A summer house on the Vineyard has a distinct personality. Shoes are kicked off at the front door; family and friends gather to linger over dinner; rainy afternoons are spent reading on the porch; outdoor showers are the norm. Jason and Nancy Rosenthal fell in love with the routine in 2003, when they celebrated their wedding anniversary at the now-defunct Inn at Blueberry Hill in Chilmark. Soon after, they spotted a real estate listing for a house on three acres in Chilmark. 

The property was located down a winding dirt road off Middle Road, surrounded by classic stone walls and bordered by Sheriff’s Meadow Foundation land on both sides. Mature oaks stretched out as far as the eye could see. At the heart of the property stood a one-bedroom, one-bathroom cottage with a loft and galley kitchen. “[We] fell in love with the stone walls and the field,” said Jason. 

They had just moved to Manhattan and were preparing for the birth of their first child. Buying a home on the Island “made no sense,” Jason said with a laugh. Even so, they decided to take the leap. 

Despite relocating to California a few years later, the pair has continued to return to the home every summer with their two children. Over time, they have not only made it their own; they have renovated it and expanded it, while still paying homage to the original cottage, surrounding woods, and stone walls.

The transformations took place in two stages. In 2008 the couple, who are no strangers to renovations – they have renovated homes in California numerous times – decided they were ready to add more space. They contacted Hutker Architects, who designed a one-story, two-bedroom, two-bathroom addition complete with an outdoor shower to the right side of the original home. Ben Kelley, a builder on the Island since the early 2000s, was the general contractor who helped bring the project to fruition. As principal and founder of Building Shelter Inc., Kelley specializes in building and renovating homes using sustainable building practices. 

Work was completed in 2009, to the Rosenthals’ delight. And yet they knew that, eventually, they’d want to do more. 

In 2018, that “some point” arrived. They once again enlisted Kelley, with whom they had stayed in touch. “We called him and said: ‘We have this budget. We know what we want. Can you help?’” said Jason. Kelley said yes.

Working with Kelley and residential designer Adrian Johnson, the goals of the 2018 renovation were to redo various parts of the existing house, and to create even more space by adding yet another wing, this time to the left side of the original cottage. 

In the existing structure, the Rosenthals paid particular attention to the kitchen and considered every detail when planning the space. “I knew where I wanted the drawers to be placed while you were unloading the dishwasher,” Nancy said. 

Even the placement of the kitchen window was thought out. “We told Ben that with the amount of time we spend doing dishes, we want a view while we do them,” Jason said with a laugh, pointing to the large window over the white farmhouse sink that looks out to the leafy oak trees. Nancy designed the open-bottomed kitchen island and the walk-in pantry (complete with espresso maker and coffee station). She had also long dreamed of having a large blue AGA stove, set in the back wall and surrounded by a slab of Royal Blue marble. It now serves as the focal point of the kitchen. 

Another must-have for Nancy was a laundry room and half-bath just off the kitchen. “Nancy has great taste and they were great to work with. It was teamwork,” Kelley said. And, he added, “They trusted us to do the work for them. I appreciate that.”

An upstairs loft area in the original section of the home was transformed into a TV room, with comfortable couches and ottomans for watch parties of “only in summer” TV events, such as the World Cup and the Summer Olympics. Another major re-design was replacing the original metal spiral stairs with a wooden staircase and restoring the cupola at the top of the loft. Kelley hired Livingston Lighting, based out of Gloucester, Massachusetts, to create lighting inside the cupola, a detail Jason and Nancy said is something they enjoy looking at every evening. 

In the new wing, they added a primary bedroom, a bunk room, two bathrooms, additional closet space, and a second outdoor shower to easily accommodate the flow of summer guests. “It was designed for gathering and for hosting and for extended family,” said Nancy. “We can be together but separate. We wanted to be able to host, cook, and have something that cleans up easily and then allows you to retreat to your wing.”

While creating additional space was essential, using environmentally friendly yet durable materials was also a priority, and Kelley and the Rosenthals used this opportunity to introduce those materials and building practices throughout the home. “It can be challenging to take a standard design and make it environmentally sound,” Kelley said. But he and his team accomplished it both inside and out. The floors in both the main living space and bedroom areas are made of reclaimed maple that he sourced from western Massachusetts. The interiors were painted with air-purifying paint from ECOS Paints, a nontoxic paint that absorbs benzenes in the house. 

