By William Ferrall

Without intending even a hint of jingoism, we think this year will be a great one for celebrating “home” and being at home on Nantucket for the July 4 holiday weekend.

Here, you can count on the usual fun and games on Main Street on Independence Day, including the annual sopping water fight between firemen’s brigades, pie-eating contests and, weather permitting, the evening’s fireworks at Jetties Beach. Families and friends will gather across the Island throughout the day for barbecues and celebratory dinners.

The day could be especially comforting during what’s a worrisome year for many on Nantucket. As has happened in many other places, the Island this year is weighted down by economic woes, with all-important home sales and construction businesses ground nearly to a halt and layoffs plaguing many local workers. A byword across the island in many homes and businesses is “discretion” in spending and avoidance of excess, as one Nantucket architect puts it in this issue for our “Architects Chart their Future” story.

Further down the chain in new home development and renovation, many of Nantucket’s interior designers are thankful to be busy on at least a couple of projects each this season. We visit with almost two-dozen of those men and women for our interior designer’s directory. We find more in-depth expressions of their work in profiles on award-winning designer Kathleen Hay, longtime Nantucket home designer Donna Elle and with emerging decorator Constance Sturgis. In a new spin on our usual Nvited In feature, we visit a brand new home in Shawkemo Hills, built by a pair of Canadians who appreciate the Island.

Throughout this issue we found that with those involved in the design and outfitting of homes here, no one is exactly whistling in the darkness of this tough economy. Nearly all are more realistic than that. But few are ready to abandon completely the notion of comfort and ease in this island resort community. We might instead be seeing a “paradigm shift,” as one architectural designer mused, toward smaller-scale homes, more budgetconscious projects and less ostentation.

That’s even more reason to enjoy some old fashioned fun that’s free or low cost during this year’s Independence Day Weekend and throughout the summer. A good starting point might be the choral reading of the Declaration of Independence on July 4th morning at 9 AM at the Unitarian Church. That will underscore many of the priceless things that we enjoy in this country.

Bill Ferrall
Editor-in-Chief

With over 600 homes on the market on Nantucket and potentially more to come, it has never been more important to be creative when marketing your property.

By Bruce Percelay
Photos by Jeffrey Allen

There are many little known but very powerful real estate marketing techniques used by commercial real estate brokers that might be very effective to help sell your home. The following are excerpts from my upcoming book “Insider Home Selling Secrets,” ideas that will allow you to stand apart in the most challenging selling environment.

The good news is that despite the overwhelming supply imbalance, houses do sell even in tough markets. The question is why, beyond drastic price reductions, does one house sell over another? Are there ways you can differentiate your house over another without spending a fortune to beat the current market?

A series of insider secrets that are often employed in the commercial real estate business can also be used to sell your home in a tough market, even when the odds appear stacked against you. Few sellers think outside of the box when selling their home, although any consumer marketing expert can tell you that product differentiation is a key to success.

Here are some cutting-edge ideas used by sophisticated commercial real estate professionals that may change the tide when marking your property.

Lease with option to buy

In commercial real estate, it is not unusual to provide an incentive to buy a property by offering a user the option to buy the property at a later date, at a fixed price now, which can allow a buyer to see if they like the property before they buy it. This can be equated to a very large-scale test drive of real estate.

The same approach can be applied to your Nantucket home. If a buyer is unsure of the market or whether they will really like your particular property, give them a lease for a year or two with a specific option price that you negotiate now. If you want to further entice the buyer, you can offer to apply the lease payments to the ultimate purchase price.

On a worse case basis, you will have all or part of your operating costs covered during the option period and will lessen the burden of carrying an unsold home.

Take back paper

To add to the ease of purchasing your home, you can play banker by offering to lend the new buyer all or part of his or her deposit, allowing a person to own your property for little money. Obviously, one has to be careful that your loan, which would be put in a second position to a first mortgage, is made safe by a strong personal guarantee. Still, taking back paper can be very appealing. If you do decide to go this route, you should not have to discount the house very much. Assuming the loan is eventually paid off; you will likely generate more money for your house than it would have otherwise commanded.

Include valuable extras

Price concessions often work, but offering a shiny red Jeep with a house transcends a mere discount. The same holds true for a boat, although that might appeal to a smaller market.

Providing a club membership, assuming it can be transferred, can complete the Nantucket experience and create a one-stop purchase for a potential buyer. Although these items might seem expensive, they could be a small part of your actual home price but might add more than their weight in perceived value.

