The Soul of a Coastal Design Brand Begins at Home
The impetus for our recent rebrand from Design No. Five to Laughing Gull Hill was to bring our story home — quite literally.
As our designs evolved, we realized we needed a total coastal story, not just in our products but in our brand identity. Our studio is housed in Laughing Gull Hill, an 18th-century Sea Captain’s home perched just up from Cotuit Harbor. This place has a deep-rooted connection to the rhythms of the coast — from its whaling-era history to its salt works past.
This spirit of coastal living and coastal working now anchors everything we do. The rebrand was about aligning our story with the place that inspires it.
Laughing Gull Hill: A Cape Cod sea captain’s house reimagined as a coastal design studio. Discover a bit of Cotuit’s history and handcrafted coastal style.
By some counts, Laughing Gull Hill’s story begins as many as 280 years ago—today, it’s my home and also the heart of our coastal design studio. When my husband, Phil, and I purchased this ramshackle house in 2016, all it really had going for it were “good bones.” We closed on March 31st—and what an April Fools' Day that was!
Our vision was to restore the home of Sea Captain James Childs, preserving as much as possible. And we think we succeeded. If you love a good before-and-after, check out Phil’s renovation blog, The Laughing Gull Hill Project, which chronicles our journey and other such projects in Cotuit.
Chimney of our Laughing Gull Hill Studio is peeking through the trees in the upper right corner.
Welcome...
Attached to the main Sea Captain’s home at Laughing Gull Hill is a building once floated over—likely by barge—from Nantucket. While its exact history is a bit of a mystery, it’s now the hub of our design, marketing, and sales operations. Sea Captain’s homes like ours were continually added onto as families and prestige grew, and we carry that spirit forward—expanding not with bricks and beams, but by connecting with exceptional creative talent from around the world.
In today’s work-from-anywhere world, this coastal setting makes the perfect launch point. Just as silk, linen, and other treasures once arrived in our little village from distant ports, we now send textiles from Cotuit to beautifully designed coastal homes across the globe. Let the creativity flow!
Our Coastal Design Lab
How Our Seaside Studio Doubles as a Real-Life Testing Ground for our LGH Fabrics and Wallpaper
Living and working where we do gives us a rare opportunity to treat our coastal surroundings as both inspiration and testing ground. Walks on the beach spark new design ideas, and having direct access to real coastal living allows us to experiment firsthand with how our fabrics and wallpapers hold up—and perform—in this environment. It’s a bit like having our own design incubator, where we can play, test, and refine in the very spaces that inspire our collections.
Why the name Laughing Gull Hill?
The Laughing Gull is the class clown of the coast—squawking like it’s always enjoying a good joke while strutting the beach in a tux. A Cape Cod regular—easy to spot with its black head and loud, laughing call. It loves a good breeze, a sandy perch, and sneaking snacks when you're not looking. Always around, always noisy, and always a bit of fun.
Rumor has it that the daughter of the prior owners of Laughing Gull Hill named the property. Not sure why but it certainly is fitting and worthy of the name.
When we made the decision to rebrand, Laughing Gull Hill felt like the perfect choice to bring the brand home and align with our fun, coastal design aesthetic.
Our new logo suite by Cielle Studio
The Author : Beth Odence
Beth Odence is the owner and designer behind Laughing Gull Hill. With a background in interior design and home staging, she is no stranger to finding strikingly beautiful ways to incorporate old and new details into cohesive spaces. Her home and studio at Laughing Gull Hill are testament to her keen eye for design.
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