A laidback location to escape to: Which is what brought musicians and artists Sean Spellman and My Larsdotter from Portland, Oregon California and Copenhagen to the small seaside city of Westerly, Rhode Island.
“I was touring with my band for many decades, and I had determined to leave Portland so that I could roam a minimal, stay on the highway for a although, in my van, at friends’, and so forth.,” Sean wrote to us. He’s in a band known as Tranquil Everyday living and is a painter and artist (you can location his minimum, vintage-y operate in our element on Lodge Joaquin in Laguna, CA, amongst other spots) My (pronounced “Me”) is originally from Sweden and is in a band referred to as My Bubba. Involving the two of them, it is been tour soon after tour. “I preferred to clear away myself from town existence, considering that we were always grinding away and traveling for songs, to just distinct my head a bit and slow down so that when we were off tour I could variety of chill out with no interruptions,” Sean says. He rented a friend’s guest house in Westerly a single summer months and was hooked. “The reward is that my individuals are living 40 minutes absent,” he provides.
Sean and My discovered a 1936 acpe much less than a mile from the ocean, bordered by a household farm and preserved forests, and, with the support of good friends, established about renovating the position, stripping it down and filling it with Sean’s personal art and classic finds gathered above the decades. It is a “live-in gallery” of sorts, he states, and the couple’s creative backgrounds give the interiors a laidback, distinctly great experience. Sean commenced Westerly Sound, a music pageant collection, and they are doing work on receiving a pair of artist residencies going, also.
But the few doesn’t stay in the cape by itself: They are living with their daughter, Sol, in a flat above the garage and enable out the household for family vacation rentals. (It was recently named a single of Conde Nast Traveler’s finest Airbnbs in just 3 several hours of NYC.) There’s a lush permaculture yard, bikes. and delicate-leading surfboards offered, and an outdoor shower, hammock, and lots of LPs. What more could you want for a minimal escape?
Here’s a glance.
Images by Nick Ventura, courtesy of Sean Spellman.
Above: The exterior of the tidy two bed room, just one-and-a-half-tub cape, established amongst gardens and together with protected forest. “We appreciate the cedar shakes, of study course,” says Sean. “I was so anal about preserving the gorgeous silvery glance of the cedar that when we had new windows installed I took a wire brush and roughed up each individual new shingle close to them by hand.” (The new home windows are Anderson 400 Series.)
In the yard: pawpaw trees, elderberries, and a peach tree that came with the spot. “My likes the elderberries mainly because they remind her of her hometown in Sweden,” Sean claims.
Earlier mentioned: Inside, a stripped-back again living room with walls painted in Sherwin Williams’ Shoji White and pine mantel (a easier substitute for the ornate just one that was there). The artwork above it is Sean’s own. “I’ve been making paintings like this on custom-created boat canvas,” he says. “I thought this piece was incredibly fitting for the home.”
“I’ve been digging via thrift and antique suppliers and estate/yard revenue for years, so numerous of the matters in and on the dwelling are from places like that,” claims Sean. “I expended years on the road with my band and then traveling/residing in my van for a even though and utilised to routinely decide up points in my travels.”
Above L: The entryway, fitted simply just. “I traded a painting for this gorgeous Menke Ceramics mild fixture,” states Sean. Earlier mentioned R: “The constructed-ins have been replaced and reconfigured in the living room with simple pine shelves.”Over: In the living room, what Sean phone calls the “listening station.” The turntable and speakers are vintage, the stand is from an estate sale, and the couple identified the rocker on Facebook Marketplace.Higher than: Built-ins divide living room from kitchen. On the cabinets, states Sean: “a painting of mine framed in a wood West Elm frame, some driftwood, a thrifted lamp, a thrifted map of Block Island, and a discovered amazing spherical planter.”Earlier mentioned: “The table was manufactured by my close friend Kevin from scrap wooden that the previous owners remaining in the basement,” Sean states of the eating desk. “The chairs are from my greatest area thrift shop.”Over: The summer time-prepared kitchen, with partitions in Sherwin Williams’ Alabaster and floors painted in Benjamin Moore’s Stonington Gray (“a Remodelista idea,” Sean says). “We have been organizing to construct new plywood doors for all the cupboards, but we didn’t have time in advance of the summertime rental time. That may happen this wintertime. As an alternative we just set new knobs on.” (They are Amazon Essentials Round Cabinet Knobs.) The countertop and faucet are both equally from Ikea—Kasker quartz and Bosjon, respectively.
In the hallway: “a pine peg rail (not serious Shaker), and my favourite Stetson is hanging there,” states Sean. Another portray of his hangs in a thrifted frame.
Higher than: A modest painting by Sean, driftwood collected “from the seashore down the road,” and vacation studying material.Previously mentioned: A glimpse of the little 50 % tub downstairs. “My buddy Sam Agnello aided make this happen he’s about to open a quite interesting cafe in Westerly referred to as Cinder,” Sean states. “I needed the bathroom to feel like a sauna, but we couldnt manage cedar, so we went with shiplap pine. We ripped the boards to several unique widths and put them up vertically with nickle gaps. Getting rid of the drywall in its place of putting the pine on top of it permitted us to set the recessed shelving anywhere we needed, despite the fact that we had to perform all-around some plumbing.”
The mirror was a nearby locate, and the vase is from a “backstage tour” of Heath Ceramics with a friend of Sean’s. “She even let me glaze a piece there. What a position,” he says. “The palm rose I obtained in the Caribbean above 10 several years in the past.”
Previously mentioned: The sunny key bedroom. “All of the furniture is thrifted, apart from the Ikea mattress body,” Sean says. “We did not shun deciding on specified things from Ikea. My’s mom just retired from functioning in small business progress at Ikea in Sweden and Athens, Greece, for about 20 yrs, so it’s in the loved ones.”Over: The walls are done in Benjamin Moore’s Atrium White. A portray by Sean hangs over the mattress.Above: “I purchased this desk at a Salvation Army when I was 23,” states Sean of the desk in the most important bedroom. Most items here, far too, are thrifted, besides for the portray and postcards by Sean.
Above: “Neither of us experienced been in a person location for far more than a couple months for significantly of the final 10 years,” claims Sean, “so getting to be parents and getting in this article doing the job on this residence in Westerly with no leaving a lot more than a couple of times in the very last 12 months is a little something we are really proud of.” In this article, Sol, Sean, and My in the backyard.