Subsidize the first mortgage

Mortgage rates are already low but imagine how attractive a 3.75% loan on a house would be for three years. Car companies have used this idea for years. So, how can you offer this? If conventional rates are 5.75% and your house is $1,750,000, offering a 2% subsidy to a new mortgage will cost $35,000 a year or $105,000 for the total three-year period. This may seem like a lot of money but it is only 6% of the sale price, and it can be spread over three years and might broaden the market for your property.

Offer a buy-back guarantee

Seldom will you see a person offering a buyback guarantee like those you might see with some “money back” offers from consumer products, but it can be a powerful selling proposition for your home.

You would want to provide certain time parameters. The longer the date at which the person could execute the buy-back, the better, because the property might have appreciated by then. This could require some very thoughtful legal wording so that you don’t inherit back a house in worse condition, but for a highly motivated seller this would be a unique offer and set you apart from the field.

Give broker incentives

With so many houses on the market and so many similar to yours, why should a broker push one property versus another? Well, if you understand the simple dynamics of the brokerage business, commissions are the driver in this business, so the bigger they are the happier the broker will be. Seller’s tendencies are to negotiate the broker commissions downward at the outset of the listing, which is like telling your waiter before the meal is served that you are giving him or her a small tip. What kind of service are you likely to receive? The exact opposite approach should be taken since brokers are most important in difficult markets.

If you are selling a multi-million dollar home, you could offer the successful broker a SmartCar™ as a reward, for example. In the grand scheme of things, it would be a small, or in this case, a compact price to pay. Flat screen TV’s, Vespa scooters and, of course, financial bonuses will make your broker work as hard as possible because it’s human nature, quite frankly, to respond to rewards. Brokers are no different in their thought process than anyone else.

Offer a sale-leaseback

If a person is debating whether or not to buy your house but is unsure because it’s a summer property and they’re unsure of how much they will use it, offer a leaseback in which you guarantee that you will rent it for a specific number of months. The effect of your lease will be to reduce the buyer’s cost of carrying the property until the rental market strengthens, and it will allow you the benefits of using a home that you formerly owned.

Improve your home on paper

Every home has its weaknesses or could be improved in one form or another. Unfortunately, buyers often have difficulty visualizing what an improved version of your home might actually look like.

Rather than making major capital improvements to your home, for relatively short money you can hire an architect or interior designer to come up with a visual plan on paper that will show what the improvement would look like. Adding a dormer on paper is far cheaper than actually building one. Redesigning a kitchen with a space planner’s help is far more economical than installing one. Having a home theater designed for your basement will cost comparatively little money but might excite a buyer with the possibilities.

Make sure you are not representing something that the Nantucket Historic District Commission or other agencies won’t approve, but if you can get an OK on paper and gain square footage as a result, you will have added even more value to your home without lifting a hammer.

The Nantucket real estate market will remain challenging until the current overhang of inventory wears off. The excess supply of houses on the island could exist for several years, but by being creative and employing methods others are not using, you might be surprised by how fast your property sells.

Bruce A. Percelay is author of “Packaging Your Home for Profit,” formerly published by Little Brown and Company. He will soon be introducing his sequel, “Insider Home Selling Secrets, The Ultimate Home Marketing Guide.”

Long May She Wave

By William Ferrall

For more than five decades, artist Greg Hill has recreated scenes of Americana from Hawaii and California to Florida to Nantucket, in graphite, charcoal, and oil and watercolors. He and his wife Judi Hill, owners of G.S. Hill Gallery on Nantucket’s Straight Wharf, have visited over 60 countries on six continents, as Hill unveiled one-man exhibits in Paris, Tokyo, Sydney and elsewhere.

This summer, Hill underscores his American roots in a series of bright and colorful paintings prominently featuring the U.S. flag in mostly Nantucket settings. Despite his worldly travels, Hill said he still finds Nantucket to be among the most inspiring places to him as an artist. “You can walk up and down Main Street,” said Hill, “and there are paintings all over the place.”

For his flag exhibit opening Friday, July 3 at their gallery on Straight Wharf, Hill found inspiration on Nantucket’s Main Street in commercial facades including the Pacific Club, on the residential streets and on Old North Wharf. The charming image shown here of Nantucket’s famed Wharf Rat Club— a small study for a much larger version—epitomizes multihued vistas to be discovered along Nantucket’s waterfront in summertime.

And for those in search of Southern charm, the Hills included three paintings created from images he saw on the streets of Savannah, Georgia, near their current winter home on Skidaway Island. Images of Nantucket’s own celebrated Rainbow Fleet of sailboats and a patriotic pair of emblematic cowboy boots owned by N Magazine’s Fifi Greenberg will also be shown and available for purchase.

