Nantucket Cottages and Gardens: Charming Spaces on the Faraway Isle

by Leslie Linsley, Terry Pommett (Photographer)

A beautiful, colorful guide to bringing the style of Nantucket Island to your home.

There is something essentially charming about a simple cottage surrounded by a fence covered with roses. More than 1,200 of these houses can be found on Nantucket Island. Nowhere in this country are there more charming and diverse cottages featuring small pocket gardens and window boxes than on Nantucket.

To a large extent, the character of the island is reflective of these little early homes. They were originally built by and for island residents at a time when islanders didn’t require, didn’t desire, or couldn’t afford anything larger.

Living small, as typified by cottage living, has become the responsible, chic, innovative, and practical wave of the immediate future. Many homeowners are rethinking their needs in regard to space, opting for more quality and less quantity of space. They know that a house is more than square footage, and a small home is one that can be infused with special details and designed to accommodate the lifestyle of its occupants. Neither size nor volume has anything to do with style and comfort.

The homes and gardens featured in Nantucket Cottages and Gardens reflect classic design elements that have been embraced in the past and continue to survive in the present. Throughout this book, the cottages of Nantucket will inspire those who are building new, renovating, or decorating a small home. When the quantity of space is pared down, more money can be spent on the things that give a house character, such as built-ins, weathered wood furniture, unique art pieces, and handmade textiles, to name a few.

Genres: Nonfiction, Gardening, Architecture

224 pages, Hardcover

First published May 5, 2015

About the author

Leslie Linsley has published more than 70 books on crafts and decorating. Her articles have appeared in Family Circle, where she was the contributing craft editor for 15 years, Woman’s Day, Victoria, Country Living, Redbook, House Beautiful, Elle Decor, Good Housekeeping, Martha Stewart Living, O, and HGTV online. Her newspaper column, “At Home With Leslie Linsley,” appears weekly in the Nantucket Inquirer & Mirror and The Key West Citizen.

Reviews

[Susan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lovely homes on a lovely island!

[Martha · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a very pretty, well put together and colorful look at pristine Nantucket cottages during the bloom of spring and summer. There are a few editorial mishaps, but for the most part the labels are clear and the writing solid. The dwellings represented are purported to link the past to what is obviously a very wealthy present, though little of the past remains. I enjoyed flipping the pages and marveled at the dust free, carefully staged rooms with their harmonious shades of white and blue with artistically arranged artifacts that tinkle little bells here and there from a much darker and less ordered past.

[Tina · Rating 3 out of 5]

Charming book about the cottages on Nantucket. I had been hoping for more of a how-to decorating book, but this is not that kind of book. Beautiful photographs, beautiful subject matter.