“We used recycled newspaper for the interior insulation, which is a great alternative to spray foam, and cellulose…on the exterior,” he said. Other environmentally conscious building elements Kelley used for the home were energy recovery ventilators, which create a healthier air quality inside. The home’s three heat pumps are located in three zones, allowing for separate climate control and lower energy bills, and the windows have the highest-grade heat retention possible. “The durability of a home is the 90 percent you can’t see,” Kelley noted.

It is details like these that make Kelley a specialist in creating sustainable homes. 

Despite their love of their northern California home, where they spend most of the year, the Rosenthals deliberately wanted to make design choices on the Vineyard that were different from their primary residence. The result is the easy, no-fuss feeling of a home that blends seamlessly into the canopy of oak trees and quiet nature that is the essence of Chilmark. 

“I love the outdoors, and I wanted to feel like it was a house you could only have here,” Nancy explained. “We wanted a house that was ‘of the place.’” 

They did so by including white oak elements throughout the home. The oak was saved from trees felled during the renovation and addition, which Kelley cured and used to build the open shelving and table in the kitchen, the bathroom vanity in the guest bathroom, and the vanity top in the primary bedroom. 

Other indoor/outdoor details include screened-in walkways that connect the wings of the house. “We weren’t going to be here in the winter, so we could design these outdoor walkways,” said Nancy. They also wanted a large screened-in porch where they could gather as a family and with guests, a feature Nancy remembered from her visits to the Beach Plum Inn in Chilmark. Accordion window-doors between the living space and the screened-in porch allow them to create one large space. In keeping with the summer-only use of the house, it doesn’t have a fireplace. Instead, a large firepit was built in the backyard and surrounded by Adirondack chairs. 

Nancy’s eye for detail is evident throughout the space. The main bedroom has a hidden coffee nook where she can prepare coffee and plan her day, and the sliding barn-style door hides the area when not in use. Brown leather pulls on the drawers in the main bedroom are another artful touch. She worked closely with interior designer Susan Bielski on many features, including a set of three oversize light fixtures suspended above the kitchen table.

The resulting home is one of calm, understated elegance. The glass front door looks straight through the living space into the backyard, and the high ceilings urge you to look up and outward to the natural environment. The walls are painted in calming white and light gray tones, the furniture neutral. The couches in the living area invite guests to sit with a book or watch a thunderstorm roll through on a July afternoon. The windows and glass doors of the house are oriented towards
the back of the property, facing a natural meadow and views of the trees.

The backyard is both serene and practical for an active family. The open meadow is perfect for workouts, “Family Olympics,” and games of Frisbee. Jason even installed a zip line and small paths for their two children. “We wanted a super simple yard,” said Nancy, who worked with Island-based landscape architect Kristen Reimann to create a natural yet family-friendly space. The family can also access trails without getting in the car: Middle Road Sanctuary, a 100-acre Sheriff’s Meadow Foundation holding, abuts the property.

Unexpected touches in the backyard blend seamlessly into the surrounding landscape. One surprise is hidden behind a circle of blueberry bushes. Nancy told the story of their landscaper clearing the meadow and finding one large and one small granite stone nestled together. “We call them mama whale and baby whale,” she said. Another artistic element is a stone sculpture by contemporary Japanese artist Masami Kodama that sits just off the driveway.

“My grandparents on my dad’s side had a six-acre family compound in White Plains, [New York],” Jason said. “My grandparents loved art and sculpture and it populated the grounds of the compound. When my grandmother had to move out of the house in her nineties, she let each child and grandchild choose pieces that they liked.”

With the house renovations and additions complete, Jason had one more building in mind. While the family had storage space in an unfinished basement, they wanted a structure for their “toys:” bikes, paddleboards, and a seventeen-and-a-half-foot Northeaster Dory being built by Jason and his son. In 2020 the Rosenthals asked Kelley to design and build a barn that would sit toward the front of the property. 

The resulting post-and-beam 320-square-foot space, constructed of white oak timbers and red cedar exterior siding with oversized sliding barn doors, has a distinct Scandinavian feel to it. “Because there are no eaves it harkens back to original New England design,” Kelley said. The high ceilings allow for ample storage and work space, creating a total of 480 feet of covered space, and the roof is fitted with solar panels. The solar allowed for net metering, which enables the family to offset their energy use and transfer energy back to Eversource.

It’s taken twenty years, but by biding their time and working methodically, the Rosenthals have created a thoughtful, livable space to celebrate the summer season with their family for many generations to come.