An avid photographer, Greg Hill often captures scenes with his camera then produces a painting from it in the controlled environment of his studio. The resulting examples of accomplished impressionistic imagery have proven popular to collectors of Hill’s work.

Last year’s “One American Flag” exhibit at his Nantucket gallery sold out soon after it opened. His work also appears occasionally in exhibits by the Artists Association of Nantucket, where he is a lifetime member, and in the permanent collection of Nantucket Historical Association. In keeping with his past generosity to local non-profits, Hill has donated a Nantucket-scene painting to this year’s upcoming August Antiques Show auction to benefit the NHA, along with donations to several other causes.

The patriotic theme for the Hills’ exhibit this summer came easily to the artist and his wife, who have traditionally swathed their storefront in red, white and blue for Independence Day. In the array of lightship baskets, serving pieces and gifts also in their Straight Wharf gallery, the items are made “ninety-nine percent in the U.S.,” noted Judi Hill.

In The Right Frame of Mind

Looking at their Website or seeing a brochure for the new RightFrame homes, you could hardly imagine one being appropriate or permitted on Nantucket. Shown mostly as sleek, modern structures in the international style, you can almost imagine heads exploding at Nantucket’s Historic District Commission after seeing an architectural rendering of one.

But the home shown under construction here on the Island is a product of this new venture between Nantucket and New York firm Workshop/apd and modular homebuilders. In fact, the Nantucket RightFrame home is an example of the ability to adapt the units “to the local vernacular,” explained Andrew Kotchen, partner with Matthew Berman in Workshop/apd and a Nantucket homeowner himself.  Modular homes are neither new nor rare. Dozens of manufacturers across the U.S. turn out all levels of prefabricated, component system homes. Many such homes have already been built on Nantucket.

Kotchen asserted that RightFrame stands out from the rest in their flexibility, excellent systems, lower cost and because he and Berman designed them with sustainability in mind. Their tightly built frames, non-toxic materials and factories devoted to reducing waste are among RightFrame selling points. Kotchen and Berman have already won national notice for their efforts. An early version of RightFrame home was chosen as winner from among hundreds of design submissions for rebuilding homes in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina, in a competition sponsored by actor Brad Pitt and Global Green USA.

“That was the RightFrame idea put into a competition,” explained Kotchen. On Nantucket, Workshop/apd has designed several renovations and new homes including one that has been described as a quintessential, bungalow-style Nantucket retreat, but with impressive modern interiors. That house was featured in the Fall 2006 issue of N Magazine.

Plum Prize

Although PlumTV on Nantucket was nominated for four Emmys this year by the Boston/New England chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts &Sciences, apparently they considered a win unlikely.

The joke was on them. In the category Special Event Coverage, Nantucket Plum TV, in fact, won the Emmy for its coverage last August of the first Nantucket Comedy Festival. Without a station staff member on hand, a comedian friend of Comedy Festival co-founder Kevin Flynn accepted the statue. The local Emmy for Plum followed many regional nominations for Plum TV network stations, with another award given in March to Plum TV’s Miami outlet.

Meanwhile, Plum TV founder Tom Scott and Casey Neistat, of Neistat Scott & Associates—the two are creators of the upcoming HBO Series The Neistat Brothers—were in Cannes, France this spring looking for positive reviews of their first feature film as producers, Josh and Benny Safdie’s new release” Go Get Some Rosemary.”

Literati ’09, Vol II

They came, they saw, they published.

This January, the editors and contributors for the Nantucket High School literary magazine Literati released the first edition planned for this school year. Poetry, fiction, original art and photography by local students fill the pages of the attractive chapbook, which was published in February.

A new edition is well along in the planning, with hopes to publish it before summer. Editors Charley McGowan, Zatrick Pinkney, Shantaw Bloise, SamToole and Annie Seager have “finished 99%” of their choices to publish and have designed the issue, according to advisor and Nantucket High School English teacher Anne Phaneuf.

Nantucket High School includes a “diverse bunch of kids,” noted Bloise earlier this year. “We need a voice.” To that end, the publication includes the work of authors from varied ages, genders, races and cultural groups. In a new move for the venture, the Literati staff has solicited dedication and support pages from community businesses and individuals to help defray printing and distribution costs. Literati launched during the 2006-2007 school year under the direction of then seniors Maggie Andrews, Fraser Long and Eric Reinbergs with the support and advice of N Magazine.

