A Relaxed Nantucket Retreat by Interior Designer Andrew Howard

“I hate curtains behind a sofa,” says interior designer Andrew Howard, which is why, for this Nantucket family room, he swapped out the white curtains that came with the house for chik blinds.

he entryway’s stools, which the family can pull out for extra seating, come from Lee Industries.

A numbered David Hockney lithograph entitled Bora Bora hangs in the living room. Osborne & Little’s Papyrus Bamboo covers the walls, and the easy chairs sport nubby fabric from Rogers & Goffigon.

For the home’s sole dining area, Howard wanted something more elevated than a breakfast nook but not as formal as a dining room. He also wanted seating that felt more like a sofa, which is why he added a cushioned banquette: “A banquette’s a great place to pile up with people but also a great place to sit for a longer dinner.” The Audubon double pedestal table is from Doorman Designs.

Howard didn’t make many changes to the kitchen, with its tray ceiling, metal range hood, and white-oak cabinetry. His project manager, Leeanna Miller, did add the custom-designed stools to match the ones in the dining area—and to soften the overall look of the space.

The lacquered herringbone bathroom tile was existing, as was the muscular concrete sink.

Howard brightened up the windowless hangout room in the basement with a mural by decorative painter Hayden Gregg; the palm tree felicitously echoes the palm tree in the Hockney lithograph on the floor above.

In a guest bedroom, a spindled green headboard from Royaloak complements the Floral Trail wallpaper by Salvesen Graham.

The daughter who uses this bedroom loves pink, so Howard accommodated her with swaths of pink fabric from Schumacher.

For a guest bedroom in the basement, he covered the walls with Asheham from George Spencer Designs.

Inspired by a leafy ceiling motif he saw at the Four Seasons Hotel at The Surf Club just outside of Miami, Howard adorned the pitch of the primary bedroom’s ceiling with custom hand-painted vines that he designed in collaboration with Gracie.

Designing a Warm and Modern Nantucket Vacation Home

“The whole house was a white box,” says interior designer Andrew Howard of the newly built turnkey home on Nantucket. “It felt cold.” But even though Howard is used to creating warmth and vitality through a liberal use of color, he wanted to lean into the vacation home’s modern interior. “I wasn’t sure the traditional colorful thing would vibe here.”

His solution: give the common areas on the first floor neutral tones but push the color limits a bit in the bedrooms upstairs and in the basement. The family, who was very happy with Howard’s use of lively colors throughout their primary residence in Connecticut, was onboard with a more subdued approach for their summer digs.

To keep the common areas cozy while muting the palette, Howard went big on textures. In rooms with neutral backdrops, he says, “rugs need to feel fuzzy, surfaces need to feel nubby. There has to be some trim on the pillows. I wanted to add some warmth with wicker, too.” Howard also incorporated occasional pieces—see the white accent table in the family room—to make the spaces feel collected,
“not like you went to a furniture store and picked everything up all at once,” he says.

Texture and Soft Color to Create a Relaxed Coastal Interior

He used soupçons of pink here and there, too—in throw pillows, a glass lamp base, footstools-cum-coffee tables. Why pink? One reason, Howard explains, is that the homeowners have three daughters. “It’s a four-women-one-man house,” he says, although the wife says her husband is not averse to the color.

But the other reason for pink, says Howard, is that “it’s a nice way of adding a color without having it smack you in the face. It just pairs so well with neutrals.”

Howard consulted each of the daughters before decorating their spaces. “I’m really big on involving kids in their own rooms,” he says. “I’ll ask them for colors they like. And do they prefer a canopy bed? An upholstered headboard? I like kids’ bedrooms to feel like the kids who live in them.”

The clients, who have been coming to Nantucket since honeymooning on the island more than thirty years ago, are thrilled with the results. “It’s super restful,” the wife says. “It works in all four seasons, but especially in the summer—very calm, soothing, and tranquil. And Andrew is such a joy to work with. He doesn’t take himself too seriously even though he could because he’s phenomenal.”

Project Team
Interior design: Andrew Howard Interior Design

Styled by Helen Crowther