Modern Interior Design Blog – Just Seen

Given a blank slate and a dramatic setting, what would a designing couple choose for their own retreat?

The backdrop: Cape Breton Island in Nova Scotia. High on a hilltop with a sweeping view of the Gulf of St Lawrence and Highlands National Park.

The designers: Los Angeles based Alexandra and Eliot Angle.

The initial impluse: a modern glass house. 

The reality: a practical saltbox.

But everything happens for a reason… in the right hands, a simple saltbox becomes simply beautiful. The color palate was informed by its context: grasses, wildflowers, water and sky. Over ten different hues of blue, gray and green were used in the house. The place is sparsely furnished, but for the Angle’s, each piece has something to say. The vintage metal table provides a place to paint while taking in the majestic view and the Jens Risom Stools have been in the family for three generations. 

The open plan kitchen/dining area though decidedly modern, acknowledges basic elements of the classic cottage: beadboard, wood, wicker and clean white accents.  The room is anchored by a custom maple table built locally and surrounded by Gio Ponti’s shapely Superleggera Chairs in bright white. The paneled cabinetry is finished in a traditional Britannia blue with industrial hardware. The open shelving above recalls a traditional cabin. However, the items on the shelves are not your standard rag-tag seconds, but a carefully edited collection of functional, yet beautiful, working pieces. The Autoban Octopus lights the room from above.

The living area is dominated by the band of windows capturing the view. Everything else seems to support taking in that expanse: from the window seat cushions upholstered in the greens and blues borrowed from the landscape to the natural wicker Foglia Chairs and the simple maple Toothpick Table.

The soothing palate was carried through to the master bedroom where simplicity carries into the night – Eliot fashioned the bedside table from a piece of driftwood found on the beach. Clearly a special place, made even more appealing by the Angle’s masterful response to the environment and committment to bring in only those things which would enhance the experience.

Alexandra ANGLE Interior DESIGN