To offer support for this year’s second edition of Literati, write to advisor Phaneuf at phaneufa@nps.k12.ma.us

Have a Seat
Photos by Cary Hazlegrove

For the second year in a row, Nantucket photographer Cary Hazlegrove turned to local artist friends in an effort to benefit Nantucket Lighthouse School, an independent day school with children from preschool through sixth grade. As the mother of a Lighthouse School child, Hazlegrove has encouraged school administrators to “think outside the box” in fundraising efforts, which she followed for this event by turning to her passion for art. Chairs range in themes from a still life to land- and seascapes to whimsical figures. With $10 tickets available at several island businesses, the drawing of winners happens at the Lighthouse School Hoedown on October 17, but they can be seen at the first Nantucket Garden Festival on July 23-25 at the school.
Contributing artists are: David Lazarus, MJ Levy Dickson, Julie Gifford, Lou Guarnaccia, Robert McKee, Randy Hudson and Julija Mostykanova (not shown, Gail Sharrets).

Visit www.nantucketlighthouseschool. com/8paintedchairs.htm to see all eight chairs online and find ticket locations on Nantucket.

Photography by Terry Pommett

Eric Hallin estimates he has climbed down more than two-dozen chimneys in the last five years. As Nantucket’s only and one of New England’s few installers of bladder-and-cement style replacement chimney flues, Hallin has dirtied himself making his unique entry into about a dozen Nantucket homes. Before his venture into chimney repair, Hallin worked eight years as a mason building foundations and fireplaces, apt training for his current endeavor.

Hallin installs Guardian Chimney Liner®, one of a half dozen similar products that use a comparable method: Large bladders are inflated inside the chimney then cement is poured between the bladder and the brick interior to seal and shore up old and decaying liners and brick. Other flue repairs and replacements require hand parging of cement, brick replacement or the installation of metal linings, which Hallin sometimes installs for chimneys exhausting only from furnaces. Fireplace chimneys require a much higher-heat tolerance for safety, which can be achieved with special cements.

According to Hallin and the manufacturer, the poured flue liner costs about half the expense of reconstructing the chimney, which can run from $50,000 to $100,000, and the product is guaranteed for the lifetime ownership of the home. Historic preservationists and owners of older homes sometimes prefer the method as a way of avoiding the complete dismantling and rebuilding of an historic chimney. “I’m the only one doing this on the Cape and Islands,” he asserted. “I’ve taken jobs all over the area and been asked to do some in Maine.”

For more information, visit www.guardianinc.com or call Hallin at Viking’s Chimney Relining, 508-360-7522. Chimney sweep service and relining is also available from M.J. Feeny & Sons at 508-280-4522.

By WilliamFerrall

Photography by Terry Pommett

When we asked Nantucket’s professional architects and architectural designers to assess the current state of their business, we got what we expected. Their feedback ranged from sobering, matter-of-fact assessments like “it’s not good” to alarmist cries including a local reference with “we’re falling off the Cliff.”

With real estate transactions on the island off by more than 50% from last year and new building permits at their lowest levels since records were started, those reports should come as no surprise. With little public notice, many Nantucket architectural firms have quietly laid off administrative and even some professional staff.

Among those who have worked longest locally in the profession, we found a fair amount of quiet resolution to the circumstances, mixed with thoughtful consideration of what’s ahead. Many have been through this before.

Architect Lyman Perry, with offices in Berwyn, Pennsylvania, and Nantucket recalled that he first started buying properties on Nantucket by himself and redeveloping them in the late 1980s. “Then the market tanked for at least two years,” he remembered, “but we often had enough projects to coast through.” At the height of that downturn, Perry set off on an intended but still unfinished sail around the world for the interim of the economic slump.

By the early to mid-1990s, the economy rebounded and Perry landed “lots of big projects” on Nantucket and elsewhere including Nantucket Golf Club. For the time being, architectural projects are “like gold,” concluded Perry, “there’s very little of it left.”

What little is left on Nantucket seems to be mostly smaller in scale and less ostentatious than in recent years. “They’re not at the previous high levels, said Perry. “Some of our best responses [to marketing their services] have been for much smaller houses.”

Other Nantucket architects are weathering the downturn thanks to having an already established clientele in other places, where projects underway are continuing, or where new ones are turning up. BPC Architects, Chip Webster and Associates, and Nantucket Architectural Group are among local firms with offices elsewhere or collaborative relationships with off-island firms.

