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A historic Sea Captain’s home in Barnstable gets a new, colorful life

Cape Cod Home  /  Spring 2019 /

Writer: Elizabeth Hilfrank / Photographer: Michael J. Lee 

A historic Sea Captain’s home in Barnstable gets a new, colorful life

SPR19-resized-100-W

Cape Cod Home  /  Spring 2019 /

Writer: Elizabeth Hilfrank / Photographer: Michael J. Lee 

Eye-catching window treatments set the stage for the design of each room, including here in the master bedroom, where the depth of blue and the lightly colored floral pattern in the curtains are carried throughout the space.

The collaboration also extended to the unique visionaries inherent to the Boston firm of Patrick Ahearn Architect, LLC. Managing principal Michael Tartamella, AIA, headed up their involvement and brought his expertise to the simple design augmentation of the home’s transformation. Changes like the widening of entrances that connect the rooms, windows that allow more of the Cape light to collect in the living space, and subtle architectural design elements all contribute to the newer, fresher aesthetic found throughout the home.

Because of the owners’ love for the original structure of the house, only subtle improvements were made to the bones of the home in order to make the historical, small rooms feel a bit larger. “Instead of having doors between the rooms, we changed them into cased openings,” says Jaxtimer. “These are open entryways that have a frame design around them. Through cased openings you can take a two-foot door and change it to a five-foot opening.”

Rosenfeld’s mission was to create a unified and fun feeling throughout. Working with this client, a veterinarian, the needs of her busy family—that include three active boys as well as countless animals, some permanent members of the household, some just along for a brief stay—dictated what Rosenfeld calls a “keep it real” approach to the interior design. The budget was not to be spent on custom furniture, but rather focused on textiles and fabrics that made the simple setup feel customized specifically for this family, this house, and this location. “The goal was to make it cute with extreme utility in mind,” says Rosenfeld. “It involved a lot of both form and function.”

Elizabeth Hilfrank

Elizabeth Hilfrank is a freelance writer who lives in Mashpee. A Cape Cod washashore, Elizabeth writes most frequently for Cape Cod Life Publications in Cape Cod HOME. When she's not writing, she works as a video marketer for a tech start up in Boston.