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Textile designer and artist Serena Dugan renovated an Adirondack-style cottage on Shelter Island, New York, after discovering it through a Zillow listing. The House Beautiful report highlights the broad porch, where two hanging beds join rocking chairs, alongside major structural repairs and a rebuilt stone fireplace.
Textile designer and artist Serena Dugan has renovated an Adirondack-style cottage on Shelter Island, New York, preserving its character while addressing major structural work, according to a House Beautiful home tour. The report puts the home’s expansive front porch at the center of the design, with two hanging beds and rocking chairs arranged to make the waterside house a place for visitors to gather.
Dugan, who is based in California and co-founded Serena & Lily, first noticed the cottage as a small listing on Zillow while considering an East Coast vacation home. A local friend visited the property and urged her to see it in person. In House Beautiful’s account, Dugan recalls arriving at dusk and being drawn to the stone fireplace, wide porch and reflection of Coecles Harbor.
The renovation proved more extensive than reinforcing the existing structure. Dugan said the house needed major foundation repairs, and the fireplace she had admired had to be reconstructed. It was rebuilt with local stone to match the original, according to the report. Dugan said her main concern was preserving the house’s calm, distinctive feeling while undertaking the work.
The porch’s size allowed Dugan to install two hanging porch beds, alongside rocking chairs. Inside, the family room was opened to the kitchen to form a larger shared living area, while the living and dining rooms retain the fireplace as a visual anchor. Dugan used designs from her own fabric and wallcovering line alongside vintage furnishings and art. The report also notes practical choices, including performance fabric on sofas and online matchstick blinds that cost about $29 per window before being finished with brass cleats.
A Porch Designed for Gathering
The tour offers a close look at how a renovation can preserve a home’s defining features while adapting it for regular use. Here, the porch and fireplace helped guide Dugan’s decisions, rather than being treated as incidental details. The two hanging beds make use of the porch’s proportions, while the rebuilt fireplace carries a familiar feature into the renovated interior.
The project also illustrates the practical choices behind a polished home tour. Dugan invested in elements she considered important, including lighting and a marble kitchen surface, but paired them with lower-cost details such as the blinds. Her stated aim was a house that could show wear: she chose Calacatta Macchia Vecchia marble despite its potential to stain, saying she was comfortable with the surface developing a patina. That approach matters to readers because it presents the home as a lived-in retreat, not simply a finished display.
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From Zillow Listing to Retreat
Dugan had been thinking about buying a vacation home on the East Coast when the cottage appeared on a Zillow map. She asked a local friend to look at it first; after his recommendation, she booked a flight. Her account in House Beautiful describes the setting as a narrow road leading toward Coecles Harbor, an area she found quiet and removed from everyday life.
The published tour documents the completed design, but does not provide a renovation timeline, project budget or detailed account of the construction process. It does identify several changes and choices: foundation repairs, fireplace reconstruction, opening the family room to the kitchen, and using local stone to reproduce the fireplace’s original appearance. The interiors combine Dugan’s own designs with vintage pieces and work by other artists.
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Project Details Not Published
The House Beautiful report does not state when the renovation took place, how long it lasted, what it cost, or which contractors and architects worked on it. It also does not provide engineering details about the foundation repairs or explain whether any original building materials were replaced beyond the fireplace. Those details cannot be established from the home tour.
The description of the porch as the best the writer has seen is an editorial judgment, not a measurable comparison. The available source documents Dugan’s design and account of the renovation; it does not provide an independent assessment of the construction or the property’s current use.
Adirondack style outdoor rocking chairs
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No Further Plans Reported
The source is a published home tour rather than an announcement of a new project, so it does not identify a forthcoming renovation milestone or event. House Beautiful’s report presents the cottage as a completed home, and Dugan describes it as a place to gather and bring together her designs and collected furnishings. No additional project plans or follow-up dates are given.
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Key Questions
Who owns the Shelter Island cottage?
Serena Dugan, a California-based textile designer and artist who co-founded Serena & Lily, renovated the cottage, according to House Beautiful.
What makes the porch a focus of the home tour?
The porch is spacious enough for two hanging beds and rocking chairs. Dugan said she wanted to include a hanging porch bed when she first saw the space.
What major repairs did the cottage need?
Dugan said the house required major foundation repairs and a complete reconstruction of its stone fireplace. The fireplace was rebuilt with local stone to match the original, the report says.
Did Dugan share the renovation budget or timeline?
No. The House Beautiful tour does not give a total cost, construction schedule or completion date.
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