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Shore Style Is Beachy Keen

Tribune photo by JULIE BUSCH

View from the front of Ruth and Jan Piper's Pass-A-Grille beach cottage.

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By STEVE KORNACKI

The Tampa Tribune

Published: May 7, 2008

PASS-A-GRILLE - It's like a day at the beach that never goes away.

Beach cottage decorating gives homes a relaxing feel, a sort of perpetual vacation whether the surf's a block away or a thousand miles. And the best uses of sea kelp wallpaper, driftwood art and shells can have you almost hearing the calls of seagulls.

HGTV crafts editor Camille Smith opines on the widespread attraction of beach cottage decor on her blog:

"Aaahh ... the sand between your toes, the tang of salt in the air. ... No question, time spent seaside with friends and family conjures fond memories in all of us, which partially explains beach decor's huge popularity. The beach style also is a favorite of designers and homeowners alike because it is clean, casual and not at all fussy."

Though you can do beach cottage from Umatilla to the Yukon, there's something very special about its impact in a true beach community such as Pass-a-Grille, on the southernmost tip of Pinellas County's barrier island strands.

Ruth and Jan Piper's home on Fourth Avenue, featured on the Pass-a-Grille Women's Club Tour of Homes in March, was built in the 1930s as a cottage. It recently underwent a two-year renovation that included adding a second floor with bedroom, bathroom, guest room and outdoor patio.

For the interior, Ruth, owner of Inspiration Interior Design, says she pulled in the colors of the surrounding palms, sea grapes and Gulf.

"I tried to convey it's a beach house," she says. "It's not so much a style or a brand or a company. It's something that looks inviting; somewhere you can sit down with a wet bathing suit on."

The historic district home is a two-minute walk from the seashells and sandpipers. And it shows just how much play you've got when you go beach.

OUTDOOR LIVING ROOM

Ruth calls the deck area off the master bedroom "the outdoor living room." The Pipers eat breakfast, lunch and dinner on an outdoor table, sometimes accompanied by one of their three dogs - that's Luke in the picture. At the end of the day, they lean back in the white faux wicker chairs and squint at the sun setting through the veil of Brazilian pepper trees and palms.

"The cool sea breezes here in the evening are so nice," says Jan, a retiree.Ruth demonstrates there's more than one way to pull the surroundings into the decor. She has filled a vase on the table with philodendron clippings and holds a burgundy bloom that has dropped from the 30-foot Hawaiian hibiscus that shades the deck.

"I just go out and pick things," she says.

DEN

The brightly lit den, where Chloe's relaxing, draws on several of Ruth's beach-design tenets.

"I love white," she says. "Especially on beadboard or other architectural features, as opposed to drywall. It's just so clean. When you have colorful furnishings and fabrics, the colors just pop."

This particular shade, Benjamin Moore's White Dove, is her favorite.

She and her husband tried to be historically accurate in their renovations. The v-groove board on the den walls was specially milled to match the cottage's original wall treatment downstairs.

The Pipers built the fun bench out of scrap lumber and leftover paint. They used it as a coffee table during the home's renovation, when they lived in an apartment with only a few furnishings.

BUBBLE GLASS LIGHT

The bubble glass fixture that lights the stairway matches a sconce upstairs.

"It just looked like it belonged on a beach," Ruth says.

KITCHEN

As in the rest of her home, Ruth chose bright colors for the kitchen that echo the natural surroundings. The green on the walls is Shades of Spring by Benjamin Moore, a brand she sticks with because she knows the idiosyncrasies of the different hues.

Altogether, Ruth used six greens throughout the house. One of her favorites is Fernwood Green.

"It's a soft green but has some life. Everything works with it: reds, pinks, whites, purples."

CHANDELIER

A crystal chandelier hangs over the washer and dryer in the upstairs nook, a style surprise that works in this anything-goes decor.

"I found it in a local antique store and had to put it here," Ruth says.

A turquoise, pink and green animal print drapery keeps the appliances out of view when not in use, while incorporating all the principal colors used upstairs.

EXTERIOR

The bungalow has a tin roof and Hardie Board concrete planks made to look like wood with the grain cast into them. A coat of yellow paint makes it look like oak. But this plank won't rot or succumb to the punishment of salty sea breezes.

For the interior and exterior, Ruth says her inspiration was the beach community.

"I just wanted something that belonged out here. Some houses out here do not fit into the neighborhood. We could have knocked down the old cottage and built a mansion to the sky. But we are anti-McMansion."

BUTTONED-UP FLAMINGO

The flamingo outline filled in by an array of pink buttons perches in a wood frame at the bottom of the stairs to the second floor. Written above the button bird: "It pays to be flexible."

"That is our motto," Ruth says. "I'm also a button nut, and this is one of our favorite things."

Reporter Steve Kornacki can be reached at (813) 731-8170 or skornacki@tampatrib.com.

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