130SPR23_Cover_FINAL_NoUPC

Playful Style

Cape Cod Home  /  Spring 2023 /

Writer: Hannah Kunze / Photographer: Cary Hazelgrove 

Playful Style

130SPR23_Cover_FINAL_NoUPC

Cape Cod Home  /  Spring 2023 /

Writer: Hannah Kunze / Photographer: Cary Hazelgrove 


Interior designer Carolyn Thayer sets the mood for fun in this Nantucket vacation home in Madequecham.

While human beings are multifaceted by nature, most people spend much of their week wearing the mask of solemnity required for working in the labor force. Faced with this reality, vacations offer a necessary opportunity for people to get in touch with their more playful side. Vacations are a reprieve from the necessary formalities of working life and provide a welcome chance for even the most serious corporate executives to kick up their feet, relax, and reconnect with a more easygoing disposition. For the homeowners of this Nantucket vacation home, it was imperative that the home’s design reflect its status as a haven. 

For interior designer Carolyn Thayer of Carolyn Thayer Interiors, utilizing the power of color was the clear path forward when considering how to make the home feel like a true retreat. “People go to their summer homes to be in their happy place,” she says. “The client was unafraid of bold colors and patterns, so taking advantage of color was a key element of creating a light, bright atmosphere in the home.”

The colors used throughout the home are distinctive, fun and playful; varying in shades of blues, greens, and rich pinks. The color palette is a celebration of a more relaxed and lighthearted lifestyle with subtle nods to its coastal location. “We wanted to allude to the nautical setting without making it the focal point of the design,” Thayer describes.

The living area, for example, features a spacious couch covered in a Brunschwig & Fils fabric emblazoned with yellow and brown conch shells, creamy white pearls, and deep pink coral. While the sofa is an...

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Hannah Kunze