Jennifer and David Clancy's Post and Beam Glass Studio

As you approach David and Jennifer’s studio, a classic early American style post and beam barn, there is evidence of their sense of humor and inherent artistry everywhere you look. After driving past scenic marshland and cattle grazing in seaside pastures, a sign that reads “Glass Blowing,” perched atop a beautifully welded sculpture that combines rusty metal tools and objects in an unexpected way, lets you know you’re in the right place. The studio is situated on the couple’s pastoral two-acre property, just a stone’s throw away from their restored 1787 colonial home.

Upon arrival, the first thing you notice is a 10-foot work of art that elegantly snakes up an exterior wall of the barn. It’s made up of fish swimming in a stream of hundreds of delicate clear and blue pieces of glass. The outside of the studio is a whimsical sculpture park; giant green and red glass leaves rest casually on a stone wall; a clear glass head and brains lie on a bed of mulch under a tree; a large planter is filled with glass flowers and leaves. Above the sliding barn doors, antique metal letters boldly spell the word BLOW.

The inside of the glass studio is warm in every way. On this particular day, the fall breeze that blows in through the screen door mixes with the heat from the furnace and feels just right. A mellow selection of music — Tom Waits, Bob Dylan, Van Morrison — sets the tone as David and Jennifer work together in a fluid, knowing rhythm.

It’s easy to see how these two could hibernate and thrive in the comfort of this space, every inch of which is an example of their commitment to craftsmanship and creative expression. With the help and expert guidance of millwright Andy Shrake, David built the timber-framed barn using hand tools to create notches and pockets in place of nails. “It went together like an erector set,” David explains. They built the skeleton of the structure over the course of a week. With welding help from Jennifer’s dad and design inspiration from her mentor Art Reed, the Clancys tackled the impressive task of building all of their own glassblowing equipment. All of the cabinets, counters and shelves were handmade by David. Jennifer’s happy and colorful clay mosaic tiles, mixed with glass polka dots and Magic Hat bottle caps, add embellishment.

Although the studio is a big open space — one half is a gallery; the other is a blowing room — the overall feeling is cozy. Whittled and stained tree branches and an impressive collection of antique cast iron and steel objects decorate the barn walls. A collage of drawings, postcards, pictures, and magazine clippings form an inspiration board of sorts in a corner of the shop. A rainbow of color glows from three levels of frosted glass shelving lit from below. A hand-carved wood frame custom-made by David creates a soft balance for this glass display and invites visitors to come in closer and enjoy the fruits of their labor; a labor that has culminated in a dreamlike work environment that celebrates imagination.

Photos and text by Jacqueline Marque.

You can see the full Apartment Therapy creative workspace tour and read more about the Clancy's glass studio HERE.

David and Jennifer's Handmade Home

Long rays of golden light stretch across the Clancy lawn and fill their small cottage with a warm glow as the sun rises over Narragansett Bay. The natural beauty of this pastoral two-acre property, with its coveted views of the historic Jamestown windmill and the Newport Pell Bridge, is a source of inspiration for the artistry that Jennifer and David pour into their home. Nearly every inch of their restored 1787 colonial has been custom-designed and crafted by the pair, who make a living blowing glass in their post and beam studio located on the grounds.

When David spotted the miller’s cottage 16 years ago, he knew it was a gem even though it was in serious disrepair. The tiny 18th-century house was falling down and needed a new foundation. It also had a drop ceiling and an attic full of rat carcasses. With a lot of work on their hands and not much money, the Clancys had to learn how to do things themselves and be creative with materials. “It was like a game in the beginning, to see what could be used that wasn’t meant to be used,” David explains.

David and Jennifer reused original wood salvaged in the renovation to make walls, doors, and a unique bathroom vanity, which includes a handblown glass sink lit from below. They turned blueberry bush branches into stairway balusters and corrugated tin into a kitchen ceiling. Handmade tiles became decorative mosaic borders, a colorful kitchen backsplash, and flooring. “We were inspired by the rustic style of the original home,” Jennifer says. “We wanted the space to be warm and comfortable and have natural materials. We both love rock and wood and clay.”

