Cottage in town

In 1989, Dave and Chrissy Wortman bought a nondescript little 1902 cottage just north of downtown Coeur d’Alene and set about fixing it up.

Chrissy Wortman has dubbed the style of her Garden District home “downtown cottage.” The ground floor takes its cue from an abstract painting by her mother-in-law, Seattle artist Jane Wortman. The rich yellows and golds in the painting set the tone for a room that feels contemporary, with a few rustic accents on display.

The Wortmans have done much of the work themselves, calling in the experts when needed.

The walls along the stairwell and the living room fireplace sport a rough plaster-and-straw finish – Wortman’s solution to unsightly stucco. Exotic animal patterns bring a masculine flair to the space, but Wortman has kept some feminine touches. The mantle sports two traditional English ceramic dogs. A floral arrangement fills the fireplace and a high shelf is adorned with her mother’s teapots.

In the kitchen, Dave Wortman crafted a unique and glamorous solution to ugly counters: He topped two of them with copper sheeting. Another handmade accent is the pot rack, which he crafted using copper tubing.

French doors replaced a small kitchen window overlooking the garden.

“I just love the light,” Chrissy Wortman said. “I would have loved to put in a sun room, but it was too expensive.”

In keeping with the rest of the home, the kitchen features both new pieces – many inexpensive – and antiques. Wortman found the kitchen island in Walla Walla. It had been cut in half; they reconnected the pieces and topped it with granite. She bought the small pub table and chairs at Target.

A rubber chicken perches on the pot rack to bring a sense of whimsy to the room.

Chrissy Wortman, born and raised in England, co-owns Medidi Monkey, a Coeur d’Alene home furnishings store. Her husband works from home as a sales representative. He had one rule when his wife set out to decorate his office in the ground floor bedroom: No flowers.

“We tried to make it as masculine as we could,” she said, showing off a room painted a dark green and highlighted by plaid wallpaper.

Where the ground floor is rich in deep color, upstairs is the opposite. The two bedrooms and a bath are light and airy – out of necessity, Chrissy Wortman said. The house wasn’t air-conditioned until this past year.

The master bedroom features a wide arched doorway, but no doors. Wortman solved that problem by hanging sheer curtains for privacy.

The headboard is another of Wortman’s reclaimed pieces. It used to be the mirrored door of an armoire, which was dropped by a mover.

“Like we are, it’s slightly cracked,” Wortman joked. “I like it, warts and all.”

The bright feel of the upstairs is repeated, surprisingly, in the basement. White walls and a white ceiling make the basement anything but dreary. It was, until the recent AC upgrade, the place to hang out in the summer.

“Once the ceiling got painted, it changed the whole feeling of the basement,” she said.

Part of the space serves as her craft room. A sitting area includes a Murphy bed for guests.

The cowboy-style bunk room features a bunk bed made of redwood posts. It also houses what’s left of Dave Wortman’s collectibles.

“When I met my husband, he collected cowboy paraphernalia,” she said. “He went from a house full to one bunkroom full.”