Tour This Stunning Martha's Vineyard Home and Garden
How a chance encounter opened Linda Lipsett's eyes to her home and garden's full potential.
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Linda Lipsett was happy enough with her new home in Massachusetts—until a chance encounter opened her eyes to the home and garden's full potential.
When Linda Lipsett and her husband, Jules Bernstein (also her law partner), purchased their Martha's Vineyard escape in 2009, they were too excited by the prospect of owning a place on the idyllic island community to immediately launch a major renovation.
Then Lipsett walked into Midnight Farm, an eclectic boutique in nearby Vineyard Haven. "I loved the aesthetic," she says. The place's beautifully refined take on bohemian chic struck such a chord that she invited its owner, Tamara Weiss, over for a consultation. Together, the women agreed that the shiny pine floor should be swapped for patinaed oak. "The process," Lipsett recalls, "flowed from there."
In this photo: Suzani fabric covers silver-painted wood seats by Redford House and Zentique's armchairs and birch sidechairs. The pine dining table is from Restoration Hardware.
Bright idea: Unify mismatched dining chairs with cohesive upholstery.
Along with the floors, Weiss brought in old barn beams for the dining-room ceiling and transformed the kitchen with custom cabinets of salvaged oak and hemlock. "Worn materials add warmth and history," explains the shopkeeper, who is also an interior designer. "Anything salvageable on the island, we used." Lipsett requested bold color, and Weiss supplied it judiciously. The living area's furnishings are now awash in a sea of blues, but slight variations in tone and subtle patchwork motifs take the place of sharply contrasting patterns and hues.
In this photo: A patchwork rug from Nomadic Trading Company anchors the living area, furnished with linen sofas and a wingback chair by Cisco. The glass top on Groundwork's reclaimed-oak coffee table displays a collage of vintage art and family photos.
White walls on the home's first story maintain the flow of the open floor plan and provide a calm foil for the vivid botanical photographs that Lipsett found in Paris.
In this photo: In the living room, an elm-and-pine console showcases found seashells, pieces of whale vertebrae, and old Vineyard buoys. The walls are painted Edwardian Linen by Ralph Lauren.
In the more private spaces, Weiss and Lipsett went further. Layers of gold Venetian plaster in the basement bedroom turn what could've been dreary guest quarters into a rich, cocoon-like hideaway. Upstairs, Weiss covered one room's floor with sky-blue paint and another's walls in lilac. Weiss, Lipsett gushes, "was amazingly efficient. She'd say, 'I'm going to show you three things; you pick one.' " (The couple's only rule—that they try out every chair—did threaten to slow things down.)
In this photo: John Robshaw linens make up an oak four-poster, by Design Workshop, in the basement's cozy guest quarters.
In the upstairs powder room, Currey & Company iron sconces complement a Bobo Intriguing Objects mirror, framed with reclaimed Azobe wood.
The 1931 home, which sits atop a hill overlooking the ocean, offered 10 acres and enough bedrooms for the couple's three children and two grandchildren.
In this photo: On the back patio, Napa Home's marble-topped table, built from old railroad ties, pairs with African chairs that repurpose oil drums. The iron pendant light is by Laura Lee.
Lipsett and Bernstein also asked for Weiss's advice about the grounds. Weiss enlisted legendary landscape architect Michael Van Valkenburgh—who designed Hudson River Park in New York City and just happens to live down the road—to come up with a plan for replacing the bamboo grove, originally introduced to soften the backyard's steep incline. His answer? A meadow of native wildflowers and a gently graded path of stone risers lined on either side by mass plantings of hydrangeas, smoke bushes, and spireas.
In this photo: 'Tardiva' and 'Annabelle' hydrangeas, 'Diana' Rose of Sharon hibiscus, and Hosta plantaginea line the path behind the home.
An A-frame trellis supports 'Sunsweet' watermelon (left) and 'Waltham Butternut' squash vines.
'Heavenly Blue' morning glories frame the garden's entrance.
An old sink, set atop a found-wood pedestal, offers a convenient spot for hosing off vegetables.
As the weather warms up, the family plans to forage for meal inspiration. When the tomatoes ripen, Lipsett's son-in-law will whip up his famous salsa for fish tacos. An abundance of strawberries will call for a tart.
In this photo: Fresh-picked collard greens, kohlrabi, and 'Scarlet Nantes' carrots are ready to be rinsed.
Butternut squash vines soften the garden's exterior and create a sense of privacy.
'Striped German' tomatoes are one of four varieties in the garden.
Lipsett and Bernstein will be adding a few extra place settings to welcome new friends made since Lipsett walked into Weiss's store. A few years, and a complete design overhaul later, the family finally feels rooted. "Getting to know all these amazing people was a surprising by-product of the process," she says. "We're part of the island now."
In this photo: Linda Lipsett stands amid the more than 50 types of edibles thriving in her 2,700-square-foot kitchen garden.
Garden designer Chris Fischer divided Lipsett's 30-by-90-foot plot into three distinct zones—a large central area bookended by two smaller sections—and outfitted each with raised beds that allow better control over the soil quality. To create a feeling of enclosure, he and Lipsett filled most of the beds along the perimeter with climbers, such as watermelon, squash, and tomatoes.
Interior beds hold low-lying edibles, including lettuces, onions, and potatoes. For the most part, like crops are grouped, with a couple of exceptions: Parsley lives among asparagus so that the vegetable's ferns, which grow throughout the summer, can shade the delicate herb. And tomatoes are underplanted with basil to make harvesting the classic combo a breeze.
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