Order The Bee Cottage Story

Already in its sixth printing! Inspired by Frances’ House Beautiful column, what began as a decorating book evolved into a memoir with lots of beautiful photos and a compelling personal story.

The Bee Cottage Story

The Bee Cottage Story - Pages 80-81

The Bee Cottage Story - Pages 88-89

The Bee Cottage Story - Pages 110-111

The Bee Cottage Story - Pages 128-129

What People Are Saying

Read Jesse Kornbluth’s Head Butler review here, and while you’re at it subscribe to his amazing blog.

Jesse Kornbluth

My dear friend Carolyne Roehm weighs in on her blog, here.

Carolyne Roehm

“Part frank memoir and part no-nonsense design guide, this book will have you thinking, decorating, and laughing (out loud)…”

Carolyn Espley-Miller, SlimPaley.com

“It is a rare bird that shares her failures and her successes and has you laughing hysterically at both…”

Charlotte Moss, Garden Inspirations

“Like other great memoirists—M.F.K. Fisher, Frances Mayes, Elizabeth Gilbert—Frances has written a book that is more than just another memoir.”

Newell Turner, editor-in-chief, House Beautiful

“…You’ll never think of decorating the same way again.”

Clinton Smith, editor-in-chief, Veranda

“Every woman in America will love this witty, wise, and wonderful book…”

Fannie Flagg, Fried Green Tomatoes

Finally, the dadgum book on Bee Cottage is off to press and ready for pre-order here (for signed copies from Frances), and also at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and IndieBound. Yay!

Bee Cottage is my house in East Hampton. I bought it in 2008 and spent two years renovating and decorating. It isn’t finished or perfect, but what is? And who would want to live there?

This is a modest stucco cottage built in the early 20th century.

Bee living room — Bee Cottage living room

Bee Cottage dining room — The dining room is filled with things I love: books, botanicals, and shells.

But for a porch made into a kitchen and the garage into a room I don’t know when, the floor plan is virtually unchanged.

Bee Cottage kitchen — The long, narrow galley kitchen.

I did add a large porch on the back, with considerable landscaping and a garden, but the house is very much as it was.

Bee garden room — Formerly the garage, now the “garden room,” as it gives onto the porch and garden.

Bee Cottage master bedroom — Master bedroom. The half-canopy disguises where the wall angles in under the roof.

Bee Cottage dresser — The old fireplace niche was converted into a dressing table. I did a quickie collage with old calendar illustrations.

Some houses just are what they are, and you go with that. With tremendous help from designer Tom Samet, I decorated accordingly with a traditional, cottage-y feel, part Cotswolds-part Provence.

Bee Cottage guest room, Leontine linens.

Bee Cottage guest bath — Guest bath, painted to resemble a beach cabana

Bee study and dressing room — Dressing room, study, and bedroom in a pinch.

Bee Cottage desk — Dressing room and study

Bee Cottage window box — Boxwood, pachysandra, and ivy

A glorified garden shed is sort of how I think of it. Keeps the house (and me) from getting uptight. The point of a house, after all, is to shelter body and soul.

You can see more of Bee Cottage, and the garden – the garden! – on my Instagram and Pinterest boards, too. Thanks for stopping by 🙂