“The bright lining for us is off island,” said Ray Pohl, who with his wife Lisa Botticelli is owner of Botticelli and Pohl. The two set up a satellite office in Boston to serve their Nantucket clients who decided to acquire city apartments or townhouses, but it has become a hub of new business
for them thanks to word-of-mouth referrals.

“We’re off once a week or more to client meetings on the Cape or in the Boston area,” said Pohl, who noted they have recent or current projects in Newton, Wayland, Brookline and elsewhere in the region.

But Pohl also sees a palpable change in the tenor of client desires. “There are still people out there with money, who kept it or are still making it, but discretion is now the byword,” he said.

Saying that they’re now seeing more renovations of existing homes, Pohl surmised that part of what’s happening is a turning away from the “‘poster’ examples you saw on Nantucket of ostentatious displays [in home design].”

Architectural designer Luke Thornewill, partner with his wife Carrie in Thornewill Design, welcomed that development.

“Maybe the age of abundant excess is over,” Thornewill suggested, “and things will become smaller and more sensible, with nicely-scaled homes for Nantucket.

Although Thornewill conceded that his current work assignments might be ending soon, he endorsed what he characterized as this coming “paradigm shift” for him and others who design new homes. “I’m obsessed by sailboats and their efficient layouts,” said Thornewill.

Because they keep their office in their home, the Thornewills won’t be burdened by rent and other overhead to a commercial landlord. Similar circumstances, including owning their own office building, will help other architectural firms weather the current difficulties.

Perry said that he and many of his colleagues will survive by running “a lean, mean machine,” by learning new “green” design and building techniques, and by adopting alternative business strategies including performing volunteer work.

Meanwhile, Thornewill plans to spend any down time in his business creating fine art as a painter, despite what he called the “anxiety hanging over all of us in this business.”

Let’s hope he and Perry can soothe some of that worry with an occasional sail around Nantucket Harbor.

By Lyndon Dupuis
Photography by Jeffrey Allen

Award-winning designer Kathleen Hay creates calm and soothing interiors with an occasional “wow” factor

As an award winning interior designer and graphic artist, Kathleen Hay has an unexpected background for someone in her field. With a degree in economics and a minor in dance from the College of William and Mary, she has acted in more than 20 plays with Theatre Workshop of Nantucket. She also enjoyed a two-decade career as manager of the chickweeds, the now-defunct Nantucket home accessories store owned by highly regarded interior designer George Davis. As principal of Kathleen Hay Designs, Hay now successfully balances her dual careers while juggling homes both on Nantucket and on Long Island, New York.

“While in school, I had spent my summers working for George [Davis] and absolutely loved the creative environment and being surrounded by beauty.” When offered a lucrative job on Wall Street, she declined and instead accepted the job managing Weeds. “My friends and family thought I was crazy,” she laughed.

During those years, she absorbed the world of design from Davis and his partner Bruce Dolts, who is especially known for his painterly eye for decorative artistry and theater set design. “I also met and married my husband [Robert Hay],” she noted smiling, “when we worked together on a play for Theatre Workshop.”

“There must be something within me that thrives on motion,” she explained. A native of Long Island, Hay wanted her daughters to have an opportunity to experience New York and “to explore a larger world than the small island of Nantucket.” She and her husband moved the children to Long Island to attend school, but still divide their time between the two islands.

Hay has recently achieved recognition in both of her chosen fields. She is understandably proud of winning “World’s Best International Interior Design 2008” in a competition sponsored by The International Property Awards in association with CNBC-TV and The New York Times.

To gild the lily a bit, Hay recently learned that she was also judged “Best Interior Design USA” by the group’s America’s Property Awards committee. Hay didn’t know she was even being considered. “I was stunned when I learned that I had won the first phase, the regional award, representing The Americas,” she recalled.

As a graphic designer, the cookbook Hay recently designed for St. Mary’s Church on Nantucket was named a finalist for a National Independent Book Club award for Best Cookbook.

“Actually, graphic design probably makes up almost fifty percent of my business,” Hay said. Wanting to know more about her philosophy of design and decorating, I chatted with this multi-faceted woman as she drove along I-95 on her way back to Nantucket, talking on her hands-free telephone.

N: How do you define yourself as a designer? What is the essence of a room done by Kathleen Hay?

KH: I believe in boiling things down to the simplest solution while still having an artful outcome. I dislike excessive decoration and ornamentation. Simplicity is restful in this complex world we inhabit.

N: Yet your work doesn’t reflect an absolute devotion to minimalism.

