Stable Retreat
Cape Cod Home / HOME Annual 2026 / Home, Garden & Design
Writer: Julie Craven Wagner / Photographer: Jana Cevolo
Stable Retreat
Cape Cod Home / HOME Annual 2026 / Home, Garden & Design
Writer: Julie Craven Wagner / Photographer: Jana Cevolo
Presented a Gold BRICC Award for thoughtful execution, the Long Barn is a newly built ADU rooted in classic barn form—an equestrian-inspired vision realized through excellent design and Sea View Builder’s precise planning and craftsmanship.
Set back from the road and framed by the gentle rhythms of the nearby river, a structure that serves as a graceful guest retreat was born from a concept of a far more utilitarian space. Its bones are sturdy, its purpose straightforward. But for homeowner Nora Keefe’s vision, the building’s imagined provenance held something more: a sensibility of a new, high-end, fully functioning guest house, with references rooted in centuries of classic design. What began as a simple concept would, through a collaborative and evolving process, become a refined accessory dwelling—one that would ultimately earn a Gold 2025 BRICC Award as presented by the Homebuilders and Remodelers Association of Cape Cod, and introduce many on the Cape to the quiet confidence of an up-and-coming Osterville firm, Sea View Builders.

The project’s success was not the result of a rigid plan or a single grand gesture. Instead, it unfolded gradually, shaped by conversation, experimentation, and a shared respect for the structure, the site, and the people who would use it. In many ways, the building of the structure mirrored the building of the team itself: a homeowner with a clear but flexible vision, an insightful and energetic builder guided by a deep sense of craft, and landscape professionals determined to let the natural surroundings take the lead.
For Nora, a lifelong equestrian and design professional with her creative home staging business, the concept of a guest retreat...Want to read this article and more?
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