Monday, July 9, 2012



Back to Normal.  Back to Nantucket.


Even though the lawn still needs mowing, my bags are now unpacked, the wash is finished, the "kreepie krawlie" is cleaning the pool, and I feel able to get back on track, back to my Nantucket postings again (the lawn can just wait till tomorrow).  Let's begin with another Jacobsen house on Nantucket because his houses just say summer - the gray shingles typical of the island on his exteriors and clean, cool, white surfaces typical of this architect on the interiors - a combination I find so enchanting.  Come, be enchanted with me.

Gray shingled home with just a peek of the First Congregational Church's steeple in the back.
This and following images from Architectural Digest, July 2004
Gray shingles without a single shutter needed at all.

The front entrance where "crisp minimalism" meets traditional.

Don't you just love the way the light from the windows plays on the floor and lights up the rooms?  The floors are not white in this home, but still the rooms are filled with summer airiness.

I even love the windows darkened toward dusk.   So simple, so clean, so "summer" - and I bet the owners' lawn is mowed.

Except for this library, I don't think I have ever seen the architect use blue in his houses, but have, of course, seen his signature egg crate book cases many times.  Desk is all leather.  Such a great room.

Again, summer abounds here.

Summer's dining room, I presume.

While checking my magazines to make certain I had not missed anything "Nantucket-y," I came across this article from Elle Decor, July 2002.  It features the Voorhees barn which I posted about earlier.  I'm adding these images now because they show a few different shots of the house/barn and of its owner shown below.  Also, because the landscape and Voorhees are so typically Nantucket.



Remember, if you think you have seen these images before, you have.  Elle Decor just chose to tinge them slightly and to show the rooms from a slightly different angle.  Anyway, the home is so delightful that it should to be seen again.

I like this angle of the dining room because it gives us a glimpse of the patio.

Upstairs bath with a window I really like.

An untinged, outside view of the barn and its patio.


Now, leaving Jacobsen's design for a moment, I'd like to show you another Nantucket home.   This time it is a home designed by Karin Blake, also a minimalist, but a minimalist who always uses more antiques in her design than does Jacobsen.
This image and the following from Architectural Digest, June 2002

I've seen images of this home on Pinterest, but I wanted to show it in its entirety juxtaposed with Jacobsen's work.  Whose do you prefer?

Do you miss the white furnishings and the egg crate book cases?  I do.  But, would I miss them quite as  much in December?

More living room.  Blake's antiques always have great scale and so suit the rooms they are in.
                

Love the lack of window treatment, but miss the Jacobsen shutters.


Beautiful staircase.

Note the Nantucket basket to the right of the bed.  Blake's light hand is used here, but do you like her upholstery fabric or do you miss Jacobsen's even lighter, whiter touch?


Lovely landscape. 

I'm ending today's post with an image that again speaks of summer.  (It is July after all.  Corn is in all the vegetable stands.)  The image below is not of Nantucket, but I happened to find it in the same Elle Decor issue from above and had to include it, a shingled home by Steven Gambrel in the Hamptons.  While it is not Nantucket, it could be. 

Wish we were all having corn on the cob here tonight and enjoying our summer evening and discussing whose design work we most admire.  Adieu, dear reader, till next time when I will either be in Nantucket or in another Jacobsen designed home.
b

6 comments:

  1. Billie - Have you noticed that there are no gutters and downspouts on many of Jacobsen's homes? With all the storms we've been getting in DC, I was wondering how he handles downpours, etc. Anyhow, another divine project. Thanks for including Karin Blake. For me, she is the queen of folk art....always the best weathervanes, trade signs, Windsors, etc. I love the home she decorated for Candice Bergen.
    TTFN,
    Loi

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  2. Hi Loi,
    I once read a Simon Jacobsen discussion on their lack of downspouts. Aesthetically speaking, he and his father do not like them. Practically speaking, they design the house so that layers of stone pebbles, not soil, surround the base of the house. This supposedly allows the roof run-off to drain through the stones, and, if the roof is designed with enough overhang (theirs are often metal which may allow for a speedier run-off), there should be no splattering on the siding. My husband and son are very skeptical about this procedure.

    I visited the Museum of Southern Vermont because it was designed by Jacobsen, but I was so enthralled with the design of the building, the art work, and the airiness inside that I forgot to check for water run-off - the first thing my husband would have checked.

    By the by, we have been drier than a bone here, and am hoping for some downpours. Actually, a gentle all-night rain would be perfect. And don't forget to look into aconites for your garden.

    xo,
    b

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    Replies
    1. Thanks....I will do some research on aconites. BTW, it is interesting they have the dishwasher opened in that kitchen photo. Perhaps to show the white plates?? :)

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  3. Hi Billie,
    As Phyllis, I love the exterior of the first house but the interior of the 2nd home is wonderful to me.
    I also love the antique items that Karin Blake brings into her interiors.
    I really have learned something about the Nantucket style and the shingle style! Thank you dear Billie!
    xx
    Greet

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  4. I am a new reader of your blog + grand! I like KB because of her use of antiques-exterior of house #1. xxpeggybraswelldesign.com

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  5. I love these Nantucket homes. The summer outdoor dining room of the first house may be my favorite image you posted, and also the one of the barn. These images really evoke feelings of summer.

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