House Beautiful
Written by Kelly Allen | Photography by Read McKendree
“It’s Nantucket—without being so pastiche.” With its awkward ’90s-style features—like an oddly shaped room and green, bar-height kitchen counters—this two-bedroom Massachusetts cottage was begging for a light renovation and some cosmetic updates. So designer Kevin Isbell decided to infuse the ocean-facing property with an unexpected coastal-casual look—that also masked its illogical architectural features.
“We obviously allude to the cottage’s nautical history throughout, but it’s in a much more exciting and different way from what most people think about—no lobster trap side tables for this family,” says the Los Angeles–based designer.
The home’s showpiece? The so-called Whale Room, a family room that not-so-subtly nods to the island’s status as a whaling port in its heyday. To distract from the uneven ceiling—which soars to nearly 15 feet on one wall—Isbell installed a mural featuring whales and ships by artist Audrey Sterk. It was digitized and printed on grasscloth to fill the room. “You walk in, and it’s sort of like an angry sea,” the designer says. “It’s textural and enveloping.”
Other updates cater to the homeowners’ lifestyle. The entire outdoor porch was converted into a screened-in dining area for 12. And what was once an odd narrow corner of the family room was walled off to create a mudroom, now bright orange (“I was running out of colors!” Isbell says) and equipped with a bar cart the homeowners can roll out as needed.
Not to mention, nearly every fabric used in the home is printed—from small-batch, hand-block fabrics to textiles the client bought in Nairobi that Isbell had turned into pillows. “I figured, Why not go for it?” Isbell says. “It’s a summer home. It’s right on the ocean. It should just be fun.”