East to Avalon

From the street, East to Avalon presents itself as a grand, broad-gabled, shingle style cottage. Its welcoming front porch, expansive roof overhangs, large-scale windows, and stout columns play with proportions, using scale to suggest the house has less mass than it actually does, while at the same time creating a robust and endearing character.

On the waterfront side, what appears to be a one-and-a-half story house at the front grows to two full stories plus a third lower level walkout at one side. With ganged windows, a raised terrace, and an infinity-edge pool, at the rear the house takes full advantage of the contours of the property and beautiful water view beyond. As the architect, landscape architect, and builder, PSD focused on seamlessly connecting the architectural design, the landscape design, and the construction.

The interior is casually elegant. The open, bright, contemporary living spaces provide the homeowners with a relaxed and comfortable retreat, while the contemporary shingle style exterior grounds the house in Cape Cod tradition—the best of both worlds. The main living area, screened-in porch and first-floor primary suite all have direct access to the terrace and the view. An open staircase leads to three bedrooms on the second floor, including a second suite with a vaulted ceiling fabric clad by interior designer Lisa Tharp to evoke the thrill of sleeping in a tent by the beach. Windows here provide views in three directions. Elsewhere in the house, beds in nooks and built-ins provide cozy retreats within the retreat, while large scale wrap-around windows provide long distant outlook on the nautical world.