I’m out there with a headband on and my boots.” “I don’t sit and watch soap operas all day.

They have roses on them and painted birds - most of the ladies that come kind of like that.”Īnd the real showstopper of the cottage is the garden, which Ruoti tends on her own. The dishes are all from my mother from the 40s and 50s. “That’s my grandma’s table a lot of my grandma’s stuff is in there. And she also added some family heirlooms. I made the curtains and the quilt I sew, I knit I crochet,” she said. It’s a 100-year-old cottage so I kept it quaint or old-fashioned - Colonial looking. “The pictures you see on the wall are my etches from grad school. An artist, she took advantage of her own talents when it came to decorating. She did upgrade the kitchen appliances and the bathroom when she turned it into an Airbnb, though.

To pay homage to the cottage’s style, Ruoti has decorated it with a country, homey vibe, keeping the knotty pine kitchen cabinets and adding homemade quilts throughout. After the couple, Ruoti details, there was a carpenter who built dollhouses and an electrician Ruoti’s family is the fourth to own the home. The first owners were a doctor and his wife who immigrated from Poland - Ruoti has corresponded with their granddaughter. The cottage was built in 1925 when Arden Avenue was a dirt road, the scrapbook details, and it was erected prior to the construction of the main house. When Ruoti and her husband bought the Staten Island home in 1993, it came with a scrapbook of photos and news clippings that every owner updated dating back to the original builders of the property. While Ruoti cites privacy as the cottage’s biggest draw - it’s a freestanding house on a property that also houses Ruoti’s main home - Sweet Pea Cottage’s charming facade and fascinating history do not hurt the cause. “I get people who want to go to a concert, a game or a wedding, and I say, ‘Why don’t you stay closer?’ And they say, ‘Oh no, there’s no parking and they don’t mind the commute.”

The modest charmer in a sea of “monster mansions” of Staten Island, as she calls them, offers a getaway feeling with easy access to public transit into Manhattan. She’s also had three newlywed couples stay with her before their honeymoon as the cottage is only a short drive to the area airports.

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