Good Things Come in Small Packages
Cape Cod Home / Autumn 2026 / Home, Garden & Design
Writer: Hannah Kunze / Photographer: Dan Cutrona
Good Things Come in Small Packages
Cape Cod Home / Autumn 2026 / Home, Garden & Design
Writer: Hannah Kunze / Photographer: Dan Cutrona
In Eastham, behind a beautiful home overlooking the sea, a little path leads to a charming cottage. It’s reminiscent of the line in a poem by Lydia Marie Child, ‘Over the river and through the woods, to grandmother’s house we go’ and indeed, perhaps one day the homeowner’s grandchildren will sing the tune as they traverse from her cottage to her waterfront house for a visit.
The homeowner had long dreamed of building a guest house for her sons and their future families to enjoy. When the adjoining lot went on sale, she leapt at the opportunity. “I’d walked by that property a million times,” she says. “It was a tiny little thing. I didn’t realize how run down it was—it was collapsing around itself.”
The homeowner enlisted the help of architect Peter Haig, principal at Architectural Design, Inc. in Orleans, to transform the dilapidated structure, which was perched on only a quarter acre and faced significant design c...