photos by Jessie Preza
After Hurricane Matthew flooded her low-lying, one-story home on the Intracoastal in 2016, Mardee Allcorn started fresh, rebuilding a new home — one ten feet above sea level and in no danger of flooding — in its place.
“I used my dad’s waterproofing materials and built myself a Category 5 cottage with drainage all around,” laughs Allcorn, who utilized felled materials as a resource for the project. “Most of the walls inside the new home are made from trees that fell in the hurricane. I had them milled and dried out for a year using cedar, cypress and pine.”
The new build lasted five months, during which Allcorn lived in a twelve foot trailer on the property, along with her two boys, Jake and Wade, and their eight-year-old Labrador, Suzy. “We took laundry to friends’ houses while in transition and often stayed in hotel rooms to have more space,” she says.
Soon enough, they had a place of their own once more. Even more, it offered a refuge from any oncoming storms.
The new, 1,100-square-foot property, which sits on one acre on the Intracoastal waterway, is complete with three bedrooms, three full baths, and plenty of space in which to hunker down.
“The new home is built ten feet off sea level and the generator and air conditioning are also elevated outside, to avoid flooding,” Allcorn says. “I did not build a garage. Instead, I ordered two shed kits with the help of college students at The University of North Florida.”
The sheds offer more space in the yard and, being detached from the home, won’t impact the safety of the primary property in the event of flooding.
Less destructible, more family-friendly, and a space full of heirlooms means Allcorn and her brood are right at home. “The only thing I wish I had done differently,” she laughs, “was rent or buy a bigger trailer while designing the home.”
In the master bedroom, floral wallpaper, shiplap walls, and patterned tile floors provide a mish-mash of colors and textures. “I designed the cottage to feel old-fashioned,” says Allcorn.”To inspire my boys to read more often, with lots of historical relics.”
The antique secretary in the master bedroom is from the Plantation Shop in Amelia Island. “They helped me replace a lot of furniture that didn’t make it in the hurricane,” Allcorn says. “It’s important to use every square inch of a small house, so the secretary turns into a desk, and acts as storage china and sweaters as well.”
All of the artwork in the home is created by local artists including the painting in the living area, by Shawn Meharg. “I asked him to paint something from a salvage project in Blount island so my boys would continue to draw nautical architecture as well as be inspired by restoration,” Allcorn says. “I do not have video games in my house so when the weather is bad, my boys can choose to draw, paint, play music, read or sculpt something—even if it makes a mess.”
When the hurricane flooded the property, the flowers and many trees were also destroyed, so Allcorn built new butterfly gardens in tall farm troughs. “I added layers of rock for drainage in the front part of the property and kept the back of the property low to avoid most cost,” she says. There was one benefit to losing so many trees in the storm: more space in which to play. “The backyard has become an obstacle course and makeshift football field for the kids,” she says.
Most of the wood in the home was milled on-site using the trees that came down in Hurricanes Matthew and Irma such as cyprus, cedar, and pine.
The family’s trailer, which they lived in on-site during the remodel, now serves as a kitschy entertaining space.
