Coastal Cottage Makeover--Before and After

Coastal Cottage Makeover--Before and After

Summertime in a place as beautiful as Rhode Island can turn into a fantasy quest for the perfect beach house. But what if you started with what was already there, and created a coastal swan out of an ugly duckling? Matt Davitt, the president of Davitt Design Build, an award-winning architectural, building, and renovation firm located in West Kingston, has been doing just this on a quaint stretch of shoreline near Narragansett's Sand Hill Cove.

Under Davitt, seven ocean homes are rising from the footprints of seaside shacks, with a style that Davitt says is "reminiscent of "Nantucket, with a dash of Newport for good measure." See the transformation of one of the seven, as it goes from eyesore to gorgeous.