KH: I’m not a minimalist, really. I do walk a tightrope between form and function, but I like an element of surprise. I’ll do something like using an unexpectedly informal piece in a grand entrance, for example. And chairs and sofas have to be comfortable, not just for show. Also, I do vacation homes for many clients who ask for a more casual environment than they have in their main house.
But the “wow” factor still has to be there.

N: I see a very stylized theme in your designs, as well as a playful ingredient that shows up in many of your accessories. And I notice some other choices that are subtle, but unexpected—such as putting bed pillows in one bedroom on the diagonal.

KH: My clients tend to come to me for a clean, pared-down aesthetic, that’s true. I like to have fun and introduce drama, though, with some really bold tablescapes and objects. It’s that “wow” factor again.

N: How closely do you follow the style du jour?

KH: I listen carefully to what my client wants. I tell her—or him—that she should do what she loves, so she will still be happy for a long time and not feel as though she needs to completely re-do every few years to follow the newest trend. I think it is sad when people have that mind-set. A house should reflect the people who live there, not what the latest magazine tells them it should look like.

N: Do you come in and “decorate” a space, or do you always work from the ground up?

KH: I have been fortunate to be able to work from the beginning of many new projects, and I really enjoy that. That way I can actualize my philosophy of integration rather than “decoration.”

Most good designers prefer this—even in a remodeling. I enjoy collaborating with architects and builders, as we all approach things from different perspectives. It is important to me, for example, to make sure that the light that’s coming in is right, and that the house really works for the client.

N: Nothing can date a house faster than color. What are your thoughts, do you have “go to” colors you use a lot or do you widely vary your palette?

KH: I’m a fan of soft neutral tones with accents of either pale or bold color for punch. These are classic and timeless. The accent colors can easily be switched to change the mood if the clients wish. Also, I’m wild about texture: linen, sisal, jute, bamboo and grass cloth, for example.

N: Might I assume that you work predominately with natural fibers?

KH: Absolutely. Along the lines of thinking “green,” bamboo is coming on strong as a sustainable product and is being used in so many interesting ways from flooring to soft furnishings.

N: I think it is clear from your portfolio that when you design for Nantucket you steer away from the clichés associated with “Nantucket” design.

KH: Yes—and no. I certainly avoid anything cute or cloying. When I work on-island, I always keep sand, sea and sky in mind. I use a lot of white and off-white backgrounds and traditional blue, frequently in a soft shade. But I often incorporate v-groove paneling rather than traditional narrow bead board, or shiplap paneling installed horizontally as opposed to vertically. I love to bring in natural elements from the outdoors as well—large shells, stones, grasses, feathers.

N: Your interiors speak volumes about your penchant for order and organization.

KH: You know, I think that my graphic design business requires skill sets and knowledge that have greatly informed my interior design work. Graphics really hone one’s perspective and train the eye. Also, with our busy lifestyles today, organization—and anything that makes life simpler and easier—is key.

I want to say a word about the exceptional level of craftsmanship one can find on this island. I do work all over the country, yet I am amazed at the talent of many of the people who live and work here. Without them, we designers couldn’t do what we do.

N: I am sure they will appreciate the kudos, Kathleen.

Interior decorator Constance Sturgis turns otherwise
plain interiors into colorful, stimulating environments.

By William Ferrall
Photography by William Ferrall

Constance Sturgis tackled her first formal interior decorating job very much in the public eye on Nantucket a half-dozen years ago, when her husband Michael Sturgis launched his new tapas eatery Cinco.

Today, the same assertiveness and skills she showed in creating Cinco—the restaurant shows a strong, remarkable color palette in a nevertheless restful environment— distinguishes her recent design work.

“Cinco helped get me started,” recalled Sturgis, who like many neophyte designers has little formal training or education in interior design. “I knew it [Cinco] would have to look dramatic and different from any other restaurant. I tried to make it very esoteric.”

Although many homeowners might prefer more subtle design statements than Cinco’s interior, Sturgis has won approval for her distinctive style from a growing portfolio of satisfied clients, most of them acquired through her work as a real estate broker in the office of local firm Compass Rose Real Estate. Many of her customers have been second homeowners who maintain local rentals, homeowners in transition into a new home or those who plan to put their house on the market. Still, her work amounts to much more than merely staging a property for resale. “People are living in these homes,” she noted.

Sturgis provides a range of services from simply rearranging the furnishings already owned by a client to her recent top to bottom redo of the Brant Point house shown here. “I usually start by taking things away,” explained Sturgis. After fresh coats of paint, she puts back “whatever makes the house come alive.” In the rooms here, she peeled away mildewed wallpaper, painted the rooms with updated colors and advised the client on purchasing new kitchen appliances and furniture, which she then arranged.

