4 minute read
Coastal Home Life - January/February Issue
Beneath a lofty tray ceiling with grasscloth panels, the great room mixes finishes, fabrics and textures while keeping the focus on the amazing ocean view.
PHOTOGRAPHY BY DAN CUTRONA
SIMPLE BY DESIGN
BY JANICE RANDALL ROHLF
Irina MacPhee’s knack for creating perfect interiors for her clients is all about getting to know them. Jeff Robinson’s impetus for building a second home on Cape Cod was the treasured family vacations he spent as a child in the idyllic seaside locale. For the new house he and his wife envisioned, they wanted a place where their four adult children could create memories of their own when they visited with their kids. Such a house would have to be very special, as would the team tasked to create it—architect, builder and interior designer.
With the architect, Erik Tolley, and builder, Mike Nardone, in place, a designer was needed to round out the team. Jeff and Nancy Robinson met with Irina MacPhee, owner of Pastiche of Cape Cod and the three hit it off instantly. Ten months later, at the reveal, Jeff, rarely speechless, found himself in a state of awe, searching for words. “I usually set my bar high,” he says.
Woven cane chairs complement the dining table’s distressed wood surface, which is both beautiful and practical.
PHOTOGRAPHY BY DAN CUTRONA
The living area furnishings are grouped around a linear fireplace with a stacked stone veneer.
PHOTOGRAPHY BY DAN CUTRONA
Designers Irina MacPhee and her daughter Adin Weatherley are creative problem-solvers who share a passion for details. To be a successful interior designer these days requires a lot more than having impeccable taste and a good eye. You have to be part psychologist and part mind reader. “It’s all about really getting to know the client so that I can make good choices that reflect them,” says MacPhee, who has received numerous awards since opening her business 32 years ago. With the Robinsons, she understood that their lifestyle was relaxed and family-oriented and that they wanted their home to be comfortable and have a coastal aesthetic. That was the start of an overall vision plan that would ultimately require decisions to be made on many levels, from window treatments to plumbing and everything in between. “People often don’t understand how many details are involved,” says MacPhee. “It’s not like HGTV.”
Designers Irina MacPhee and her daughter Adin Weatherley are creative problem-solvers who share a passion for details.
PHOTOGRAPHY BY DAN CUTRONA
Cable railing on the stairs keeps the space open and airy.
PHOTOGRAPHY BY DAN CUTRONA
With a roadmap in place to get her clients to their dream house, MacPhee ticked items off her list: a light and airy color palette, user-friendly finishes and fabrics, a variety of textures. She guided her clients but no decision was made without their approval.
A soothing blue-and-white palette was chosen for the master bedroom.
PHOTOGRAPHY BY DAN CUTRONA
Drilling down to the specifics, seafoam, subtle blues, neutrals, and soft silver shades dominate in the Great Room and playoff surfaces like the distressed white dining table and stacked stone veneer of the fireplace. Wide-plank engineered hardwood floors are both attractive and durable. Translucent drapes filter the natural light that pours through big windows and folding glass doors that bring the outside in.
A mere 120 feet from the Atlantic, the Robinsons’ house rises out of the dunes looking not unlike a ship perched atop ocean swells. Its 3,000-square foot volume spread over three levels is more vertical than horizontal, as the structure is built on the footprint of the modest 1940s ranch it replaced. Not a huge home by today’s standards, it’s one where “every single inch matters,” observes MacPhee, whose acuity as a creative problem-solver reveals itself throughout the home in, for instance, clever storage solutions. “Scale is especially important when you have to fit everything in without having the home feel overcrowded and cluttered,” she adds. “There has to be balance.”
Architect Erik Tolley and builder Mike Nardone collaborated on the three-level home that rises shiplike from the dune.
PHOTOGRAPHY BY DAN CUTRONA
With its porthole window, shiplap and full-on view of the sea, the children’s space appears to float on the water.
PHOTOGRAPHY BY DAN CUTRONA
Take the great room’s lofty tray ceiling, for example. While a high-backed sofa and chairs would have fit the room’s height, they may have interfered with the spectacular ocean view. On the other hand, keeping the furniture low creates what could have become an overly airy space. MacPhee’s solution? Grasscloth on the ceiling imbues a warmth that paint never could, making the room feel more intimate without causing six-foot-two-inch Jeff to feel claustrophobic.
On the third-floor, lower ceilings have a variety of angles and eaves that reflect the varied rooflines above. While it’s a delightful play and sleep space for the Robinsons’ grandchildren, tricked out with cushions in user-friendly fabrics, it’s also comfortable for adults, especially if there’s a need for overflow sleeping space. Adin Weatherley, MacPhee’s 25-year-old daughter who works hand-in-hand with her mother, was instrumental in designing this space, particularly ironing out details from a millennial’s point of view. “People her age will take the industry to the next level,” notes MacPhee, alluding to the age group’s facility with technology.
Today, incorporating USB ports and outlets for electronic devices into a home’s design is as essential as measuring correctly for furniture. So is clear and frequent communication—among the team of professionals and with the clients—if you hope to achieve an outcome equal to the Robinsons’.
“We chose Irina for her experience, her portfolio, the way she communicated that it was about “us’ and what we loved,” says Jeff. “It was pretty clear, pretty quickly, that she would create a home that would be in our family for generations.” CHL
Pastiche of Cape Cod 8 South Street, Dennis Port, MA 02639
adin@pasticheofcapecod.com irina@pasticheofcapecod.com 508.362.8006
