Laundry
"We all have to do laundry. Why not do it in a great space?" Carol asks. The designer brought color to the room with bright art and a striped undercounter skirt hung from a thin metal rod. The curtain can be pulled open for full access to laundry detergent and cleaning supplies and closed to mask everyday mess. The best part: The sturdy outdoor fabric will weather any laundry mishaps. Even bleach won’t fade it.
*pretty and practical: Backing open shelves with beaded board painted the same color as the walls elevates them from storage to display space. Carol hung a drapery rod in front of the window to provide a handy drip bar for clothes that need to air-dry.
Paint: Valspar. Fixtures: Delta Faucet. Fabric: Sunbrella. Moisture control: DampRid.
Bon Secour Village
With French Acadian architecture, lush green parks, and walking trails, Bon Secour Village looks like a New Orleans neighborhood on the banks of the Intracoastal Waterway. The 1,000-acre wooded community, unscathed by recent hurricanes, makes an ideal site for the type of responsible growth that is now revitalizing the Alabama Gulf Coast.
“It’s going to feel like an entire town when completed,” says town founder and developer Eddie Canaday. “We imagine the sense of a great resort area that has access to the ocean, but isn’t limited by being on the ocean.” Bob McGrath, sales manager of Bon Secour Realty, agrees. “There’s more to the Gulf Coast than the beachfront,” he says. “The backwaters can be just as coastal.”
A marina—home to shops, restaurants, offices, and low-rise condominiums—will stand at the center of Bon Secour. Planners hope the community will become “a town inside a town,” Bob says. “We’ll be inside Gulf Shores, but we’ll have our own feel.”When complete, the village will accommodate permanent residents, as well as vacationers seeking fractional ownership. “We’re going to have a place for everyone and a price for everyone,” Eddie says.
He and the rest of the Bon Secour Village team share a grand vision for the entire 12-mile-long Intracoastal Waterway. Because a seawall protects developments here, they believe that a string of new communities will rise, becoming a beautiful and valuable resource for the Gulf Coast. In the future, they hope to be one of many hot spots along the waterway from Wolf Bay to Mobile Bay, with attractions for both residents and visitors. “We want to build a first-class destination so that everyone who comes to Gulf Shores has to come to Bon Secour Village,” Eddie says.
Builder and Designers
To give this community an Old South feel, the developers set aside large green spaces for public parks and opted for narrow residential lots—perfect for traditional, shotgun-style homes. While our Idea Cottage looks like a
conventional shotgun from the street, Norcross, Georgia, residential designers Stephen Fuller and Brandon Ingram of Stephen Fuller Inc. put a twist on the plan by moving the main entrance to the side of the house, improving the flow of the interiors. “It’s much more efficient to come into the building in the middle rather than the front,” Stephen says. “From a space-planning standpoint, it yields a far more interesting layout, fewer hallways, and less wasted space.”
Outdoor Spaces
*private retreats: Tynes Stringfellow, president of Jubilee Landscape Inc., designed the small but luxurious courtyard as a haven from the hot Southern sun. Sedum between the paving stones adds texture, and a water feature keeps temperatures cool and provides calming white noise. Upstairs, the master bedroom’s covered balcony takes in views of the water.
Outdoor furniture: Gloster. Fabric: Sunbrella. Railing and decking: TAMKO. Brick veneers: Eldorado Stone. Shutters: J&L Shutters. Siding: James Hardie. Paint: Valspar. Doors: Marvin Windows and Doors.
