Sweet Pond Cottage:: New Beginnings

Welcome to Sweet Pond Cottage, and the launch of our new site.  If you’ve been following our sister site The Ace of Space, then you may have read a little bit about Sweet Pond Cottage. If not, this is our story and hopefully, it will be part of yours too. Sweet Pond Cottage is a place that you can virtually visit anytime, and I hope you’ll visit often.

But, first, let me introduce you to Sweet Pond Cottage. Over the past few years, I was looking for a little lake house. I was fortunate to grow up on the water in New York, we had a river that ran through the back of our property, minutes away from Lake Ontario and the St. Lawrence Seaway. Summers were spent boating and swimming on the shores of one the greatest of lakes.

The search. There was one thing in my life that was missing since leaving New York. Life on the water. So a few years ago I began an exhaustive search for a place on a lake. Eventually, we looked at nearly 75 homes, in various stages of disrepair. As a trained designer, I always look for the possibilities, but for many of the homes, possibilities were in short supply. So the summer of 2016 slowly faded into the fall, and during the last day of our search, our Real Estate agent told us that she had a house, but it was on the far end of the lake. While it was not in an optimal location, my intuition told me to take a look.

So we made our journey through the countryside, past bucolic pastures dotted with grazing cattle, and rolling hills set against the blue haze of the Blue Ridge Mountains. When we reached an unpaved road lined with centuries old oak trees, I had a feeling that I found the place. Nestled at the bottom of a hill was a storybook cottage with wooden shutters and wraparound porches overlooking the broad expanse of the Tugaloo River.

The first time we saw the Cottage…

The setbacks. On November 1, 2016, my father passed away in his sleep after suffering complications from Dementia, it was a slow progression of an incredibly heartbreaking disease, one day he was home, slid down a wall and never walked again. He was a big personality, his life an endless adventure of big game hunting, fishing and traveling. An avid boater, he was often “out at sea,” and I inherited my love of the water from him.

A month later, I decided to go to the Doctor for a checkup, and they found a tumor on my thyroid, I suppose we are never given more than we can handle, and with a great team of Doctors and weekends spent at the Cottage, I’m on the road to recovery. The Cottage has been a place of healing, and I’m excited about the future and being able to share Cottage life with my readers. I’ve collected many of my father’s recipes over the years (he was an incredible cook) and I’ll be sharing those along with entertaining and design tips from some of the best in the industry.

The Name. My father loved to hunt and fish, and had a picturesque hunting lodge located in the foothills of the Adirondacks. It was called Sweet Pond. I wanted to honor his memory in some way, so I decided to call our home, Sweet Pond Cottage. There are bits of my father’s life woven into ours, antlers from his first deer, the Martini shakers from his boat, his Manhattan glasses, a canoe oar. He lived a big life, and I plan on carrying on his traditions, many of which I will share on the blog.

Sweet Pond Cottage was named after Sweet Pond in Upstate New York…

The Cottage. Sweet Pond Cottage was originally built in the early 70’s as a fishing camp, it fell into disrepair and over the years became overgrown with weeds. Then a few years ago the Cottage was purchased by a builder/investor and he stripped it down to the studs. And so began the process of rebuilding, from the ceilings to the flooring. The footprint was reworked to make it more efficient, also allowing for a second bathroom. At 1500 SF, 3 bedrooms, 2 baths and expansive porches the Cottage has all the amenities needed for weekend living.

The Cottage before the renovations…

Our Partners. Shortly after we purchased the Cottage, I was approached by a few brands asking if we needed product. Currently, we are working with over 17 incredible brands who are part of this unforgettable design journey. Along with newer pieces, we are working with some talented artisans who have created our dining table, an 8′ table for our back porch, Adirondack chairs and a window seat. I have always believed it’s important to layer your home with both old and new, and we hope that you are inspired to bring a little Sweet Pond Cottage “style” into your own home.

I look forward to having you join the journey, and I’ll be sharing life at the Cottage whether its recipes, gardening, or entertaining tips available on the Blog and soon on our YouTube channel.  I hope Sweet Pond Cottage will inspire you as much as it has me. Look for new posts every Tuesday and Thursday and also follow us on Instagram for frequent updates!

Life on the lake at Sweet Pond Cottage…

Until next time,

LET YOUR HOME TELL THE STORY…

 

 

Thanks for stopping by!