A Hull bungalow transformation 360 yards from the sea captures the hearts and attention of many.
By Kelly Chase
Photography by Brian Doherty
with portraits by Kaitlyn Litchfield
"Salty” is a frequently used adjective in our region, but it has various meanings. Some days the ocean breeze is so salty, its aroma stretches for miles. Then there are salty characters. Many New Englanders have crossed paths with these individuals. They are salty perhaps because they are tough, weathered, and don’t suffer fools gladly. When Emily Copeman named her cottage in Hull The Salty Daughter, she had all of the definitions of “salty” in mind, especially the latter. “My dad loved that I had strong opinions and that I didn’t hold back,” says Copeman. “He often described me as salty because I had this fire in me, and I think he really got a kick out of it.”
The Salty Daughter is a year-round rental property in Hull that is 360 yards from the beach. Copeman renovated the home in 2022 and 2023, capturing the attention of locals on Instagram as well as producers at the Magnolia Network, who featured the cottage project on the television program Beachfront Bargain Hunt in the fall of 2023. The television show tells the compelling story of a beach bungalow transformation and a mother and daughter duo meeting in the middle on design decisions. Of course, there is more to Copeman’s story.
Copeman grew up in Hingham, and her parents taught her about the world of real estate; her father, Frederick Copeman, worked in real estate investment and her mother, Pamela Copeman, is an interior designer. “I grew up with a lot of exposure to the concept of investing in real estate, and I knew and appreciated the design world because I was always visiting the showrooms in Boston with my mom,” says Copeman.
Today, Copeman lives in Scituate with her two daughters, Ella, 5, and Daisy, 7. She works full time managing a sales team for a telehealth company. Before she saw the listing in Hull, she had bought, renovated, and sold two other properties. “I learned a lot of really hard lessons on those projects, and those experiences filled my toolbox,” she says.
In 2021, Copeman’s father died unexpectedly. “His passing was really difficult and put a lot of things into perspective,” says Copeman, especially as it relates to taking chances and going after her dreams like owning and operating a beach rental. With their father’s passing, Copeman and her brother were beneficiaries of life insurance and she decided to invest in a beach property that she could rent out year-round and ultimately pass on to her daughters to own and manage. “I really knew nothing about generational wealth when I was starting out in the world, and I wish I had,” says Copeman. “Now as a single mom, I’m trying to establish and sustain generational wealth so that I can feel better about the future I’m providing for my kids. I want them to have something to fall back on.”
As it happens, in 2022, a small bungalow popped up on the market in Hull. “It was this funny little house, and I asked my friend Molly Walker, a realtor for Coldwell Banker in Scituate, to schedule a showing,” says Copeman. “Before we even saw it, I told her, ‘I think this is the house.’”
Located near the Kenberma neighborhood of Hull, the house was painted bright teal and surrounded by overgrown brush. Stairs and siding dripped with rust and paint was chipped and fading. Inside, the home was wrapped in dark brown wood paneling and mismatched flooring. The listing screamed “work.” But, Copeman saw potential.
The location of the property was what Copeman was after. “It is two blocks from the beach, and it’s close to Kenberma, so you can walk to get ice cream, and there’s a grocery store, laundromat, restaurants, and a pharmacy—everything you need is right there,” she says. Copeman knew the neighborhood because she grew up going to Nantasket Beach with her family. Now an adult, she and her daughters spend every chance they get at the beach in Hull.
Copeman bought the funny little house and began renovations. She brought her mom in to help with interior design decisions. “My mom was my fun, needling sidekick,” she says. “She and I are very different. She is very flamboyant, loud, and bold in her color choices. She is pretty much always wearing either fur, sequins or diamonds even if you see her at the dump.”
Copeman has a tendency to lean towards calming colors, and while most of the home is finished in a palette of neutrals, her mom inspired Copeman to choose bolder choices in some areas, such as the striped retro wallpaper in the kitchen and the light fixture over the dining room table. “She helped me see that if I invested in one really spectacular statement piece in a room, I could go cheaper in another area because that one piece elevated the room enough that you didn’t notice that the chairs were from Ikea, or Home Depot,” she says.
Copeman worked with contractor Scott Knobloch, and as the project evolved, Copeman uncovered more information about the previous owner’s style and began to see the home in a new light. The crew pulled back layers of bold and bright wallpapers and found theater tickets stuffed into the floorboards. “I started with this muted, neutral mood board, but as we learned more about the house and its previous owner, I started to realize that I needed to let it have some more personality,” she says. “I started adding color here and there, and I got bolder as the project went on.”
Major renovations included insulating the home, laying new flooring throughout most of the upstairs and downstairs, extending the patio off the back of the house with a pergola overhead, and installing a new central kitchen, a downstairs kitchenette and updating two bathrooms. Structurally, the footprint of the home remained the same. “I really tried to avoid moving walls or adding bedrooms and bathrooms, and instead thought about the use of the space, and then made the most economical decisions I could,” she says.
Much to Copeman’s delight, only smaller renovations were required in other areas. The dark wood paneling that lined the walls and the wood floors in some bedrooms were in good shape. She painted the paneling white and the bedroom floors different shades of gray and blue. In the children’s room, she used the funky room layout to her advantage by having her contractor install a cozy cubby of custom bunk beds. The nook is finished with a backsplash of whimsical wallpaper.
The project was not without hiccups. A pipe was hit in the process, flooding the flooring that had just been laid down. Other funny situations unfolded, like a cat that would not leave. “You can plan, project, and calculate until the cows come home, but there are always things that pop up that you don’t expect,” says Copeman.
Copeman began renting out the property in the summer of 2023. There are three bedrooms, two bathrooms, and two kitchens. The separate upstairs and downstairs spaces work well for groups and families who are traveling together. In the upstairs living room, there is a built-in full of games and movies, as well as a record player. “I want people to come away with family memories,” says Copeman. “For example, there’s a huge record collection. I have never been on vacation at a house with a record player, but I think as a child, I would have loved to dance with my family in the living room and maybe put on records that were relevant to my parents when they were my age.”
Copeman hopes to pass the Salty Daughter on to her daughters one day, and while they are still young, they seem to be picking up on their mom’s enterprising spirit. “We are always brainstorming about the house,” says Copeman. “One day, we were driving home from Hull and my daughter Daisy said, ‘Mom, I think the next house should be the Salty Mama, and then the house after that should be the Salty Sisters.” Her younger daughter agreed as Copeman laughed, getting a kick out of her salty daughters in training.
Salty Daughter | thesaltydaughter.com
Resources
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