Unusual details and decor give the Clancy home character and authenticity: arched doorways, inspired by the Newport Bridge and Jennifer’s love of Gothic architecture, frame the entrance to the kitchen and study; 17th century English church pews they found at Brimfield Antique Show are repurposed as dining banquettes; a collection of Pez dispensers fill several handmade custom display cases; metal objects decorate a wall comprised entirely of a patchwork of salvaged wood.

Despite the long hours David and Jennifer spend making handblown tableware, decorative glass and large-scale installations, the couple’s well of creativity seems never-ending. David is currently building a frame for their teepee, and the couple is finishing a wood-framed paper screen — similar to one they made for their bedroom — to divide their dining and living rooms. “I get a lot of joy just moving through things. I finish one project and I can’t wait to start something else,” David explains.

Welcoming their daughter Tupelo into the roughly 900-square foot one-bedroom home four years ago required them to modify some of their designs. Cable railings used to maintain the openness of their second-floor bedroom are temporarily covered with lattice fencing for safety. Until they are eventually able to create an addition, the space is divided into two bedrooms, a laundry room and a play area.

The Clancys' sprawling grounds include a guest cabin with an outdoor shower and deck, a teepee, and numerous gardens, embellished with glass and metal sculptures and bordered by handmade stone walls and wood fences. It’s a magical world of playfulness and whimsy for Tupelo, named after the beautiful trees on the property and the Van Morrison song ‘Tupelo Honey.’ The four-year-old is all smiles when she returns home from pre-school on a lovely September afternoon. She walks along a stone wall that borders the windmill, plays with the family dog Arlo and is overcome with laughter as her parents take turns giving her a push on her swing. “The whole place looked like it was dying,” Jennifer says of the property when they found it, “and now it is full of life.”

Text and Photos by Jacqueline Marque.

You can see the full Apartment Therapy house tour and read more about the Clancy's property here.

A piece of Haiti finds a home in my office

I recently learned about the Macy's Heart of Haiti initiative, which directly benefits Haitian artisans, when I was asked to help the cause by incorporating a piece from their new line in my home decor and share the results. The collection features more than 75  items including jewelry, vases, bowls, metalwork, and even Christmas ornaments, all of which are made almost entirely from recycled and sustainable items such as old cement bags, cardboard, oil drums and local gommier wood from Haiti. Macy’s Heart of Haiti upholds the belief that “trade not aid” is a powerful way to create sustainable work and much needed financial opportunities for Haitians. The campaign pays in excess of fair wage to the talented artisans, giving them the dignity of work and economic self-determination.

The item I received is a hand-cut, carved and finished frame made of recycled steel. The four large fronds that surround the picture opening, which is slightly smaller than 4x6, instantly reminded me of the lush greenery of home. Although the frame is meant to sit on a desktop, I thought it was perfect to fill an empty spot on the wall in my home office, which is filled with lots of black, white and chrome.  Sticking with this theme and the reminder of home, I chose to layer my blog logo with a graphic photo I took of a fern tree – Eamon and I are obsessed with ferns – in my mother's New Orleans courtyard this summer. It's kind of a non-traditional office sign, I suppose. I think it fits in perfectly with all of the beautiful yet completely impractical objects – the majority of which were gifts,  I swear! – I choose to surround myself during the many hours I spend in front of my computer each day.

So, here's a little tour of my office:

I really like the way the fern looks with the metal fronds. The metal and black and white fit in perfectly with the rest of the decor in my office.

The wooden camera tape dispenser was a birthday gift this year from my lovely friend Kate Gardiner.

The cameras were all gifts from friends. We have a few others around the house as well. The drawing is by our dear friend Logan Hill.

I adore this letterpress coaster calendar by Sugarcube Press. I bought it at Papers in Newport, which also carries some of their cards.

 I love incorporating paper into decor. I bought this paper at Michael's and used it on the back of my display cubes as well. The retro-styled phone is a big hit with Evangeline. She loves to "talk" to people while I'm working on my computer.

I made the canvas wall hanging using one of my all-time favorite Thomas Paul textiles. I had every intention of selling it until I put it on the wall and decided it looks perfect.

I took these two photos (above) during a snow storm in February. When the light is nice, I often take photos of objects I love. I bought this leather bag from the craftsman who made it in Athens, Greece.

I never tire of this wonderful photo by Newport photographer Sandy Nesbitt. It's the first thing you notice when you enter the house through the front door. The drawings were done by our talented friend Logan Hill.

