Four Designers in Nantucket, then Adieu

Summer insists on leaving us too soon, but I insist on lingering longer in Nantucket.  Even though leaves are dropping and schools are opening, perhaps we can keep summer in our hearts a bit longer by viewing the style, the food, the landscapes of Nantucket.  Come with me as we visit Eugenie Voorhees/Hugh Newell Jacobsen (I know, I know.  I've visited their design already, but I happened upon another magazine with more views, and I love this house), Vicente Wolf, Charles Spada,  and Matthew Sapera.  Here we go.

Getting in the breezy, nautical-summery mood yet?

Don't let the fact that this is a December issue of Cote Ouest lead you astray.  Inside were summer photos of Nantucket.

See, summer in Nantucket, not December in France.

Close-up of Voorhees's antique French park chairs.  So cool.  Even better than Tolix.

Here the chairs are surrounding the dining room table in this wonderful white room.  Note the shutters on the window at the right.  If you've ever seen my pinterest boards, you know I love interior window shutters.

Close-up of the table with shutters in background.  Love the very clean table setting.  Nothing extraneous.

You've seen this view of living room in an earlier post, but you should see it again - it's such a serene room.

Remember Jacobsen's signature egg crate bookcases.   A different perspective here.  Love the refinished old pine floors contrasting the new white walls.

Close up of coffee table bottles.  Very pure.

Master bedroom.  I really like the old paneling with the new paneling on the left and contemporary furnishings.  Not everyone agrees with me, notably my son.  (As I've mentioned to him, he can get his own blog.)

View from guest room into master bedroom.  Great view of contrast between new paneling and restored pine flooring.

Guest room.  Love the shutters, the fan and even the flip-flops.  Feeling summery yet?

Closets with windows are such a good idea.  You can really find what you are seeking.

Bath with claw-foot tub which you could swim in, and just a touch of blue in the towels, and mason jar.  Views of this room in earlier posts were all white.

Twig rocker is home for the towels.  More shutters.

OK, I think I can promise you I will not revisit this home a third time, but when something is good, it can be so very, very good.

Onward, to Vicente Wolf's design on Nantucket which appeared in this year's August Veranda.  Many of you may have seen this article.  If you didn't see it, you should have - Veranda, in my humble opinion, is the best American design publication.  If you did see it, well look again - it deserves another look.

Exterior reminds me a bit of Diane Keaton's Hampton house in Something's Gotta Give.

But inside, it's all Vicente Wolf.  No cutesy beach-iness, just tastefulness,

pale blues,

peacefulness,

and serenity.

Paneling in the dining room seems so fitting.

Kitchen, breakfast area and family room are divided, so the large room "becomes more intimate."

Caption on photo says it all.

Writing desk in master bedroom.

Wolf's decor always seems so calm and serene especially here on Nantucket.

Onto Boston-based Charles Spada.  Let's take a look at his design on Nantucket as seen in Elle Decor and charlesspada.com.

Not as spare as Voorhees, not as soft blue as Wolf, but  very welcoming rooms warmed with antiques...

and fabrics...

and paintings in gold frames.

Now onto a Nantucket home built by Matthew Sapera whose Toronto firm built his house in Shawkemo.  (All images from matthewsapea.com or Interiors magazine.)  In order to capture the best views, the living spaces are on the second floor, and the bedrooms on the first floor as can be seen from this view of the rear of the house.

The "upside-down" floor arrangements are not noticeable from the home's front view.

Image of the property, guest cottages, and the coveted ocean view.

First floor bedroom.

And bath.

Rear view of house, pool and guest house.

Beautiful image of the Sapera house at night.

And the last house-image today comes from a 2003 issue of Cape Cod and Islands Home.  It is a kitchen, very different from those seen above, but one I have always admired.  It is not white, as many of the Nantucket kitchens we have seen were, but is still very beautiful.

I very much like the dark woods with the white walls and counter tops.  All the stainless appliances seem to cool the warmth of the wood.  The plate rack is from Karin Blake (a designer to be discussed much later).  From this Nantucket kitchen, the seafoods below might have flowed as they did from my kitchen last week when entertaining family.

