Harborfront Cape Cod Home Celebrates Coastal Living

Interior designer Jocelyn Chiappone used a mix of patterns in a similar palette to bring cohesion to the open living area. “The lighter woods help draw the eye to the boats along the harbor,” she says.

In the foyer, a Patterson Flynn star-patterned sisal rug nods to traditional Cape Cod style and complements the vintage seagrass bench.

Architect Patrick Ahearn designed a white-cedar-shingle-clad home with doors and shutters painted Benjamin Moore Essex Green.

A mahogany-and-glass pocket door brings privacy to the husband’s office, which is located off the foyer, and dialogues with the mahogany-backed built-in bookcase.

A painting by local artist Odile adds a burst of color to the family room.

The more formal, mono-chromatic living room features a sisal wallcovering from Cowtan & Tout and Quadrille drapery with a Schumacher trim.

Soft coastal colors in the dining area don’t distract from the interior architecture and millwork. “The level of trim detail was extraordinary,” says builder Rob McPhee.

Brass Ann-Morris pendants, rope-backed Hickory Chair stools, and preppy plaid GP&J Baker fabric on the chairs give the kitchen a sense of place.

“The wet bar lives opposite the view, so we drenched it in ‘Digs Blue’ and added brass detailing and a teak-and-holly counter for a nautical touch,” says Chiappone.

It was important to the homeowners to preserve the oak tree off the dining terrace, says landscape architect Sean Papich: “Aside from adding character, it also screens the home from the harbor.”

In one of the son’s rooms, the Raoul Textiles fabric inset on the Lee Industries headboard references the waves.

Paint on the ceiling and cabinetry in the laundry room was color matched to the Quadrille wallpaper; the light is from Visual Comfort & Co.

The bunk room above the garage features wall-to-wall carpet and storage cubbies as headboards.

An avid fisherman, the husband played a big role in designing the garage-turned-fishing-shack, which Ahearn clad in spar-varnished fir beadboard.

Carriage doors open to the bluestone terrace and outdoor kitchen. The homeowners gather with friends at the yacht-inspired Barlow Tyrie bar table; the galley kitchen includes a commercial ice maker and two refrigerated drawers.

At the end of a day out on the water, the homeowners dock their center-console boat and haul their lobsters up the stairs to the New England fieldstone-wrapped outdoor kitchen where the shellfish is steamed and enjoyed almost within sight of where it was caught.

A Deep-Rooted Connection to Harwich Port

In New England, where “summer” is as much a verb as it is an all-too-short season, it’s not unusual for a family to return to the same town generation after generation once school lets out. But when a husband and wife approached their design team about replacing their existing vacation home in Harwich Port with one that would better reflect their boat-loving lifestyle, it was clear their connection to place was, in a word, specific.

“The wife had grown up summering on this street, and they had rented there as a family for years before purchasing a 1960s-built home, which they’d lived in for eight years,” explains interior designer Jocelyn Chiappone of Digs Design Company. “They loved their neighbors and being a part of the ecosystem of the harbor, from its wildlife to its working waterfront.”

So the old house came down in a manner sensitive to the neighborhood and the environment; the wife’s father is a lifelong conservationist, and preserving a gnarled waterfront oak tree was paramount, says landscape architect Sean Papich. Add to those considerations a slew of FEMA requirements and an extraordinarily confined area, and you have a project that architect Patrick Ahearn says was one of the most challenging in his fifty-plus-year career.

Shingle Style Architecture with Harbor Views

None of that shows from the outside, though. Ahearn tailored the resulting two-story three-bedroom Shingle-style residence to look as if it’s always been there. As with any house so close to the shoreline, views were emphasized throughout. From the front door, guests can see all the way to the back of the home where copious fenestration in the open-plan kitchen, dining area, and family room offers close-up views of the harbor.

Ironically, one of the only rooms without a water view, the living room located at the front of the house, happens to be the wife’s favorite spot, says Chiappone. The layered space boasts areas for lounging and playing cards along with one of the home’s three fireplaces.

For her part, Chiappone says it’s the laundry room, where the paint was color matched to the floral wallpaper’s blue background, that she loves most. “Instead of painting the trim blue, we decided to keep the shutters, panels, and base molding white,” she says. “The result reminds me of a summer day.”

Outdoor Living and a Harbor Lifestyle

Builder Rob McPhee has family that lives around the corner from the home, and his Cape Cod-based firm has completed many projects in the area. He says it’s the details, like the arched pocket door on the husband’s office, that make this project stand out. “I really love the fact that they didn’t paint the pocket door,” he says. “Instead, it’s left as an accent piece.”

The husband, with his sea captain and harbor pilot lineage, will tell you it’s the outdoor spaces that are the biggest game changers. The home boasts its own dock, which leads to a bluestone terrace with an outdoor kitchen decked out with both wood and gas grills (and a cozy firepit).

From the terrace, descend four steps and walk through double carriage doors into the garage or, as Ahearn refers to it, the “man cave/fishing shack.” The space is clad in spar-varnished fir beadboard on the ceiling and walls, while the floor is herringbone-patterned brick. Storage for fishing gear, a galley kitchen, and a yacht-inspired bar table make this a prime location for gathering with neighbors.

“They can come off their boat with the daily catch, go straight into the garage to clean it, and then cook the fish and steam the lobsters on the terrace,” Ahearn says. “It’s really a whole lifestyle.”

Project Team
Architecture: Patrick Ahearn Architect
Interior design: Digs Design Company
Builder: McPhee Associates of Cape Cod
Landscape design: Sean Papich Landscape Architecture