This P-City House’s Humble Exterior Hides a Gorgeously Redesigned Residence

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There is much more than satisfies the eye at this architect’s Provincetown retreat, from nostalgic touches to unique features that provide the exterior in.


The basic Cape exterior honors the Provincetown neighborhood’s historic district designation. Bernese mountain pet Ensign keeps watch at the entrance doorway. / Photo by Michael J. Lee

Lisa Pacheco Robb fell in enjoy with her Provincetown house in vintage rom-com type: She transpired to see it when she joined her buddies who have been household hunting in 2005. It was not fairly suitable for them. But, with renovations, Pacheco Robb understood the unassuming Cape-type home would be best for her and her spouse, Barbara, and their Bernese mountain dog, Ensign, so she bought it. “I thought, Someday down the road, I could make this into a thing quite wonderful,” she recalls. And in 2017, she did.

The exterior remains unassuming—it’s in a historic district, in which most residences appear alike. At 1,800 sq. toes, it is also compact. “But then as soon as you stroll by means of the entrance door, folks are definitely astonished with what’s on the other aspect,” Pacheco Robb says. This is likely since she is a principal at Pacheco Robb Architects who focuses on designs that have interaction the whole spectrum of senses. She’s also sentimental and required to infuse the house with reminiscences of her childhood cottage, for illustration, with its picket display doors, and features from her hometown of New Bedford.

Nostalgic all-natural components, textures, and finishing touches set the tone all through. Most attendees first comment on the ceilings: reclaimed snow fence from Wyoming, sourced from Centennial Wood Goods in Montana. “We beloved this choice since you can see a historical past of wind, snow, and solar in the gorgeous patina of the wooden,” she claims. “It’s funny how numerous moments men and women appear in the household and say, ‘Oh, my God. I like this ceiling.’ And then I get to say, ‘Oh, it’s Wyoming snow fence!’” Inevitably they check with, “How did it close up in Massachusetts?” she claims. “As an architect, I often lookup for issues that incorporate just a further layer to the architecture as a story and that incorporate record and memory.”

Ceilings—reclaimed snow fence from Wyoming, sourced from Centennial Wood Merchandise in Montana—are a conversation piece for guests. / Photograph by Michael J. Lee

White-oak floors and traditional shiplap in Benjamin Moore’s “Simply White” generate an informal, beachy tone. / Photo by Michael J. Lee

The airy kitchen area gets a pop of coloration from candy-crimson stools created by O&G Studio, run by Rhode Island School of Design and style grads. Lights from British enterprise Unique BTC, which sells shipyard-inspired fixtures, remember Pacheco Robb’s New Bedford roots. / Photo by Michael J. Lee

Light streams into the residing space, inviting guests to settle on to the Eilersen sofa. The chairs and glass lamps are from Hudson Interior Styles in the South Finish owner Jill Goldberg discovered the glass at a flea market. / Image by Michael J. Lee

That’s the scenario with the simple white tile backsplash in the kitchen, which mimics the Japanese tradition of shou sugi ban, or charring wood to maintain it. It’s a nod to Pacheco Robb’s analyze of Japanese layout in the course of her architecture university times, in which she done her thesis on sensory, experiential environments with Asian influences. “I needed to carry in elements that experienced particular tactile features,” she claims, particularly those people that uncovered nature’s attractiveness, appropriate down to the white-oak floors. “Grain tells a tale of the wood and the age of the wood. I sense like it’s artwork. You’ll see grain in excess of and in excess of in my home,” she states, such as the white-oak cupboards with a cerused finish from Bespoke of Winchester. “I’m attempting to develop a relationship to nature.”

Meanwhile, pendant lights over the kitchen area island are a “crossover concerning industrial and marine, like what you’d be expecting to see on the docks around fishing boats. I grew up in New Bedford, which is a fishing town some thing about people lights reminded me of household,” the architect states. The maritime truly feel was critical: Her pet dog is named Ensign, immediately after all, and she and her wife are avid boaters. They required the home to come to feel cozy and inviting, like battening down on a ship in the course of a storm, even in the solar-drenched sitting location. In holding with a own contact, Pacheco Robb did all of the inside structure herself, sourcing the dwelling place chairs and glass lamps from the South End’s Hudson Interior Types.

O&G Studio, cofounded by Rhode Island University of Design alumni, created the kitchen’s ash counter stools applying a stain process that delivers out the depth of the grain. “One of the items I generally attempt to do in my tasks is use regional craftsmen, and serious artisans who make goods from scratch,” Pacheco Robb claims. Metal stair stringers ended up also fabricated domestically by Wellfleet Metal Will work, with solid oak treads from a Connecticut mill. Pacheco Robb was initially lukewarm about the railing—a playful riff on the shiplap walls—but visitors loved it. “So it in no way came down, and as it turns out, with those people stairs, you require a railing,” she claims, laughing. The handrail attached to the wall is a mast from a Beetle Cat sailboat from a boat maker in the vicinity of New Bedford.

For a contemporary contact, the guest bed is by Belgian household furniture makers Ethnicraft. “I love the combination of traditional and modern combined with each other,” Pacheco Robb suggests. An ocean-themed print from regional household décor boutique Wildflower of Provincetown hangs above. / Photograph by Michael J. Lee

A bathtub anchoring the major bed room appears out by means of sliding doorways to a deck. “It’s below the eaves of the residence, and I needed it to sense like you were being in a cabin on a boat,” the architect says. / Photo by Michael J. Lee

Pacheco Robb developed the stair stringers, built by Wellfleet Steel Will work. / Photo by Michael J. Lee

The Japanese designers that she examined in architecture university supplied inspiration for the floating stairs. A fishing pier painted by Provincetown artist TJ Walton hangs earlier mentioned. / Photograph by Michael J. Lee

Architect Lisa Pacheco Robb requested Iowa-primarily based Aronson Woodworks to tailor made-structure a sea-blue woodgrain deck—which instantly became her most loved item in the home.

The maritime whimsy carries on at the top rated of the stairs, with an summary painting by local artist TJ Walton of a fishing pier at the close of the road. “We like her work, and when we initially bought that portray, it was truly in advance of we renovated the household. She carried it down Business Avenue and hung it herself, and the paint on it was continue to damp,” Pacheco Robb suggests.

Speaking of h2o, a blue desk by Iowa’s Aronson Woodworks in an upstairs bedroom resembles a waterfall, many thanks to “Claize,” a proprietary woodgrain finish that provides out the wood’s normal grain. “It’s my preferred issue in the whole property. I certainly adore it,” she claims.

In the key bed room, the bathtub at the foot of the mattress was also Pacheco Robb’s strategy. “I enjoy getting baths all over the year….. Considering that the home is for me, I can do no matter what I want,” she claims. “On a fall night, I just open the doorway and sit in the bath, and I’m delighted as can be.”

Architect
Pacheco Robb Architects

Cabinetmaker 
Bespoke of Winchester

Contractor 
Liam McCooe

Landscape Architect 
LeBlanc Jones Landscape Architects

The back of the property was updated with yellow cedar. South Close landscape company LeBlanc Jones Landscape Architects made the cozy patio. / Photograph by Michael J. Lee