And during this time of a shaky economy, the transformations that Sturgis makes don’t necessarily cost more than a few thousand dollars. She prides herself on working with very tight budgets and finding new, affordable furnishings at on-island retailers, offisland companies and in resale shops. Thanks to the help of her friends and colleagues, Sturgis said her experience with Cinco and since has strengthened her confidence in interior decorating.

“A lot of my work comes from talking it through with good people,” she explained. Specifically, Sturgis recognized Nantucket artist Joanna Galascione Kane for helping her recently update the color scheme at Cinco, and she credited her real estate colleague Ginny Joyner and gallery owner-artist Judith Brust with advising her on the project pictured here. Although her relationship with these artists falls short of a full partnership, Sturgis usually repays their help by including their work in the final settings in homes on which she works. Their typically stunning works of art go hand in- hand with the energetic color palette and vibrant accessories Sturgis favors.

By William Ferrall
Photography by Jeffrey Allen

Now more than ever, for longtime Nantucket interior designer Donna Elle, Life’s a breeze.

But in name only. With over three decades of interior design already to her credit, last fall Elle launched her new collection of home decor textile goods with Life’s a Breeze™ as its brand name. Elle has long created room settings, fabrics and accessories that epitomize a relaxed and refreshing coastal life style. In her youth, she spent summers on Block Island off the coast of Rhode Island, but back home in Easthampton, Massachusetts, she watched nearby commercial mills produce bolts of fabric while she learned about loom manufacturing and the feel of textiles.

With those experiences in mind, by the year 2000, Elle began the transition from designing interiors, including through her award-winning Nantucket Windows division, to designing and marketing fabrics and curtain hardware. “I took those experiences and wrapped them up in textile and resin shells that speak in concert with the ocean,” she notes on her Website.

From the beginning, Elle has grabbed onto opportunities in the market place. Her early Nantucket Breeze™ fabrics were created when famed fabric maker Cowan and Tout discontinued a similar style, and Elle’s clients urged her to remake it or something similar.

Using her designer’s eye and mind, Elle saw a gap in coastal lifestyle fabrics and colorways for her Life’s a Breeze™ line of bed linens, curtains, rugs and accessories. “Everything was predictably indigo or navy blue,” she explained. “I wanted the essence of the sea and shore in clean and simple colors.”

To that end, Life’s a Breeze™ features cool, pastel colors of light blues and sandy browns mixed with white, as you might expect to find in a summery seaside setting. Hooked fabrics and artistic hand embroidery distinguish some items. But Elle presents all of them in colorways and combinations that seem fresh and modern rather than dated and old-fashioned. Cotton, sateen and Egyptian cottons made in the U.S. and abroad make up the fabrics used.

Part of Elle’s fresh look can be attributed to the contribution her daughter Katie Lou made to it when she was still in high school. Katie used her artistic skills to fashion Elle’s signature starfish resin motif that repeats throughout her fabrics and curtain hardware.

Whatever the origin of its inspirations, Elle’s newest products are being well received. Since launching it at the enormous Atlanta Gift Show last fall and again this past winter at the New York Gift Show, Elle has taken orders for the line from high-end retail locations across the Cape & Islands, in the Hamptons on Long Island, in the Southeast U.S. and in the Caribbean.

Elle’s Life’s a Breeze™ makes it debut locally next month on Friday, July 17, when she unveils it during a trunk show at Marine Home Center, which will carry a substantial selection exclusively on Nantucket.

written and photographed by Terry Pommett

Lynn Kramer’s home, nestled under pines in the Shimmo area of Nantucket, has an uncluttered and airy feel yet provides visual interest wherever one looks. Surprisingly, Kramer is neither a designer nor an avid collector. Following a 20-year career in media, she attended Yale Divinity School to become an ordained Congregational Minister. But she was inspired to take on the interior renovation of her home 10 years ago with the idea of making it beautiful without a huge investment.

Kramer spent a year collecting and storing finds in her Connecticut home before shipping everything to Nantucket. In nearby Westchester County, New York, awash with quality tag and yard sales, and at Stamford, Connecticut, she found consignment shops such as Goodwill and Salvation Army Family Stores. Kramer also found many wonderful items locally at Nantucket Cottage Hospital Thrift shop and Rafael Ozona auctions.

Breadboard walls in many of Kramer’s rooms lend themselves to a cottage-style design. “I ended up collecting by color, because in a cottage you can furnish by color, and style becomes compatible,” she explained. “I’ll go into a thrift store and make visual tours with a color in mind.”

