HOME PORTRAIT
From Standard to Styled
In Three Weeks
By Emily Lowe, Photography by Ahrmed Louis Jean
The homeowners found their “perfect fit” through Dawn Bellante Holand of Sandpiper Realty, whose twenty years of Island expertise led them to a property that balanced every requirement: ample room for teenage children, overflow space for guests, and a location that felt like a private retreat despite its proximity to town. Mill Hill was a newly constructed spec-house–designed without a specific client in mind, and the ideal blank slate for any homeowner’s vision. But for a family of four looking to lay down roots, create memories, and host friends for their first Island summer, this empty canvas was just that: unfurnished and lacking the personal touch they needed to call it home.
In addition to the lack of personal touches, the buyers faced a daunting logistical hurdle: their timeline from purchase to move-in needed to be complete in just three weeks.
Leveraging a partnership built on shared principles, Dawn transitioned the clients to Vineyard Decorators, ensuring that the moment the keys turned in the lock, the machinery of furnishing was already in motion. “It’s a community built on partnership and shared goals,” says COO Sophia Brush Warren. By tapping into this local pipeline, the race against the clock didn’t have to mean a compromise on style.
Utilizing à la carte design services, the clients worked with a design consultant to develop custom floor plans and a furniture presentation–assembled entirely from immediately available, in-stock pieces from the Vineyard Decorators showroom and on-Island warehouse.
Whole-home furnishing and tight deadlines are specialties for Vineyard Decorators. Their showroom and on-island warehouse are nearly floor-to-ceiling packed with furniture, mattresses, artwork, rugs, and decor carefully curated by Sophia and the Vineyard Decorators’ team. Their program, built on a foundation of elevated coastal pieces, allows mixing and matching, providing a modern beach-house aesthetic with room for personal touches.
Beyond having the inventory to support whole-home furnishings, Vineyard Decorators excels in local knowledge, logistics, and community. Their own fleet of vehicles and in-house team are responsible for transporting all their stock to the Vineyard, inspecting, assembling, and delivering to clients’ homes. With a single touchpoint and pipeline, clients don’t have to manage the logistics of getting their furniture to the Island. They also have a local contact for questions and references, and can return to those partners for other projects down the line.
At the outset, Mill Hill offered a broadly appealing version of coastal living–pleasant, polished, and intentionally neutral. That sense of neutrality was easy for the design consultant to step into, an unwritten story, ready to receive enough furnishings to make the home livable for the first summer season. With high ceilings, an open layout, and classic details, Vineyard Decorators warmed the interiors with natural textures like rattan, weathered and whitewashed woods, and organic materials. They introduced an ocean-inspired color palette to create a sense of movement and ground the interiors with coastal appeal.
Vineyard Decorators’ in-house delivery team installed mattresses, bed frames, outdoor furniture, and living and dining room furnishings before the clients arrived. The design consultant made the beds and styled the decor, providing the clients with a turnkey experience. Carrying a tonal color palette throughout the interiors, bedframes in natural rattan, crisp white fabrics, and reclaimed woods set the stage for coastal elegance, enhanced by natural fibers like cotton and linen that whisper of languid mornings, restful nights, and a quiet life lived in an at-home oasis.
The approach to the open-concept living, dining, and kitchen space was to create distinct zones. With large rugs, accent furniture, and a cohesive approach, each space feels intentionally separate yet in constant conversation with the rest of the room.
The living room establishes the natural texture theme, warmed by woven accent chairs, a natural-fiber rug, and soft linen roman shades. The setup elicits conversation; two oversized sofas are flanked by lounge chairs, inviting guests to relax into plush cushioning warmed by daylighting from ample windows. The chairs feature woven detailing, mirrored in the matching storage cabinets and accent stools, which easily serve as additional seating.
A large, weathered table anchors the dining area, its modern design complementing the existing architecture. Paired with a crisp, white, modern dining chair, linen seat cushions, and natural cane detailing, the vignette softens. A wet bar is a must for any hosting-minded buyer, and this one is well-stocked for clients’ summer schedule. In proximity to the kitchen and dining area, guests can easily sidle up to the kitchen island or wander to the well-appointed living area for a comfortable place to lounge and converse.
With the foundational pieces set, personal touches such as wallpaper, lighting, and hardware updates transformed the space in phase two of the project, completed in the fall alongside a basement makeover.
After a Lived-In Summer, Fall Provided Time for a Reimagining
After a stress-free first summer, Vineyard Decorators revisited the home in the fall for a cosmetic update that left core surfaces intact but significantly changed the atmosphere. Working closely with D Best Construction, Vineyard Decorators executed a plan to further personalize the home by updating paint, adding wallpaper, and swapping lighting, mirrors, and hardware.
One of the most impactful transitions was the kitchen. The layout, original tile backsplash, and cabinetry all remained in place, but fresh paint, new hardware, and new lighting gave a builder-grade space a new sense of identity. To add dimension to the kitchen, local contractors repainted the cabinets in Revere Pewter, a warm grey putty tone by Benjamin Moore. Vineyard Decorators specified new lighting over the kitchen island and dining room table, opting for relaxed forms and natural textures in oversized pendants that imbued a coastal quality and brought warmth to the space. Grasscloth wallpaper added subtle texture to the interiors of the wet-bar cabinets.
A Martha’s Vineyard-inspired collection of wallpaper from Caroline Z Hurley brought dimension to the sitting room, located just off the living area. A geometric, neutral, the Quansoo collection brings pattern into the design, and hints at the client’s more playful side–further developed in a complete basement transformation.
The updates to the bedrooms and baths included installing grasscloth wallcoverings, updating paint, and curating mixed-metal hardware for the bathroom, along with new mirrors, resulting in a warm, inviting space that harmonized with the interior furnishings and imbued the new build with a sense of depth and history.
Dreamt by Vineyard Decorators and executed by D Best Construction, the outdoor pergola features Vineyard Decorators’ own line of outdoor furniture. Chaise lounges from the Chappy collection elevate the poolside vibe in the outdoor area. A modern take on classic teak furniture, the Vineyard collection offers a space for relaxation and conversation. Woven pendants and chairs echo the coastal theme established inside, and the access to the kitchen and the interior wet bar means guests never have to travel far for a refreshed cocktail.
Where the first and second floors of the home showcase a refined coastal style, the basement transformation exudes the client’s playful side. A dry bar, an arcade corner equipped with classics like shuffleboard and skeeball, a lounge area, and an enclosed bunk room tucked away behind a sliding barn door– the basement is a playground for children and adults alike.
A contrast ceiling, painted in Navy Masterpiece by Vineyard Decorators, sets a dimly-lit, speakeasy air where rainy afternoons could pass by unnoticed, or disappear into a late-night shuffleboard shoot-out. Overflow guests can retire to bunk beds set against a geometric wallpaper that reminds them not to take anything so seriously.
Framed Amity Week posters nod to the Jaws influence on the Vineyard, and coastal elements, like a surfboard on the wall, help establish the relaxed atmosphere created by local art from Kenneth Vincent. A Norton Point pennant and vintage flippers illustrate the client’s personality. Anchored by an oversized sectional sofa, the basement is a true reflection of how the homeowners wanted to spend their time.
This project showcases the talent and skill available to homeowners on the Vineyard. These local teams and their collaborations brought a client’s vision to life, serving as a case study in how furnishing, cosmetic updates, and local knowledge can transform a blank-slate prop erty into a lived-in, memorable space.
For more information about Vineyard Decorators and to see more of their work visit: vineyarddecorators.com, Phone: 508-693-9197, E-mail: sophia@vineyarddecorators.com, www.instagram.com/vineyard_decorators