Thu | Mar 28, 2024

Dream House | Artsy Old Wharf cottage is a natural gem

Published:Sunday | December 26, 2021 | 12:09 AM
What’s on the inside of this cottage you have never seen before!
What’s on the inside of this cottage you have never seen before!
Bedrooms are amazingly part of the outdoors.
Bedrooms are amazingly part of the outdoors.
This is not your usual kitchen.
This is not your usual kitchen.
Can you really believe this is a bathroom fixture? A faucet created from a conch shell!
Can you really believe this is a bathroom fixture? A faucet created from a conch shell!
Unheard of! Coral stones protruding from the walls are lluminated at night.
Unheard of! Coral stones protruding from the walls are lluminated at night.
Barry Rattray
Barry Rattray
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We are privileged to be gifted with such glorious weather during this festive season. We are able to partake of and comfortably enjoy warm weather as opposed to our friends in other climes who are forced to experience harsh, cold climatic conditions. This good fortune, despite the problematic society we reside in, we must treasure and always appreciate.

Take a lady by the name of Sarah Dewing from Surrey, England. She came to Jamaica on vacation in 2012, succumbed to the island’s natural beauty, and just could not resist the temptation of returning over the years. Then one day, it dawned on her: she needed her own piece of the rock. So she bought a piece of land and erected her own dream house. Now what we take for granted (warm climate), she welcomes this time of year as a blessing.

Sarah, a psychologist, with four children, at the age of 40, decided to return to university and pursue art studies. This trained artist opens her doors to you, my friends, to take a peek into a truly artistic abode, sculptured with unexpected design details that will jolt you into disbelief! Your eyes are not playing tricks on you – they just haven’t beheld anything like this before!

Completed in 2016, this artsy cottage of high ceilings, masterly composed of three (air-conditioned) bedrooms opening to the outside, has three bathrooms en suite, with the master sporting an outdoor shower. The living/dining room joins the kitchen, with its intricate detailed cabinetry and quartz countertops. The two wooden deck verandahs (front and rear) allow us to capture the portrait of the serene outdoor scenery, which includes the sea, lush flowering garden, swimming pool, sun terrace and barbecue area.

The off-white interior is handcrafted with amazing, fully electrically illuminated walls of embedded coral stones carved into and protruding from them. Then there are the polished concrete floors fashioned with slices of conch shells seated into them. The stained glass windows (coloured glass) is something to behold when hit by natural light. All furniture was built by local, skilled tradesmen.

The cottage is created to minimise its carbon footprint, using as many natural, renewable materials as possible – in short, being environmentally friendly. Location: Old Wharf, Treasure Beach, St Elizabeth.

We can sense and feel the soul of this house. Its calmness, its love of nature and its creative impulses.

What a joy to be in it at this time and throughout the year. Interior design at its creative best.

Barry Rattray is a dream house designer and builder. Email feedback to barry-rattray@hotmail.com and lifestyle@gleanerjm.com.