A father and daughter team up to revamp their family summer home, just steps away from New Silver Beach in North Falmouth. A true family effort, Lisa Mara Bry, her husband Tyson Bry, and her father Jack Mara brought their vision to life!

Just steps from New Silver Beach in North Falmouth sits a quaint beach cottage, perfect for those hot summer days washing off the salt and taking a break from the sun—for those quiet in-between moments before the grill gets fired up and the sun begins to set. It’s the type of home where amongst the foundation and support beams is a lingering hint of nostalgia and that familiar smell that means it’s time to start another summer on the Cape, time to create new memories.

“A couple years ago, my husband and I bought a home built in 1864 in Stowe, Vermont. It had been pretty much untouched throughout the years, and renovating that home was really our first taste of interior design,” says Lisa Mara Bry about the genesis of the interior design company that she owns with her husband, Tyson Bry. “We called it The Farm Home.” The couple spent months working through the dust and dirt and hunting for the perfect antiques to suit the space they were creating, and when they were done they had not only a home they could be proud of, but also a new company to allow them to share their passion together: Farm Home Co.

Lisa’s first love is dance, and almost 10 years ago she founded DanceWorks—an organization for advanced dancers to continue exploring their passion outside of college. DanceWorks is hugely successful and now has companies based in both New York and Boston.  “When I stopped choreographing a few years ago, I needed a new creative outlet to explore, and The Farm Home gave me that,” she says. 

Lisa’s new venture into design allows her to choreograph in a new way, working along with her husband to dream up beautiful spaces and harness the potential, history and unique personality of each home they work on, seamlessly incorporating their own chic style. “When we worked on The Farm Home, we just kept saying ‘If these walls could talk…’ There’s so much history built right into the walls of that home, and we’re honored to be able to capture that sort of thing with our design projects,” explains Lisa.

A longtime summer resident of the Cape, Lisa and her husband are thrilled to be able to work along the New England corridor, and one of their recent projects in North Falmouth hits, quite literally, close to home.

“My family bought this house near New Silver Beach in the ’70s,” explains Lisa. “And to this day that home is my dad’s pride and joy. There are four kids in my family, and the property has definitely been well-loved throughout the years.” If the walls of this North Falmouth home could talk, they’d certainly have stories to tell of tiny sandy feet running down the halls and children’s laughter circling around the dinner table

“For us it was about honoring the nostalgia that the home holds for our family as a place we grew up in and giving it legs to move into the future as somewhere for our kids to enjoy”

Recently, Lisa and her family decided it was time for the Cape Cod cottage they all loved so dearly to get a well-deserved makeover. “For us it was about honoring the nostalgia that the home holds for our family as a place we grew up in and giving it legs to move into the future as somewhere for our kids to enjoy,” says Lisa. 

The design aesthetic of Farm Home Co. is rooted in bright, welcoming white tones and natural, salvaged materials, and that’s something that Lisa and Tyson brought to this project in North Falmouth. “The fresh white paint made all the difference,” says Lisa with a laugh. 

Lisa and Tyson worked side-by-side with Lisa’s father, Jack Mara, throughout the redesign. For her, it was a special moment to be able to work in tandem with her father to renovate a space that means so much to both of them—Jack even put down the paint brush momentarily to take the gorgeous photos of the end result, featured here in these pages and on Farm Home Co.’s website. “It was important to me to be able to spend that time with him and now to be able to enjoy the home we created with him too,” says Lisa.

“My favorite part is right when you walk in,” says Lisa, who explains that the home is now available as a rental during select days in the summer. “Seeing that open layout has this overwhelming feeling of warmth right away. And then, when you get to the back of the house, there’s this great moment when the sliding barn door opens on this room with vaulted ceilings—I can just imagine a little kid walking in and getting excited to claim this room as their own. That moment, paired with that very first feeling of relaxation, is what I think makes this home special.”

Together, this family team put their touch on almost every room in the house, breathing new life into the space with beams wrapped in cedar, a new vaulted ceiling in one of the bedrooms, white wood paneling on the walls and light grey and taupe accents throughout. The front room presented the biggest challenge. “We must have moved the television 100 times over the years to find the best place to watch the Red Sox,” says Lisa with a laugh. “I think a lot of Cape houses struggle with how to define an open layout like that. With this project, we were able to reconfigure that room and find a layout that really gave it some footing.” 

Between Lisa’s eye for detail, Tyson’s skills as an engineer and Jack’s careful finishing touches, the end result is a home that the whole family can enjoy—one that respects the storied history of the space, the unique memories each family member has of the space, and, of course, the gorgeous coastal location. “It’s a space that we’ve all enjoyed together throughout the years,” says Lisa, “and one that we can continue to have fun in going forward—stress free!”

“I’m a very disciplined, organized person, and the second I cross the bridge there’s this overwhelming feeling of relaxation. For me, that’s what this project was all about—sharing that time and that relaxation with my dad,” Lisa says. “There’s something that’s just really special about that Cape Cod feeling, and that’s what we wanted to create for ourselves and to share with other families.” If these walls could talk, they’d surely have plenty to say about the family that has made sure the home is loved for generations.

To learn more about Farm Home Co., visit farmhome.co, and to see more of Jack Mara’s photography, check out @jibemasterphotography online