Once a small family cottage, this perfectly perched home now has an elevated view.

Much of the allure of Cape Cod lies in the timelessness of its sandy beaches, family traditions, and classic cottage-styled homes. As carfuls of visitors drive over the bridge, there’s a feeling of being transported back to a world of nostalgia where life moves a little slower and neighborhoods stay frozen in time. Understandably, Cape Codders are often resistant to change and long to hold tightly to the Cape they’ve grown up with. However, as our knowledge of coastal storms, and therefore flooding, has evolved overtime—our home designs have been forced to evolve as well. 

Cottage in the Clouds was originally a small cottage perched behind the low dunes in a quaint summer neighborhood on the southside of Dennis. The cottage closely resembled the rest of the houses scattered along the street, cottages that are routinely battered with winds coming from the Atlantic during the off-season and then filled with sandy feet during the summer. When the homeowners decided it was time to renovate their cottage into a year-round home, they wanted to maintain the classic feel of the coastal home while also building it to last for generations to live in all year long.

DeMartin Dunham Builders were up for the challenge.

The family-run boutique firm is primarily a build-design firm, meaning typically they both design the structure of the home themselves and then manage the construction in-house. The firm, in which over half of the employees are relatives and Cape natives, understands the complex ecosystem of this unique area and how it impacts regulations, permits and the overall process of building Cape homes. Such as in the case of Cottage in the Clouds, designing and building can...