Working together, homeowners, builder and interior designer find just the right balance
for a couple that loves to entertain and also appreciates quiet time.

Tucked behind a row of beach grass that is in near constant motion thanks to the gentle breezes coming off of Nantucket Sound just steps away, is a home with a look that is at once fresh and classic. Its shingle siding has yet to completely “silver” and the distinctive front door is a decidedly contemporary shade of teal. But the bones of the home—twin peaks framing an eyebrow window, wrap-around porch, and an overall sense of symmetry—are definitively Shingle-style. Completed in 2020, it is a home that, by intention, looks as if it has always been there.

Working with Chris Childs of Patriot Builders and Leaf Ives Wallace, owner of Leaf Ives Interiors, homeowners Paul and Janet, who were also very much a part of the design/build process, have created a home that suits all of their current needs and should continue to do so for years, if not generations, to come. 

For Paul, the ties to this idyllic oceanfront neighborhood run deep. 

“I have been coming to this area since I was a young boy,” he says, adding, “my aunt and uncle came first. They built a house across the street from where my parents eventually bought and moved there permanently in the ‘60s. My godparents also lived two houses down on the water.” 

Yet, according to Paul, those early summers on the Cape weren’t all sun and fun.

“We spent time with my aunt and uncle in the summer, but also at other times during the year. The two of them were...