A Curated Cardiff Cottage and How to Get the Look
If I were downsizing, this would be my dream house. It’s the kind of house that makes you want to slow down the second you walk in.Not because everything is perfect, but because everything has a story. That’s what I found scrolling through this Cardiff-by-the-Sea cottage designed by Erica DeLorme, and it stopped me mid-scroll the way collected style always does. Cardiff is one of those charming little pockets of the California coast. It was a surf town before it was anything else, still unpretentious in that way beach towns get to be when they don’t need to try. This home gets that. It’s layered with natural textures, custom upholstery in patterns that complements the house and landscape, vintage art collected and a thread of soft orange running through it, apparently a nod to the client’s love of the Mauna Kea in Hawaii. Beautiful photos by Charlotte Lea.
The primary bedroom carries the same restraint as the rest of the house beautiful hardwood floors, custom cabinetry,, high-end appliances kept quiet in the adjacent kitchen so they don’t fight the room’s special pieces: the art, the textiles, the collected objects. Every square foot of this living space earns its place. Large windows throughout make the small house live large. Even the dining room, which in a lesser house could have been an afterthought, gets the same care with the color palette and natural light as everywhere else. That’s the beauty of working with a designer who thinks about the whole house as one conversation.
I keep coming back to is the sourcing trips, that this home wasn’t assembled from a catalog or storefront, but hunted for, piece by piece, over time. That’s the whole philosophy behind the Collected Look. Nothing was bought because it was easy, everything was bought because it was right.
The Landscape (Garden Studio Design)
The garden does the same thing the interiors do — it doesn’t announce itself, it just quietly gets everything right. Garden Studio Design handled the landscape. Those large windows needed a garden that wouldn’t compete with what was already framed beyond them. A french style garden with simple sandy neutrals in the hardscape, and natural textures in the plant choices. Ornamental grasses, olive box and pea gravel frame the structure. It’s a masterclass in coastal living: nothing thirsty, nothing fussy, everything chosen because it actually wants to grotw there.
A few warm, sculptural plantings echoing that soft coral-orange from the interior. That’s the detail that separates a garden from a landscape: one is planted, the other is designed. If you’re working with property options of your own and thinking through a garden refresh, start a mood board the same way. Plan a landscape that repeats whats happening on the inside. The front door, and the carefully chosen outdoor furniture and artifacts all talk to each other.
A Simple Dip-Cocktails on the Patio
A Simple cool dill pickle dip would be the perfect accompaniment to cocktails on the patio.
Dill Pickle Dip
Ingredients
- 1 cup sour cream
- 1/2 cup mayo
- 1 cup chopped dill pickles approx. 5 spears + extra for optional garnish
- 2 tablespoons pickle juice
- 1 teaspoon dried dill OR 1 tbsp fresh dill
- 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1/2 teaspoon onion powder
- 1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper
- 1 tsp chopped fresh chives
Instructions
- Add all of the ingredients to a mixing bowl and stir to combine. Refrigerate for about an hour to let the flavors blend. If desired, add chopped pickles on top as a garnish.
- Excellent served with: Trader Joes dill pickle chips or crudites.
Get the Look: The Outfit
If this cottage were a woman, she’d be wearing this outfit.
Get the Look: The Home
Think about a statement chair or sofa in a pattern you actually love (not a trend you’ll tire of), then let solids do the supporting work around it. Weave in some vintage or inherited antique pieces from your travels. Repeat a quiet accent color or pick one in an unexpected shade (this house’s soft coral-orange is a masterclass) and let it show up subtly in a vase, wallpaper or a throw pillows. Bring in some natural textures such as rattan, grasscloth or linen, Anything that reads collected rather than delivered is at home here. Found objects such as shells, pottery, interesting art that you actually picked up somewhere,fit naturally alongside the new.
If you are thinking about downsizing let this charming cottage be your guide.The whole point of the house, the garden, the outfit, is that nothing here was bought to check a box. It was bought because someone took the time to create a collected lived in look. That’s the only decorating rule I’ve ever really believed in. Follow Erica Delorme on Instagram to see the before (you won’t believe it!). Were you as enchanted as I by this charming cottage? Let’s chat about it in the comments.
Now let’s pop over and visit Mary Ann and Annie for their favorites this Sunday.
We are down-sizing soon. Such wonderful ideas in this cottage. Thank you. Now I/we have to finish the goes-and-stays sorting! (Interestingly, this process (Swedish Death Cleaning?) has been a lot of fun because we are doing it together.)
Hi Susan
We will be downsizing again at some point as well. I hope I can approach it with your enthusiasm!!
Cindy! I love that home. Inside and out, it’s so beautiful! And the dill pickle dip…yum!
xx
Thanks Annie!!
Running out to purchase the Ingredients for the Dill Pickle Dip. Mouth Watering just reading this! Thank you
Hi Kathleen
Another great recipe from my DIL Lauren!!
Hello Cindy,
I love the open air feel of the cottage with those big windows and in my next house I hope to have wallpaper or grasscloth on a feature wall in the bedroom. My brother has those folding doors and they add so much drama! Just heaven! Hope you had a lovely 4th!
Francesca
Ditto!!
Great post Cindy! Cardiff-By-The-Sea sounds like a place by a cliff in Monaco! I love the little house, it’s cozy but airy, loads of detail but not cluttered. I especially love the bed on the wall with the pretty wallpaper. It truly inspires me! On a side note, I love the sofa and two chair upholstered chairs, but the colors and patterns aren’t on the same page. Just my thoughts!;). Thanks for a great read!
Jane
Hi Jane
The wallpapered wall inspires me as well, and I am not a wallpaper person. I like the idea of one wall so easy to get rid of if you tire of it.
Thank you for finding and sharing the Cardiff home! Cardiff is truly a sleepy cliffside treasure with lovely homes and sweet residents … so much charm.
Hi Holly
You were near there, correct? My sister’s high school boyfriend settled there. He was such a great guy. Would love to reconnect with him!
Soooooo beautiful and peaceful. Thanks for sharing.
Don’t you just love it!!
Cindy The home in Cardiff is lovely! All the beach towns in this area of the Coast are lovely and now unaffordable but pleasant to visit. Similar to Cayucos, Avila, and others near you they are now in similar circumstances. I treasure my childhood more and more as my grandparents had a literal shack that was willed to them in the late 40s. This was on Highway 1 out of Morro Bay when it was a 2 lane road! and you could run across and pick sweet peas that grew in a ditch. It all is still beautiful and the weather is great most of the year. I do like the upholstery fabric that was used on the living room furniture. Our ‘cottage’ at the time as a child was furnished with Army and Navy surplus because after WW2 there was a big pile of things in a dump left by the military in Morro Bay. My grandfather obtained whole sets of Navy dishes, cots, Army blankets, and kitchen pots and pans. This was highlighted by found shells and bouquets of flowers and also flour sack curtains made by my grandmother. Later my grandfather decided the road was getting too dangerous for children so sold the little place and built a home right above the beach about a mile away. Such memories and thank you Cindy for your efforts which I so enjoy.
Donnie this sounds fascinating!!
Wow…LOVE that cottage! Happy Fourth/Fifth, Cindy!