As unassuming as West Tisbury itself, a bumpy dirt road leads to one of Martha’s Vineyard’s most vibrant homes.
The dining area features a custom table by Collins Heavener of Marshall Farm Wood-Works.
Perched on a cliff overlooking the Vineyard Sound sits a charming, modernized cottage. With Lamberts Cove beach just below and views to the horizon ahead, the five-bed, five-bath home is an idyllic island escape. While the cedar exterior and stone details meld into the area’s natural surroundings, the interiors offer an eclectic, colorful surprise—unlike many of the Martha’s Vineyard properties Mika Durrell of Able Moraine (ablemoraine.com) has designed. “The clients are really funky and into color and things that are just vibrant and cheerful,” she shares. “This was hard for me because there’s a lot of color involved and, for a lot of projects that I get involved in, color is not such a big thing because clients really want the views to be the focus, so it’s more neutral, textural stuff. This was the first time I’ve ever designed a home that way with color at the forefront.”
Durrell included fun pops of color and pattern throughout the home
Perfecting the new build, which utlized an existing footprint, was no small feat, taking nearly two years and a team of experts, but the finished product was everything the clients envisioned. Gorgeous fabrics, playful patterns and art fill the home—the collection ranges from abstract pieces to classic landscapes inspired by British artists like Turner and Constable, all picked up by the couple during their travels. And while the home boasts stunning, custom pieces, Durrell designed it to be equally practical for a family that vacations on the Vineyard year-round.
In the powder room, find tiles in the hue Vintage Rose and brass fixtures.
Upon entering, a dark blue mudroom provides the perfect space for the clients to store their tennis rackets, golf clubs, sandy flip-flops and muddy wellies. Light blue scallop tiles from Discover Tile (discovertile.com) line the floor, pairing perfectly with the deeperhued millwork. “We celebrated the functionality and designed [the mudroom] in a way that made it feel like a beautiful experience to enter into at the same time,” Durrell notes.
Durrell designed the mudroom with Jutras millwork and an Urban Electric flush mount in orange and yellow hues
As one glides further into the home, natural light blankets each space, including a green-splashed living room—this space welcomes the family to mingle among stripes and neutral tones. Four seats from Chairloom (chairloom.com) are wrapped in a green and white striped Jasper (michaelsmithinc. com) fabric with leaf-like details, an eye-catching custom ottoman placed between them. The plush centerpiece features a floral Christian Lacroix fabric from Designers Guild (designersguild.com) and sits on top of a hand-knotted jute and cotton rug, adding a natural, coastal touch.
The property boasts a plunge pool and Mediterranean-inspired landscaping.
Down the hall, an earth-toned kitchen boasts beachy details like glossy, beige zellige tiles from Clé ( cletile.com ), aged and unlacquered brass accents, egeo blue ondulato marble countertops from Cumar (cumar.com) and plum-colored pendants from Urban Electric (urbanelectric.com).
Natural light fl \oods into the home.
Art adorns the walls, as with most of the home, adding a pop of color and personality. The open space encompasses a dining area with sweeping views of the Sound. Here, one can dine on industrialstyle, vintage knoll cesca chairs in a lively green and blue fabric or the striped Schumacher-wrapped (schumacher.com) banquette.
The primary suite’s focal point is a Schumacher-wrapped headboard.
More dreamy drops of color drape over the house, from the pink and blue powder room to a blush and floral primary suite and additional bedrooms in green, orange, raspberry and blue—a perfect reflection of the bubbly, charismatic couple. “Our client is our inspiration. They’re very engaged in the process and it was a fun and dynamic collaboration that yielded a very unique and successful result,” Durrell says. “I feel they were very happy with it, and it manifested in all the way that they envisioned.”
DESIGN DETAILS
TYPE
Single-Family
INTERIOR DESIGNER
Able Moraine
ablemoraine.com
ARCHITECTURE DESIGN STUDIO
R&D Design
rd-designgroup.com
BUILDER
Stedman Construction
stedmanconstruction.com
LANDSCAPE ARCHITECT
Matthew Cunningham Landscape Design LLC
matthew-cunningham.com
LANDSCAPE CONTRACTOR
Contour Landscape Construction
contourmv.com
STONE FABRICATOR
Cumar
cumar.com
MILLWORK FABRICATOR
Jutras Woodworking
jutraswoodworking.com
RESOURCES
URBAN ELECTRIC
Flush mount, mudroom
Pendants, kitchen
Sconces, home office
urbanelectric.com
SCHUMACHER
Banquette fabric, dining room
Headboard fabric, primary bedroom
Wallpaper, bedroom
schumacher.com
CHAIRLOOM
Bed, guest bedroom
Ottoman, den
Mirror, sunroom
Ottoman, living room chairloom.com
