HOUSE OF BLUES

Gray Oak Studio leans into this color for the most sublime and subtle design effect.

- By Nancy Ruhling

Navy blue chairs add a bold stroke to the kitchen area. Some of the kitchen cabinets and the island base are painted chambray blue.

Blue. That’s the single, colorful word that comes to mind when the interior design of beach houses is brought up.

The hue, after all, is the most logical-and stereotypical-election because it conjures the water lapping softly against the shores of the sandy beach.

When Leah Hook, the founder and principal designer of Gray Oak Studio, was brought on board before construction began for a new clapboard beach house on the one-road-in, one-road-out Plum Island, she knew she wanted to lean into the blues but in an all-encompassing manner that brings home the water theme in a sublime, yet subtle, way.

The idea of home and family is very important to the owners, a couple with four sons, the youngest of whom is in junior high school. The wife grew up going to the Plum Island beaches, and her father owns the property next door.

They envisioned a place where the family and large groups of friends could hang out without a care in the world.

To come up with her color scheme, Hook looked to the other houses in the community, whose oceanfacing pastel pinks, mints, and light blues complement the soft and sandy grays of the salt marshes.

The hallway, whose wall is a mini art gallery, features doors that are painted pearly blue.

And to the couple’s preferences: They happen to love blue.