Text by Katie Wood
As parents it was extremely important to Beverly and Prentiss Smith to make sure their children were taken care of. They did whatever they could to help them on their way. So after each of their children grew up, married, and graduated from college and beyond—and each bill was paid in full—they were finally ready to take care of themselves. “On the Monday morning after my daughter’s wedding, my husband said to me, ‘OK Beverly, now it’s all about us. Let’s find a place to retire,’” she recalls. The couple looked up and down the Gulf coast and soon fell in love with the scenic charm, artistic culture, and sense of community they found in Fairhope, Alabama.
“I loved the charm of the town,” Beverly says. “We actually sat on the porch of the old house that was here and watched the sunset, and that was it. We knew right then. This is where we wanted to be.” They donated the little house that was on the property and started from scratch building their dream home.
A year later the Smiths moved from their farm in Brookhaven, Mississippi, after Prentiss retired from his career as a radiologist. Though the house, named Sweetbay, was built for their retirement, they kept family in mind each step of the way. The open floor plan is perfect for entertaining, and they created a bedroom and bathroom for each of their three grown children. “It was all done for our family,” Beverly shares. “In the summertime there will be 10 of us here for three weeks!”
When it came time to decorate their waterfront cottage Beverly says they looked straight to the bay for their color palette. “We wanted it to have a bay feel, and to me that meant incorporating all the colors of the bay,” she says, which translated to a range of everything from cool blues and muddy greens to sunset oranges and nautical notes of coral.
While her surroundings are an obvious inspiration in their home décor, she admits the first pop of color was found in the two teal columns that she spotted at a local architectural salvage shop that now flank the front entry. “We were out shopping, and I said to my husband Prentiss, ‘Oh my gosh I love those!’”
Style Idea
Take cues from your surroundings when decorating your home. Beverly’s master suite is filled with cool teals and sandy neutrals, which can be seen just outside her bedroom windows, glistening on the bay.
Beverly recalls. He graciously asked, “Well what are we going to do with them?” And with Beverly’s true eclectic style in mind she replied, “I don’t know, but I want those!” The vibrant blue is now mirrored throughout the home, especially in the kitchen’s aqua cabinetry that was painted with a custom stain from Benjamin Moore.
This coastal cottage is truly a retreat for the soul and a feast for the eyes. And now that it’s “their time” the Smiths are able to pursue personal interests they’ve always enjoyed like collecting art and nautical pieces, which are tastefully showcased throughout their cottage. “It’s like we’re on vacation everyday,” Beverly says.