A Charming Nantucket Cottage Is the Perfect Coastal Retreat

A lattice creates a grid of greenery on the roof of the 1880s wood-shingle cottage.

Before Isbell came into the equation, the kitchen was dark and outdated.

In the formerly dark-wood kitchen, Isbell whitewashed the walls and original cabinetry in Benjamin Moore’s White Dove but left the ceiling untouched. “The whole house had a wonderfully distressed patina,” he says. “I wanted to maintain as much of that as possible.”

The dining space was formerly covered in yellow paint from floor to ceiling.

A onetime living room became a space for dining. The vintage T.H. Robsjohn-Gibbings dining chairs are topped with cushions covered in African textiles from New York’s Chelsea flea market on 25th Street. Matchstick shades, The Mine.

“I call this the morning room because of the light it gets at that time of day,” says Isbell. Upon seeing this space, the designer's goal was to make the loft ceilings feel even loftier.

The narrow stairs leading to the cottage’s second floor are, in Isbell’s words, “inconveniently charming.”

By painting the entire staircase in Benjamin Moore’s Champion Cobalt to match the living room floor, he turned an architecturally awkward feature into a striking design element.

The former dining room has been transformed into the living room.

Just like the rest of the house, the master bedroom was dull and dark.

Isbell anointed the master bedroom “the captain’s quarters.” John Stuart rosewood campaign chests from Hamptons Antique Galleries in Stamford, Connecticut, frame a West Elm bed. Bed linens, Yves Delorme. Isbell added to the homeowner’s collection of needlepoint pillows and artworks — many by her mother — with vintage versions from Chairish.

The entrance to the ground-floor master bedroom is now decorated with blue and white coastal-inspired decor.

A needlepoint pillow made by the owner’s late mother adds a nautical note to a diminutive guest bedroom; the Biedermeier table is from the 19th century.

In another guest room, an 1860s British campaign chest, which separates into two sections, replaced a makeshift closet. Victorian bamboo-and-cane side chair, Hamptons Antique Galleries.

"For me, this is the best room in the house,” Isbell says. “Once you brave the steep stairs, you’re rewarded with windows on all sides. Architecturally, it’s called a ‘wart’ — a room that ‘grew’ on the original structure. A fresh coat of paint makes it a gleaming oasis.” A vintage Danish swing-arm sconce is from the Antique and Artisan Gallery. Bench, Selamat Designs. Jute rug, Birch Lane.

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This story originally appeared in the February 2018 issue of CQ.