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Houzz Tour: Classic Touches for a Cape Cod Beach House
A white-and-wood palette, coastal chic furniture and a new bunkroom add casual charm to this Massachusetts getaway
With this beachside Massachusetts home’s breathtaking views of the Atlantic Ocean from nearly every room, architect Andrew Reck says that keeping the interior details “classic, simple and clean” was key to the renovation of the family vacation house. “We didn’t want to distract from the views,” Reck says. “White walls, warm wood and some classic Cape Cod details like beadboard and soapstone were all that was needed.”
Reck and his team lowered the ceiling in the living room, using the space above the new ceiling to create an enlarged master suite. The living room side of the half-walls features open shelves for storing books, a chessboard and other decor. The coastal-inspired furniture had been previously purchased by the homeowners.
The idea of covering some of the existing kitchen windows with cabinets for additional storage was never considered. “The kitchen has amazing light because of all of the windows,” Reck says. Instead, to create more storage, the design team added a large island with built-in cabinets on both sides. The beadboard on the cabinet doors and the rush seats on the counter stools are classic coastal touches.
Shop for rush-seat counter stools on Houzz
Shop for rush-seat counter stools on Houzz
The countertops are soapstone, and the backsplash is Calacatta marble mosaic tile. The gas stovetop is built into the island and has a downdraft vent that pops up when the stove is in use.
Kitchen Counters: Durable, Easy-Clean Soapstone
Kitchen Counters: Durable, Easy-Clean Soapstone
The kitchen opens to the family room. The design team replaced the tile floors in the kitchen and the family room with red birch floors. That wood flooring now runs throughout the house except for the bathrooms.
The family room furniture, fireplace surround and built-in bookcases are existing features from the previous design. Reck and his team replaced the bookcase doors with beadboard doors to match the kitchen cabinets.
Floor-to-ceiling beadboard covers the walls in the new master bedroom. “We wanted to keep the walls white, so beadboard was a great way to add some texture and a classic Cape Cod touch to the space,” Reck says. A glass door leads to a walk-out balcony with stunning water views.
The new master bathroom is also a case study in white, but if you look closely, there’s a slight difference between the crisp white on the walls and the gray-tinged white on the double vanity and the recessed medicine cabinets. “That subtle difference in color keeps everything from looking too flat,” Reck says.
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Shop for medicine cabinets
The other side of the master bathroom includes a freestanding tub and a walk-in shower. The floors are covered in a tumbled limestone tile the color of sand. Beadboard appears again on the lower half of the walls and the inside of the built-in cabinet.
Reck and his team converted a former attic art studio into a bunkroom. Both ends of the room feature identical built-in beds tucked into the sloping roofline. The beds include storage underneath and are flanked by floor-to-ceiling built-in shelves. The walls and built-ins are covered in beadboard.
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Shop for bunk beds
More on Houzz
So Your Coastal Style Is: Cape Cod and the Islands
10 Ideas for a Breezy Coastal Kitchen
Find architects
Shop for bunk beds
House at a Glance
Who lives here: A family when on vacation
Location: Cape Cod region of Massachusetts
Architect: Andrew Reck of Oak Hill Architects
Previously only a three-step change in levels separated the entry from the living room. The former living room also featured a double-height ceiling. “The old design was really too open for the space,” Reck says. “There was no delineation from the entry to the living room, and the double-height ceiling created too much of a void.”
Now the front door opens to a small foyer that leads directly into the living room, with its large wall of windows overlooking the ocean. Reck and his team created the foyer by adding two half-walls covered in decorative paneling and topped with slabs of red birch to match the refinished original floors. A column on each half-wall boosts the sense of separation between the two spaces.
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