 I love this Day of the Dead sculpture we bought in Isla Mujeres, Mexico. She casts beautiful shadows and is fun to photograph at different times of day. The woman in the photo is my maternal grandmother Yolande. The woman in the drawing is Logan's grandmother.

 Eamon made most of these marbles (a few were gifts from friends) and the glass container during his glassblowing days. The tiny print is a photo I took in Lake Charles, Louisiana.

 The typewriter was a gift from Eamon's parents. I think it belonged to Eamon's grandfather. Evangeline loves to tap on the keys and pretend to write. But, what surely caught your eye first is our handsome Mangeycat. Isn't he stately? It's hard for me to imagine that there's ever been a cat with a better temperament than our beloved boy. He makes life so much sweeter.

John the Botanist's Treehouse Retreat

John the Botanist, a landscape designer who also does tree removal for a living, is a man with a knack for building and growing beautiful things. Take a walk through his property and nearly everywhere you look, you can see his handiwork. Gardens and stonework carve out areas for outdoor dining and socializing around a fire pit. Succulents and vines cover the roof of a shed with a living layer of green. Water flows into a pond filled with colorful koi and creates a soothing trickle that invites you to have a seat on a nearby handmade bench and take it all in. Clearly, John is a man who loves to take his work home. He is rarely without a personal project and is always looking ahead to what he’ll create next.

John got the idea to build an outdoor retreat while watching the show Treehouse Masters. His treehouse would be an escape from his active life, a place for him and his wife Edie to occasionally sleep outside and enjoy the grounds he’s worked so hard to cultivate for the past 17 years. He wanted to create something rustic and natural that looked like it had always been there. His impressive collection of local wood, accumulated during his many years of removing trees — most of which were dying, diseased or downed by severe weather — made it possible for him to build the 160-square-foot house almost entirely out of materials he already had.

He started by first building the stairs, which are made entirely of tree stumps left intact. Climbing them evokes a playful sense of being a child again and actually climbing a tree; you have to look down and thoughtfully watch each step. Mosses, lichens and ferns growing in crevices add an enchanting woodland feel to the playful structure. Laurel handrails create a graceful arc that leads visitors from the ground to the screen door entrance.

The inside of the house is quite simple. The only furnishings that aren't built in are a queen-sized bed, a full-length mirror and a trunk. Four shelves, holding lots of candles, and a large red cedar bench are built-in. A comforter with a palm frond design perfectly suits the setting. Sheer green curtains billow as a breeze blows through the large screen windows, which offer a lovely view of the beautifully landscaped grounds. “It’s a good place to go to read a book or have some solitude,” John says.

Once the stairs were up, the rest of the design fell into place for John, who completed the treehouse, made of eight different kinds of wood, in about 50-60 hours. He spent a total of around $800 on plywood, roofing, electrical supplies, and milling for the pine boards he used on the front and sides. All of the other materials came from tree removal jobs.

It’s no surprise that John is already planning his next steps. He wants to build an outdoor shower and a seaglass curtain that opens to reveal a bonsai workshop underneath the house. He hopes to find more time to practice the Japanese art, which is something he enjoys doing for relaxation.

Of course, it's not all about peace and quiet. What's a treehouse without a touch of adventure? John's eyes light up as he explains his vision for a footbridge that crosses over the koi pond and connects the treehouse to the deck. Sitting on the bench below his carved sculpture of a turkey buzzard, he says with a smile, “It’s like being a kid again.”

Text and photos by Jacqueline Marque.

You can see the full Apartment Therapy house tour and read more about John the Botanist's treehouse HERE.

Erik & Maaike's Tranquil Country Cottage

It’s hard not to fall in love with the bucolic land along Aquidneck Island’s Eastern shore. Stone walls line winding roads covered by canopies of green. It’s the perfect place for a lazy Sunday afternoon joy ride along roads like Paradise Avenue or a hike through the Norman Bird Sanctuary woods to the top of Hanging Rock, which overlooks Sachuest Beach. It’s no surprise that Maaike, a photographer, and Erik, an avid surfer and mountain biker who works in the sailing industry, have always dreamed of building a life together here.

This dream began to unfold when the couple was living in Valencia, Spain. They spotted the property online while planning a move back to Rhode Island. “It was on a street we had always loved,” Maaike says with a smile. Tucked away at the end of a leafy driveway on an acre-and-a-half of land, the location offered a country setting just ten minutes outside of downtown Newport, where they had previously lived for five years.