Hope you have felt summer lingering a bit longer after viewing today's blog.  I also hope you have enjoyed these Nantucket posts.  I did linger here longer than I thought I would, but that seems to be typical of my blog.  So adieu to Nantucket because next post, it's  onto Martha's Vineyard.  I promise the visit there will be short because we still have all of Long Island to do before the snow flies.  

Till next time,

b

Good-by Vermont; Hello Again Nantucket

Had a wonderful few days in Vermont, but being away always throws me off my routine.  Caught up with the wash and tidying household tasks, so now I can relax a bit and return to Nantucket before a wonderful new family visit begins Saturday.

There's been a touch of autumn in the evening air this week, but I'm just not ready to bid summer farewell.  Come, think beach and warm summer days with me.

The warm Nantucket home below appeared in House Beautiful's May 2004 issue.  The owners worked with Keith Irvine and explained to him that, "they wanted something that looked as if it had been passed down by one of their grandmothers."

Hence the title - New Traditions.

Now I am not a fan of blue, but the blue in this family room is so tempered with beiges and neutrals ...

...and whites that I like it.

The living room is a bit more formal and a bit more red.

The dining room is more subtle and reminds me slightly of the dining room in Something's Gotta Give.  Do all homes on islands have a slightly common style?  I think this may be true.

Lots of blues in the master bedroom.

And lastly, the guest room.  Always loved the coziness of wallpapered dormers.

Now come back with me to August of 1990 and to this home in Architectural Digest - a seemingly more contemporary house even though from a much earlier time.

The house was designed by Edward Knowles and is situated on a sandy road among cranberry bogs on the way to Sconset.

The owners, world travelers, have peppered their home with part of their collections.

Flooring and cabinets in kitchen are pumpkin pine, and skylight affords interesting views of the sky.  I love the range even though it is from 1990.  How ahead of the time were the owners with the glass-doored refrigerator!

Part of the master bedroom which includes a jacuzzi and pieces collected in China.

Other half of master bedroom.  Cranberry bogs can be seen through the arched doors.  Well, we can't see them, but the owners could.

The deck outside the living/dining room is "a fine place to feed the fish and take in the sun," says Knowles.  Recently, I saw that this home is for sale.  Sadly, it seemed to have lost much of the charm the original owners instilled.

Next a 2011 Nantucket home with very contemporary style found on Elle Decor's website.

A much more spare and cleaner look. - a bit Jacobsen-esque.

Especially in the bath with all its white and glass.

With just a touch of orange in master bedroom.

The last Nantucket home today is taken from Traditional Home's website, and it is definitely more traditional.  The exterior is typical Nantucket shingle gray.

However, the living room lacks any of the typical Nantucket blues...

... and even the dining room opts for more neutral colors.

So too does the foyer.

Kitchen's share of neutral.

And topiaries.

The den.  Love the table here.

And the last room I leave with you today is a Nantucket kitchen.  You could probably guess it is Nantucket from the accent pieces - ships and lightship baskets.

So, today we've seen four very different houses but each of them have a very Nantucket feel to them.  If I had to, I think I'd choose the third very spare house, but make it less spare with a basket and antique of two.  And I'd lose the "touch of orange."  Which would you choose?

Before I leave you for today, I'd like to show you one of the places I visited while in Vermont last week-end - Simon Pearce in Quechee Falls.  We visit this lovely mill each time we are near, have lunch there, admire the beautiful glass ware, and try to be frugal.  Quechee Falls, like much of this part of Vermont, was hit hard by hurricane Irene - the glass-making facility in the basement was completely flooded, the first floor had two inches of water, and the covered bridge which accesses the mill was washed out completely.  Today, the Simon Pearce Mill looks better than ever, and the covered bridge should be complete by next year.  Take a peek.

To the left, you can see the mill with the rushing water that runs through the bottom.  To the left you can see what happened to the bridge when this rushing water reached road level.

New York Times Magazine

Today the mill is fully functioning again, but restoration of the bridge will not be completed until next summer.

Awe inspiring what nature can do.

A sample of how awe inspiring the chef at Simon Pearce can be.  Lunch was delish.

Next time, I will finish my Nantucket visits (for now.)  I dallied here much longer than I did in Pennsylvania, and much longer than I thought I would.  Is this dalliance becoming a habit??

Till next time with just one more visit, I promise.

b