“Cost is the least of it,” she noted. “You discover a look of your own that is one-of-a-kind and personal. My criteria is that an item must be functional, beautiful and unique.”

Her favorite treasures are a day bed bought for $70 at a yard sale with armrests and legs hand painted with individual animals by a children’s book illustrator. A hutch at Osona’s had a chip of wood nicked off and went for $300. Her most valuable find was a chest she bought off a Salvation Army delivery truck for $30.When she returned home and opened it, she found an antique dealer’s card noting that it was an1870 sea captain’s chest.

“There are different types of items you can always count on finding in these locations,” Kramer advised. “Baskets and picture frames are a dime a dozen. Framed prints, original watercolors and amateur oils are abundant. If you’re into shells, like I am, there are glass lamps that you can undo the base and fill with shells.”

Nantucket sources:

Rafael Osona Auction
American Legion Hall

Fine antiques & more
Saturdays except winter
www.osonaauctions.com

Hospital Thrift Shop
17 India Street
508-228-1125

The Seconds Shop
17 North Beach Street
508-228-6677

By William Ferrall
Photography by Jeff Allen

On a clear day, you can almost see forever from this sizeable new estate atop Nantucket’s Shawkemo Hills.

Well, maybe not forever. But whenever the fog lifts, Nantucket Harbor can be seen on the horizon over the property’s hilly two-and-a-half acres and adjoining conservation land, as the home’s generously proportioned rooms and public areas fill with luminosity.

The prevalence of white walls and ceilings throughout, along with abundant white upholstery framed by dark trim and near-black wood cabinetry, create an airy atmosphere reminiscent of a cheerful art gallery. Here, the owners have taken full advantage of that canvas with splashes of soft color. Side chairs are clothed in pale blues and greens, repeated in paint on Swedish Gustavian-style furnishings.

Carefully chosen art and accessories add dashes of red, green and deeper blues. In the hands of less able designers, these elements and such spacious rooms might feel sterile or imposing. But builder Matthew Sapera and his partner Darren Sukonick—the two are residents of Toronto, Canada, and principals in Sapera Fine Homes— have created an elegant and modern colonial-style home with help from their design associate Barbara Waltman.

“People are always surprised by how much space is in this house yet it’s so comfortable,” said Sukonick. “There’s plenty of open flow between rooms.”

In fact, wide hallways branch off the front entry into either wing of the house, one with a second master or guest suite, bedrooms, a wine cellar, recreation rooms and utility areas. A family-room/library anchors the lower center of the house.

Up the ample stairway off the entry, residents and guests reach the main living areas on the second floor.

A vaulted-ceiling kitchen offers a long, wide countertop where cooks working at the professional-style stove and oven can kibitz with friends and offer samples of their dishes. Wide arches open into the dining room and a formal living area. Thanks to high ceilings on the ground floor and the home’s open plan, what is in reality an upside down house never feels restricted. In warm weather, patios and outdoor balconies invite airy socializing. No matter where one stands inside the house, the inviting backyard with its stylish pool, pool house and lawn are visible just beyond expansive windows on the back of the house.

Sapera and Sukonick intended to bring the outdoors in since first planning the home three years ago. “There’s a real magic about being here outside of town,” said Sukonick.

“We wanted the pool, gardens and conservation land to be visible all the time.” Frequent party hosts back in Toronto, the two are finding the setup perfect for entertaining on Nantucket. Over Memorial Day weekend, they asked new and old friends on Nantucket to enjoy an evening of grilled salmon and roasted vegetables from Susan Warner Catering. Avid supporters of the performing arts, Sapera and Sukonick invited Nantucket arts advocates and friends whom they’ve made on Nantucket during their six years of regular visits to the Island.

The hosts built the home to test Nantucket’s real estate market as an extension of their business in Toronto, where they have completed more than three-dozen renovation and new home building projects. Their work has often been in top-to-bottom renovations of historic urban homes.

Sapera said he would “love one day to do a renovation on Nantucket” in an old house where he could work “to preserve its character” for modern living. Although Sapera agreed that any major renovation or new construction “can sometimes be aggravating,” in dealing with Nantucket’s infamous building restrictions, he found the “challenges here were like elsewhere.”

Until they place this home on the market, the two are enjoying rural life themselves as they finish up details of the house. “There’s a real magic about being outside of town but within eight minutes of being in town,” averred Sapera. “There’s something invigorating about coming back to this island, even with these stresses.”