TINY TREASURE

WHEN A COUPLE WANTED TO BRING THEIR HISTORIC WATERFRONT COTTAGE TO LIFE, THEY ENTRUSTED ITS UNIQUE STORY TO NANTUCKET LOOMS, THE ISLAND'S DE FACTO ARBITER OF STYLE

- PAIGE PORTER FISCHER

With its quintessential cedar siding and white trim, this diminutive cottage on Nantucket’s Old North Wharf has been in Henry Sanford’s family for three generations. Just shy of 400 square feet, the cottage, which has been named “Lydia” for as long as Henry remembers, now serves as a summer clubhouse for Henry, his wife, Amy, and their three children, who congregate here with friends and family when “they come to town,” he says.

Long before Amy Sanford met her husband, she always noticed Lydia Cottage on her walks down Nantucket’s Easy Street. “The little cottage with the blue front door always made me happy,” she says. “Even on the dreariest gray winter days, I could look toward the wharf and see that blue door, and it would remind me of the happiness of summertime.”

"The cool thing about this cabin is that the interior architecture really speaks to its rich history," says designer Stephanie Hall. "It's bare bones. The open shelf was obviously made with whatever someone had laying around at the time." The shelf holds traditional Nantucket lightship baskets, antique vessels, and vintage glass bottles that all acknowledge the cottage's age.