A Couple Escapes the Rat Race with a Cute Clapboard Cottage in the Bahamas

We first got a peek at couple Hope and Pete Colling‘s style in the house tour of their Eichler in California. A few weeks ago, Hope sent an email explaining that they sold that house for a new life: “In 2016, we got so tired of the San Francisco Bay Area rat race that after a 30-second conversation at the end of a particularly exhausting day, we made the snap decision to throw in the towel and move to a desert island. Over the next few days, each one of us would bring the idea up to the other—almost like a dare—and so as this continued with no signs of letting up, we actually began taking steps to make it happen.”

“It took almost a year, but we sold just about every single thing that we owned- from our house and its contents, to our cars, right down to our clothes, and moved to this tropical island with only six small boxes filled with sentimental items we just couldn’t part with,” Hope explained.

Hope describes their new home below:

Our house was built over several winters by its former owner, with the help of a couple of surfing buddies. It’s a traditional Bahamian clapboard cottage that sits at the top of a bumpy dirt road flanked by lush tropical vegetation on both sides. We love the location because we’re a stone’s throw from the beach and just a five-minute bike ride into town!

Most of the houses in Abaco are painted bright Caribbean colors, and all go by charming names instead of addresses. Our house was originally called All U Need—which it really is, but the connotation sounded more like “bare minimum,” or “it’ll do,” which wasn’t the feeling we wanted our new home to convey. We struggled to come up with a name we both could agree on before we moved in—I wanted to call it “Chelsea Morning” after my favorite Joni Mitchell song; Pete wanted to call it “Soulshine” after a song Warren Haynes wrote for The Allman Brothers. (We’re a musical family!) But on our first night in the house, it actually named itself. We were sitting in our new living room with the windows and doors wide open, listening to sound of the ocean when this big, beautiful strawberry moon began to rise over the Atlantic and it lit up the entire house with a warm, golden glow. We looked at one another and at the exact same time we both said “Abaco Moon”? And the rest, as they say, is history!

My Style: My style has always skewed toward Global Bohemian long before I knew what that meant. At 9 years old I was hanging woven baskets and macrame on the walls of my bedroom and draping ivy across the curtain rods! And Pete spent his twenties traveling around Europe and Asia, so he’s developed a true appreciation for architecture and design—which can be seen in the furniture he builds. Our styles mesh well together; he designs the furniture and I add the soft touches. Oh and we’re both crazy plant people!

Inspiration: Mother Nature; I take all my color cues from her.

Favorite Element: It was hard to admit this at first, but it’s actually the smallness of the house. We moved from a large house that was brimming with unoriginal, mass-produced furniture and impersonal decor items that we (okay, I) bought because we had these grand rooms to fill; and most of our favorite collectibles were either hidden away or lost in the mix of store-bought knick knacks. When I look around our house now almost everything my eye lands on is a beloved treasure; there’s not much room for anything else! And when we have friends over to play music or for dinner, they’ll often ask us about where something in the house came from, and we get to share its history and how we came to own it. It’s a nice way to share our life’s stories with new friends.

Biggest Challenge: Besides keeping sand out of the house (impossible, I’ve completely given up), the biggest challenge has been lack of storage. We share a bedroom closet—which is actually the only closet in the house, so things like bed linens and extra bath towels are stashed neatly in containers under the bed. And everything is labeled—I’m obsessed with my label maker! I grew up in a small apartment in New York, so I learned early on the importance of being organized and making the most of a small space—we used to keep our shoes in the oven and our pots and pans hung on the kitchen wall!!

Proudest DIY: We did all of the work on the house ourselves, which included caulking and painting every square inch of tongue and groove in the house— even the pitched ceiling! Pete calculated that we used four miles of caulk; we worked around the clock and finished it in just three days!

Biggest Indulgence: We splurged and bought our living room rug from a friend who was moving off island… her mother-in-law is an accomplished interior designer and the rug was hers, so I was very grateful she was willing to sell it to us. As The Dude says, the rug really pulls the room together! (Obscure “The Big Lebowski”reference!)

Best Advice: The most welcoming and inviting homes are the ones that are curated—to me there’s nothing more impersonal than a house that looks like it was shopped for in one fell swoop. It should be a collection of special treasures and family heirlooms and your personality should shine through. Every time we travel we bring something handmade back for our home—usually a piece of local art because it’s lightweight and easy to pack. Also I can’t imagine a house without plants—they give so much life to a house and they’re an inexpensive and wonderful way to take up space.

PAINT & COLORS
Benjamin Moore Linen White throughout the house
Benjamin Moore Paper White in the bathroom
Benjamin Moore Arctic White, trim

LIVING ROOM
Most of the furniture either came with the house or Pete build it himself.
Blanket on sofa — Anthropologie
Coffee Table — Colling Design + Build
Indigo Pillows — Handmade by me for sale at Marmalade (my shop in SF),
Flokati Pillow — Erica Tanov
Rug — Greenleaf Designs
TV Stand — Colling Design + Build
Side Buffet — Colling Design + Build
Side Table — 7th Avenue flea market
Lamp — Target
Artwork — Journey Higgs, Mary Balzac (both are island locals—one is 12 and the other is in her 80s!)
Wooden Bowl and Bud vase on the TV stand were made locally by Ricky Sweeting, a talented woodworker who lives on the island.
Woven Wall Hanging — Handmade in Bolivia

DINING ROOM
The table came with the house
Placemat — Target
Planter — ABC Home Ceramics

KITCHEN
Most of the items came with the home, but we did mix in a few of our beloved trinkets. We bought the mermaid and whale illustration on the top shelf above the fridge while visiting Tulum, and the wooden pelican was handmade from an artist at a street fair in Half Moon Bay. The mug on the stove was handmade in Portugal and was a gift from dear friends who came for a visit last May.

BEDROOM
Bed — Colling Design + Build
Side Tables — Came with the house
Linens — Wildflower Organics
Pillows — Peter Dunham
Rug — World Market

LOFT
Desk — Colling Design + Build
Linens — Target
Light — IKEA
Pillows — Peter Dunham

BATHROOM
Hand Towel — Anthropologie

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