“It almost didn’t matter what we did inside, when
you look out at the view,” says Powell. “The harbor, the
foghorn blowing, downtown glittering at night: You just
want to get outside.”
In order to best take advantage of the sublime
location, the homeowner looked to Nantucket architecture firm Bottecelli & Pohl to design an addition to
the 1980s cottage (originally designed by Lyman Perry
Architects of Pennsylvania). The new space includes
a bath and sitting room on the first floor and a guest
bedroom with a darling private porch on the second
floor. “We wanted to enhance the existing building,”
says Ray Pohl of the design. “There was a lack of symmetry, and this addition added balance.”
Like the rest of the house, both new spaces have
heavenly views. “We wake up at 5 a.m. and get the eastern light that turns all of town bright pink,” says the
homeowner, “and at night, we have fabulous sunsets.”
Unlike many empty summer homes that require
all new furnishings, this one was easily filled by the
owner’s vast collection of heirloom antiques, from tallboy dressers to blue-and-white Wedgwood jasperware
and rustic majolica. “I summered at my grandparents’
house on Cape Cod as a child with many of these
pieces,” says the owner, “but this house is smaller, so I
scaled back and only kept my favorites.”
“She’s fun and creative,” says Powell of his client.
“She already has beautiful antiques, so in decorating,
we were looking to make the space become more
alive.”
With Plumer Design associate Jill Crompton,
Powell focused on a consistent palette to create a traditional Nantucket look. For the walls, they chose faux
finishes and papers with small repeats to create a
neutral backdrop for the owner’s many marine-themed
prints and paintings. Fabric and carpet patterns were
selected in either astral or oceanic motifs, such as
coral and nautical stars. Oddly enough, the house had
few interior moldings, so Nantucket carpenter/contractor Jeff Ballinger went to work adding trim that jibed
with the antique furnishings.
At the back of the house, French doors on each
side of a large bay of windows (which delineates the
kitchen/family room from the formal sitting room opposite the front entry hall) open to a long deck that
faces the harbor. For the decking, Ballinger used en-
wallpaper that resembles
crackled plaster (above)
provides a soothing
complement to the earthy
tones of antique majolica in
the dining room.
In the formal sitting room
(facing page), the
homeowner’s collection of
Wedgwood transferware
informed interior designer
Gilbert Powell’s choice of
blue and white fabrics and
floor coverings.
