Cape Cod Home, Spring 2018 | capecodlife.com

In Living Color

Cape Cod Home  /  Spring 2018 / ,

Writer: Julie Craven Wagner / Photographer: Paige Biviano and Richard Hilgendorff 

In Living Color

Cape Cod Home, Spring 2018 | capecodlife.com

Cape Cod Home  /  Spring 2018 / ,

Writer: Julie Craven Wagner / Photographer: Paige Biviano and Richard Hilgendorff 

Marsha Malone Nautique

Photo by Paige Biviano

Marsha Malone of Nautique answers the call for color without sacrificing sophistication

For Sheila Sheeran, her passions are immediately evident. Sheeran is not the kind of person who keeps things bottled up inside. From the first introduction, her warm, bubbly spirit gushes forward with an unexpected effervescence. That zest for life translates to the surroundings found in her Chatham home, where she has bravely and boldly injected a vibrant color scheme throughout.

Shelia and Jack Sheeran had a summer home in Harwich Port for several years (profiled in the Cape Cod HOME Summer 2014 issue), but when they moved their family from Florida and settled year round with their four children in Chatham, a new, larger home was necessary. The decision to enlist Marsha Malone, from Nautique in Brewster, wasn’t even up for debate. Malone had successfully and creatively transformed their seasonal home in Harwich into a colorful, comfortable seaside sanctuary. This time they needed a residence that would comfortably serve the family’s needs through all of the seasons with a “more grounded palette and sophistication,” says Sheeran. “I did not want the nautical feel we had in our Harwich Port house. But I also knew I didn’t want the typical beachy, Cape Cod look either because we would live here year round.” Sheeran’s choice of saturated blues, greens and pinks might have been dismissed as preppy, but the application surpasses the adolescent assumptions associated with the color combinations, as Malone’s expertise sublimely suggests a more cosmopolitan pedigree, not unlike the couture collections of clothing designers like Ralph Lauren and Kate Spade that grace fashion runways around the world. “It is a very casually elegant design plan,” Malone says. “Refined choices, like the grasscloth wall coverings and timeless fabrics, all contribute to the sense of a well thought out home.”

The color palette started with the kelly green that anchors the back of the bookcases in the great room. “I was definitely drawn to that kelly green, and I knew it was a main color I wanted to incorporate,” Sheeran says. Two blue, patterned Thibaut fabrics were sourced, one for drapes in the sitting room and one for two spooled arm chairs that anchor the great room. Sheeran says, “Once we had those two fabrics, we literally ran with the rest. It was so fast to put it all together by starting with two fabrics.” Sheeran is a Chopra Center certified meditation instructor, perhaps explaining why she is so in tune with her inner voice. She is not impulsive, but she definitely acknowledges her instinctive response to emotional triggers like color. The foundation of the two blue fabrics launched a journey into a vibrant world of color. “We incorporated a lot of the blues that were in those two fabrics, and it really just flowed effortlessly,” Sheeran explains.

Julie Craven Wagner

Julie Craven Wagner began her experience with Cape Cod Life in 2010 when she joined the sales team after 10 years of working with local businesses on the Cape and Islands with WMVY. In addition to sales, she is the Associate Publisher/Editor of Cape Cod LIFE, Cape Cod HOME, and Cape Cod ART. Growing up on the Outer Cape has given her a unique perspective of life on Cape Cod, from tip to bridge, and that is reflected in her appreciation and presentation of stories found within the pages of our publications. Julie lives in North Falmouth with her husband, Eric, and their yellow lab, Enzo. When she finds free time, she enjoys her Cape Cod life sailing on Buzzards Bay, spending time on the beach in Wellfleet, or exploring Martha’s Vineyard.