of Florida. The home’s design is evocative of rural Florida’s earliest architectural roots. From the exterior facade, the cottage features a corrugated metal roof and clapboard siding.

According to the architect, this charming retreat has a “simplicity of an early 1900s home, with details that reflect the Florida “Cracker” vernacular.” An expansive front porch is warm and welcoming, with operable shutters that offers both privacy and shelter. On the interiors, this relaxing abode is reminiscent of a laid-back “fish camp hideaway.”

This family vacation cottage offers 2,000 square feet of living space with four bedrooms and four-and-a half bathrooms. The furnishings are casual and comfortable, what you would typically expect to find in a beach cottage. The decor is playful, while the materials are purposefully imperfect to create the illusion of a home that has been inhabited for generations— “worn in” over time.

The furnishings and accessories were sourced from flea markets and antiques shows. This helped to make the home appear as though everything in the home had been collected over time. All of the light fixtures throughout the interiors consist of vintage parts that were crafted by Artisan Eloise Pickard.

What We Love: There is plenty of vintage charm throughout this fish camp cottage, cozy and inviting with plenty of unique details throughout. The casual furnishings offer relaxation to those vacationing in this heavenly retreat… and the sleeping porch is a fabulous idea! A great space to enjoy during the day, playing double-duty as an extra sleeping space for guests.

Readers, please share with us what you think of this charming home tour? Any details that you would have done differently?

Above: This home was designed to entertain extended family, able to accommodate up to 20 people. With four bedrooms that can sleep up to ten, this porch can transform into a private sleeping porch at nighttime, courtesy of shutters and curtains.

Above: The kitchen island was painted in Heritage Red PM-18 | Benjamin Moore and coated with black Minwax to dull the color.

Above: The main living area, which encompasses the kitchen and living room, features three sets of French doors, which connects to the front porch. Transoms windows helps to illuminate the space with natural light, while expansive windows are evocative of those in older dwellings. Vintage oars punctuate the beams throughout the main living space, adding to the cottage aesthetic.

Above: An important element to Florida “Cracker” style design is a spacious central hallway, this allow cross ventilation (fresh breezes to enter through one side of the home and through to the other).

Above: The color palette lends an antique aesthetic. The trip paint is Harrisburg Green HC-132 | Benjamin Moore. The walls features a wash of 60% Navajo White OC-95 | Benjamin Moore and 40% water. The wash allows the texture of the rustic boards to pop.

Above: The cabinet paint is Homestead Green AC-19 | Benjamin Moore, while the ceiling paint is Palladian Blue HC-144 | Benjamin Moore. The flooring is reclaimed antique heart pine floor boards, which varies in widths from 12-14 inches. The dining table was fabricated from leftover floorboards, set on an antique base.

Above: There are three master bedroom suites located on the main level, in addition to a powder bathroom.

Above: Dormer windows illuminates the upper level with natural light. The spacious kid’s room offers a pullout sofa and several Pullman bunk beds built into the roofline’s dormer windows.