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House Beautiful featured textile designer and artist Serena Dugan’s renovated Adirondack-style cottage on Shelter Island, New York. The home’s broad porch, fitted with two hanging beds and rocking chairs, is a focal point of the design; the report also describes major foundation work and a rebuilt stone fireplace.
House Beautiful has featured the Shelter Island, New York, cottage renovated by textile designer and artist Serena Dugan, whose broad front porch is furnished with rocking chairs and two hanging beds. The home tour also details substantial repairs, including foundation work and reconstruction of the original-style stone fireplace.
Dugan, a California-based designer and cofounder of Serena & Lily, first spotted the Adirondack-style cottage as a small mark on a Zillow map while considering an East Coast vacation home. A local friend viewed it and urged her to visit. Dugan booked a flight and saw the property at dusk, when the porch, fireplace and water helped persuade her to take it on.
The porch’s scale allowed Dugan to install two hanging porch beds rather than the single one she initially imagined. The report identifies rocking chairs and the suspended beds as furnishings for the space, and notes that a dark ceiling adds visual contrast. Dugan also selected chairs for sitting outside during rain, according to the tour.
The renovation was not limited to decoration. Dugan said the building needed major foundation repair, and the fireplace that had drawn her to the house had to be completely reconstructed. It was rebuilt to match the original using local stone, House Beautiful reported. Inside, the family room was opened to the kitchen to create a larger shared space, while performance upholstery and practical, lower-cost choices sit alongside custom lighting and stone finishes.
A Porch Anchors the Renovation
The porch is presented as more than a visual feature: it is a large, furnished gathering space that reflects Dugan’s stated aim of making the house a place where visitors could build memories. The hanging beds and rocking chairs make the porch usable for resting and spending time outdoors, while the water-facing setting informs the home’s appeal.
The renovation also illustrates the practical work behind a design-led home tour. The cottage’s character was paired with foundation repairs and fireplace reconstruction, meaning preservation involved addressing the structure as well as choosing finishes. Dugan’s mix of custom pieces, vintage furnishings and inexpensive blinds shows how the project combined costly focal points with more modest decisions.
hanging porch beds for outdoor use
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From Map Listing to Cottage
Dugan said the cottage was in a quiet part of Coecles Harbor on Shelter Island. In her recollection, she drove along a narrow road at dusk and was struck by the stone fireplace, broad porch and reflection of the water. She described the place as having a calm atmosphere she wanted to preserve through the renovation.
House Beautiful’s tour describes a palette and furnishings assembled from Dugan’s own fabric and wallcovering designs, vintage textiles and collected furniture. In the kitchen, she chose Calacatta Macchia Vecchia marble despite the possibility of staining, saying she was comfortable with the material developing a patina. The pantry’s patterned tile floor and the adjoining rooms’ colors were designed to relate to one another.
The report also records less expensive choices: the matchstick blinds cost about $29 per window, according to Dugan, and were finished with brass cleats. These details sit alongside custom lighting, a made-to-order sink and the rebuilt local-stone fireplace.
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Tour Leaves Project Details Open
The House Beautiful report is a design tour, not a full renovation record. It does not give the project’s total cost, the dates or duration of construction, the contractor or architect, or a detailed account of the foundation repairs. The source also does not specify whether the cottage is used only as a vacation home or how often Dugan hosts visitors there.
The porch’s description as the “best” is the headline’s subjective wording, not a measured comparison or independently verified ranking. The report documents its size and furnishings but provides no dimensions, seating capacity or evaluation against other homes. Those limits do not change the reported features, but they mean readers should treat the superlative as editorial framing rather than a factual award.
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No Further Project Update Listed
The source material does not announce a forthcoming renovation phase, sale or other next step for the property. The immediate development is the publication of the House Beautiful home tour, which documents the finished design and Dugan’s account of the work. Any later updates about the cottage, its costs or its use have not been provided in the report.
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Key Questions
Where is Serena Dugan’s cottage?
The Adirondack-style cottage is on Shelter Island, New York, in the Coecles Harbor area, according to House Beautiful.
What makes the porch distinctive?
The broad porch is furnished with two hanging beds and rocking chairs. Dugan said she first wondered whether one hanging bed would fit, then decided two suited the space’s proportions.
What major work did the renovation require?
Dugan said the house needed major foundation repair, and the stone fireplace was completely reconstructed to match the original using local stone.
Who designed the home?
Serena Dugan, a California-based textile designer and artist and cofounder of Serena & Lily, led the design choices described in the House Beautiful tour.
How much did the renovation cost?
The report does not provide a total renovation budget. It gives one specific price: Dugan said the matchstick blinds cost about $29 per window.
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