This place just happened,” says Dr. Read McGehee, relaxing on the porch of his Ware Neck, Va., weekend retreat. His smooth Virginia accent is the perfect complement to the summertime spread of crab salad and iced tea, which his wife, Eleanor, has laid out on the porch’s white-washed picnic table. “As we started, we didn’t have a plan,” says Eleanor. “But as we added Haitian art, it took on a life of its own.”

The couple found their weekend dream house, a petite cottage that fronts the North River, near the Mobjack Bay on Virginia’s Middle Peninsula. Two days after touring the tiny spot in 1997, they bought it and began the two-year-long process of remodeling, which included adding a screened-in porch, covering the façade with cedar shingles, and, with the help of local horticulturist George McLellan, installed an all-season garden that winds throughout the twelve-and-a-half-acre property.

The McGehees soon adopted a weekend routine of making the hour-and-a-half drive from their home base in Richmond to the cozy riverfront sanctuary. That is, until Hurricane Isabel came to call in 2003, depositing two feet of water and heaps of sand—and dead fish—inside the house, ruining rugs and furniture and blowing out the doors and windows. After eighteen months spent replacing the wall board and replastering, the couple moved in again, this time for good. “We’re frequently here more than we are at home,” says Eleanor. “This place lends itself to grandchildren and casual entertaining, particularly in the spring and summer months.”

The décor is a melding of traditional Southern sensibilities and the pair’s eclectic artistic taste, developed while Read, a now retired pulmonologist and sleep specialist, traveled with Eleanor to exotic locales, including Haiti, West Africa, Peru, Mexico, and Honduras, both for pleasure and for business during his stint with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. “When we first bought the art, we said, what have we done?’ And then grad-ually realized this house was a great place to put it.”

The Mexican-tiled living room’s focal point is a painting of Madonna and child by Santa Fe artist Amy Cordova. The piece’s mix of electric and earthy hues inspired the purchase of the cobalt blue sofa and wheat-colored club chairs, as well as the use of natural accessories throughout the room, from the mantle-top wooden Yoruba house post, a Nigerian artifact found at a Richmond auction, to a Haitian sculpture, bought in Port au Prince, to boldly colored woolen rugs from Oaxaca.

The adjoining dining room’s centerpiece is a five-by-twelve-foot Taureg wedding blanket, which Read purchased in a market in Mopti, Mali. “It’s my pride and joy,” he says. The room also showcases more of the couple’s collection of Haitian art bought in the 1970s. “I think guests are first taken by the Haitian paintings because they’re vivid and bright and often have interesting themes,” says Read. “But then they become interested in the mix, of the African art with the Peruvian with the Mexican.”

The master bedroom is a quiet space where only a few pieces of Haitian art have been incorporated above the Shaker bed to keep the mood quiet and serene. The room is flooded by natural light from two sliding doors, which overlook the river and open onto a small deck. Here Eleanor has added sentimental design elements, from the pine chest passed down from Read’s mother to a patchwork quilt found at an antique shop in nearby Gloucester.

The porch, which extends off the living and dining room, expresses the couple’s affinity for traditional décor. The space is awash in clean white tones, complete with wicker and softly whirling ceiling fans. “I love the porch,” says Read. “It’s a wonderfully quiet place. I like to read the newspaper and watch the birds and hang out. It gives me access to the outdoors without the bugs.”

“The house naturally lends itself to being open,” adds Eleanor, a retired clinical social worker. “You can open all the glass doors, and it’s like living in an open space with a ceiling. People who come often are so responsive to the house because it’s a very inviting place.”