the main event

Imagined history and contemporary comforts come together in a renovated compound on Nantucket.

- By Jennifer Sperry

THE HOUSES LINING Nantucket’s Main Street brim with impeccably maintained character. But when clients of interior designer Kristin Paton purchased their own slice of Main, the builder-grade, center-entrance colonial cried out for a hefty dose of architectural integrity (aka charm).

Her clients, a family of five with college-age kids, loved the location near town but craved more elegance, polish, and livability indoors and out.

“Our goal was to give this house an imagined history,” explains Paton, whose Boston-based firm specializes in full-service interior architecture and design. In collaboration with Niche Architecture and Main Street Construction, she worked to transform not just the main house but the entire property with custom enhancements.

Inside the colonial, the designer used cased openings, built-ins, exposed beams, and intricate millwork to create the feeling of separate spaces. This new and improved flow is more interesting and more traditional in feel, luring occupants from destination to destination, enhancing the residents' experience of the house.