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A Place Of Peace: Surrounded by her treasures, Mary Lou finds her garden house to be a retreat onto itself, far away from the rushing world.Photographs: Gross & Daley	At 280 square feet, this cozy garden house is just the right size for a great getaway. By Roberta Messner In Oak Hill, New York, in the northern Catskill Mountains, there’s an enchanted garden cottage that is all about heart. Here, gardener and lover of antiques Mary Lou Nahas and her husband, Nick, have created a total gardening environment that feeds the pure poetry of the place. One look at the exterior and a visitor is already conjuring up images of what it must be like to kick off her mucky gardening boots, step inside and pot a few geraniums, and then go find the perfect spot in a corner somewhere for an afternoon nap.
And once inside, that visitor is not disappointed. There are places aplenty for all of the above activities. And more. Each area of the sweet, one-room refuge adapts to serve a multitude of functions, and each one offers the promise of possibility and the assurance of second chances, of coaxing loveliness from the most unlikely of places.
A Welcoming Escape: Garden style is in the eye of the beholder. This 14’ x 20’ treasure (top) was influenced by cottages of olde. Get To Work! Mary Lou purchased the toolbox (left) at an antiques show because of its wonderful original blue paint and metal corners.