CABINS
IN THE
WOODS OVERLOOKING THE
BAY Nonquitt, MA
“First I listened to the land,” says architect Matthew Moger about the inspiration for this Massachusetts home. The site is perched amid woods, salt marshes and a meadow that leads down to a beach on Buzzards Bay. The family has spent time here for generations. Most notably, the homeowner’s great-grandfather, artist R. Swain Gifford, had a primitive art studio here years ago that allowed him to capture the beautiful light along the Massachusetts coast in his work. Moger and the homeowners didn’t want to build a typical white-trimmed shingle-style home like the ones dominating the Nonquitt area. Instead, Moger looked to the history of the property. “The family has had a farm here in Nonquitt for years, and there is a shingled barn of theirs nearby that had turned a dark black-brown,” he says. “A shinglestyle home would have stood out like a sore thumb in the meadow. Instead we were inspired to make the house look like agrarian support structures that would go with the barn.” Breaking the home into two cabins helped achieve this look and made the getaway even easier to maintain and more energy-efficient. There were two major influences for the vacation home’s color palette. For the exterior, they looked to the plant life of the surrounding woods and meadow — wild berries, dark bark and yellow flowers, seen above in a collage of photos taken on the site.
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The site plan was an important part of the project’s design. The entry is a dramatic procession. The driveway starts at the lower edge and meanders through the woods (darker green) to the house, which is set between the forest and the meadow (light green on the right side of the plan). Buzzards Bay is just past the right edge of the site plan. The arrow that runs along the guest cabin points to the most dramatic view of the bay. The area in the upper left corner is one of the region’s many salt marshes and can be seen from the house after leaves fall from the trees in autumn.
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inspiration
The beach and the bay across the meadow provided color inspiration for the interiors, which are stripped-down, whitewashed and unpretentious.
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entry into the site
Approaching the property, the procession begins. The driveway travels through a wooded area, from which there are no glimpses of the ocean, just trees and boulders. “Driving down the driveway is kind of like driving down to a summer camp,” Moger says. (Site entry) At the end of the driveway, you arrive at a stone courtyard and park to the left of these wide stairs, which lead up to a breezeway between the main cabin (left) and the guest cabin (right). You walk over the large rocks and ascend the stairs between the two cabins. The house is divided into two cabins — one for the couple and the other for their two adult children and two grandchildren. The cabin on the left is the main house, which has the master bedroom and bathroom, laundry, kitchen-dining area, living room and a screened-in porch. The cabin on the right is the guest house, which has two bedrooms, plus a sleeping loft that the kids love and a bathroom.
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The house is on a flood plain so it’s built on pilings, which are screened by cedar corn-cribbing slats at the base, another nod to agrarian buildings. The slats let water pass through in a flood. A breezeway was located between the main house, and guest cabin, creating a gap between the buildings where the front door is located. On the other side of the breezeway, you can turn 90 degrees to the right to see Buzzards Bay at the end of the meadow and guest cabin boardwalk. “This is the big reveal and a real wow moment,” Moger says. The beach is a three- to four-minute walk through the meadow. The couple wanted the structure to be durable and low-maintenance, and didn’t want to have to keep replacing shingles that would take a beating from the elements. Moger chose a corrugated metal siding and a galvanized metal roof, both of which are used on agrarian buildings. Bark from the woods inspired the siding color, while the accent colors came from wild berries and flowers in the meadow and nearby cranberry bogs.
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detail of rain channel
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path to the beach
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One of the homeowners, an artist, fell in love with the yellow flowers that grow wild in the meadow and chose that color for other architectural accents, such as the shutters, to “add some oomph� to the facade, Moger says.
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In the main cabin, the kitchen is efficient and simple. Instead of a including a separate dining room or large island, Moger laid out space for a big table. The cabinets are the same bleached oak as the floors. The pantry is on the right. The windows on the left look out to the woods. “The family loves to keep things easy here and serve simple meals,” Moger says. “They try to keep it low tech, and the rule is that the first person to turn on a cell phone has to do the dishes.”
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The couple split their time between this home and their primary residence in Pennsylvania, arriving in early summer and staying through October to enjoy the brilliant New England fall color. They also return for Thanksgiving and some weekends during the winter and early spring. Dividing the home into two structures offered practical benefits for these part-time residents. The guest cabin can be closed up tighter than a drum when no one is using it. There’s no guilt about weekly cleaning or wasting energy, particularly in the winter. The couple can drain the guest cabin’s pipes, turn off the heat and close up the building until visitors return in late spring or early summer. Primitive antique fisherman’s shacks on Nantucket island inspired the decor. “The interiors are simple, stripped-down and white,” Moger says. “We kept a consistent and clean palette.” The bleached oak floors and two-by-four V-groove boards on the ceilings add texture. Color is brought in via furnishings, art and accessories. The main cabin’s layout is linear and simple: master suite, kitchen-dining area, living room and screened-in porch. A large fieldstone fireplace divides the living room from the kitchen. The vaulted ceiling makes the space seem larger than it is and adds an airy feel.
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The big window and door peek through to the screened-in porch. The house is not airconditioned, but carefully planned cross ventilation and ceiling fans keep it at a comfortable temperature throughout the summer. “In some ways, the design is more like a boat than a house,” Moger says. He took advantage of every inch to keep the architecture efficient and succinct. For example, in the main cabin’s powder room, the mirror and ledge are recessed into the wall to save space. “The family loves to play lawn games — having a place to play bocce was just as important as having a bedroom,” Moger says of this mowed area between the house and the wild meadow. They use the stairs and deck as bleachers to watch and wait their turns. Written by Becky Harris - Houzz.com
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view from the living room
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