This Shelter Island Home Boasts The Best Porch We’ve Ever Seen
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House Beautiful’s home tour profiles textile designer Serena Dugan’s renovation of an Adirondack-style cottage on Shelter Island, New York. The broad porch, with rocking chairs and two hanging beds, is a focal point; the project also included major foundation work and rebuilding the original-style stone fireplace.

House Beautiful has featured a renovated Shelter Island, New York, cottage associated with Serena Dugan, the California-based textile designer and Serena & Lily cofounder. The home’s broad front porch, fitted with rocking chairs and two hanging beds, is a centerpiece of the tour. The report says the renovation involved major foundation work and reconstruction of the stone fireplace, one of the features Dugan recalled as making the property feel magical.

Dugan told House Beautiful she first noticed the Adirondack-style cottage as a small marker on a Zillow map while considering an East Coast vacation home. A local friend drove by the property and urged her to see it in person. She recalled arriving at dusk and being struck by the porch, water views and fireplace. “It felt like magic,” she said.

The house needed more than cosmetic changes. According to the report, Dugan said major foundation repair was needed, and the fireplace had to be rebuilt. The replacement was made with local stone to match the original, preserving a prominent feature of the house while addressing the needed work.

Dugan said she wondered whether the porch could fit a hanging bed; the final design included two, which she said suited the porch’s grand proportions. House Beautiful’s captions identify rocking chairs, and the report describes the chairs as perfect for watching rain from the porch. Elsewhere, the renovation brings together Dugan’s own fabric and wallcovering designs, vintage pieces and contemporary furnishings.

At a glance
reportWhen: Published in a House Beautiful home tou…
The developmentHouse Beautiful published a tour of Serena Dugan’s renovated Shelter Island cottage, highlighting its expansive porch and the restoration work behind the home.

A Porch Designed for Gathering

The home tour’s appeal lies not only in the porch’s size, but in how it supports the owner’s stated aim for the property. Dugan said she wanted a house where visitors could make memories. The porch has rocking chairs and hanging beds, and the report also notes water views and the quiet harbor setting.

Dugan said the cottage had a calm atmosphere that she feared losing during renovation. The report describes substantial foundation work and fireplace reconstruction, with local stone used to match the original fireplace.

For readers considering a renovation, the tour offers specific design choices rather than a cost estimate or a construction guide. Dugan paired selected high-end elements with lower-cost details, including online matchstick blinds that she dressed up with brass cleats. The report does not provide a full project budget, so those examples should not be taken as a measure of the renovation’s total expense.

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From Zillow Pin to Renovation

Dugan is a textile designer and artist based in California and a cofounder of Serena & Lily. She told House Beautiful she had been contemplating a vacation home on the East Coast when she found the Shelter Island cottage online. After her friend encouraged her to visit, she saw the property and described being concerned about damaging its calm feeling.

Design choices across the house connect to that personal approach. Dugan used textiles and wallcoverings from her own line alongside vintage furniture and fabrics. In the kitchen, she selected Calacatta Macchia Vecchia marble despite the possibility of staining, saying she was comfortable with the surface developing a patina. She also opened the family room to the kitchen to create a larger shared living area.

The publication’s tour documents interiors as well as the porch: a living room with a trio of oversized lights, a pantry with patterned tile, and a powder room featuring an orange sconce and a custom amazonite sink. The source presents these details as part of the design tour.

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Project Costs and Timeline Unreported

House Beautiful’s account focuses on the home’s design and renovation, without giving a renovation date, duration or total cost, or identifying who performed the structural work. It also does not provide engineering details about the foundation repairs or explain whether the work required changes beyond those described.

The article is a design-focused home tour, not an independent inspection or a complete construction record. It describes the rebuilt fireplace as matching the original and identifies local stone as its material, but does not give technical specifications. The source also does not establish that the porch is objectively the “best” porch; that wording is an editorial-style judgment in the headline, not a measured comparison.

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No Further Project Update Listed

The source provides a published home tour rather than an announcement of additional work, a sale or another scheduled milestone. It does not say whether Dugan plans further renovations or when the property will next be featured. Readers seeking more detail on the home’s construction, budget or current status would need reporting beyond the House Beautiful article.

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Key Questions

Where is Serena Dugan’s home?

The cottage is on Shelter Island, New York, in a corner of Coecles Harbor, according to House Beautiful.

What stands out about the porch?

The broad front porch includes two hanging beds and rocking chairs. Dugan said she considered whether the space could fit a hanging bed and ultimately chose two.

What major renovation work did the house need?

The report says the cottage needed major foundation repairs and a complete reconstruction of its stone fireplace. The rebuilt fireplace used local stone to match the original.

Who designed the home’s interiors?

Serena Dugan, a textile designer and artist and cofounder of Serena & Lily, led the design choices described in the tour, combining her own fabrics and wallcoverings with vintage pieces.

How much did the renovation cost?

House Beautiful does not report a total project cost. Dugan mentioned some expensive early decisions and lower-cost details, but the article gives no overall budget.

Source: rss

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