While the location was ideal, the house itself was not. The 1980s contemporary style was a far cry from the country cottage of Maaike and Erik's dreams. "We had to have some serious vision," Maaike explains. The couple gutted the house down to the studs and opened it up without expanding the original footprint. They used wasted attic space to create vaulted ceilings with skylights, which flood the house with light. Dark wood paneling and cold floor tiles were replaced by clean white walls and hardwood. They added red cedar shingles to soften the exterior and allow the structure to blend in with the natural surroundings.

From the kitchen, there is a clear view into the living, dining, and family rooms, but each one still remains separate. The home manages to feel airy and open without sacrificing warmth.

Many of the wood furnishings that fill the house are inherited family heirlooms – a coffee table made from the floors of Erik’s grandfathers’ office in Paris and Maaike’s dresser that was her changing table when she was a baby. Sentimental artwork and items big and small were inherited from their grandparents in Sweden and Holland, and add to the comfortable, lived-in feeling of the home. New pieces, several of which are made from reclaimed wood, mix effortlessly with antiques and create an organic feeling that mirrors the lush surroundings. Naked windows offer a clear view of the outdoors in every room and add to the overall feeling of tranquility. The peaceful surroundings, after all, are what drew the couple here from the start.

Text and photos by Jacqueline Marque.

You can read more about Maaike and Erik's style and see the full Apartment Therapy house tour HERE.

The MacMillan's Converted Greenhouse

It’s hard to believe that Amy and Rob MacMillan’s utterly charming home, set back behind a stone wall along Newport’s scenic ten-mile drive, started out as a building with a completely utilitarian purpose. The house was originally a greenhouse for Bonniecrest mansion, and the grounds were used as farmland for the sprawling 1914 estate built on the shores of Brenton Cove. Converted into a home in the 1950’s, this repurposed space has many unique characteristics that are equally as charming as they are challenging.

There's nothing cookie-cutter about a converted greenhouse; changes often require custom designs and clever craftsmanship. With a love for the quirkiness of their non-conventional home and an eye for interesting design, Amy, a freelance color consultant for residential and commercial spaces, and Rob, a sailmaker who owns two sail lofts and races sailboats professionally, have kept the building’s original purpose in mind as they’ve updated their home throughout the years.

The first thing you notice as you enter the house is a long, light-filled hall with French doors on either end. A day bed looks right at home in this corridor that feels like a sun porch worthy of afternoon tea with a friend. Blue and white Flor tiles, pieced together as a runner, add a pop of color and a graphic element that draws the eye forward and accentuates the unusual shape of the room.

The kitchen, which retains the original a-frame roofline and floor-to-ceiling windows, is the most obvious reminder of the home’s origins. Custom-designed cabinets mirror a wall of glass, which floods the room with natural light, a precious resource during New England’s long winters. A copper-capped windowsill provides a perfect place for potted plants to thrive year-round. A table made from old bowling alley flooring is one of many examples of the MacMillans' love of repurposing materials. Open storage throughout the room, including a space for shoes underneath the banquette seating, makes the most of the room’s sharp angles.

The house is filled with an eclectic mix of new and old, consignment shop pieces, hand-me-downs from family, and trash-to-treasure finds. The comfortable kid-friendly environment is filled with personal photographs, artwork, and plenty of space for Tatum and Mo to play. A hand-painted growth chart – with names, dates and ages of family and friends – and a chalk paint corner between the playroom and kitchen are a testament to this home’s easy, laid-back vibe. “I don’t mind drawing on the walls... from the tallest of friends to newborn babies, we tend to measure most everyone who comes around," Amy explains. “Living in a quirky house with so much character and history is really special,” she says. “It’s fun to see it evolve and grow with us throughout the years.”

Text and photos by Jacqueline Marque

You can read more about Amy and Rob's style and see their full Apartment Therapy House Tour HERE.

Joanne and Brian's Cottage by the Sea

It’s a perfect summer evening. There’s a mellow breeze and a blanket of soft golden light. The Kings are sitting on their deck with drinks and a cheese tray watching sailboats race in Narragansett Bay. A couple sitting in a parked car takes in the scenery from across the street. It is this view, described by Brian as “stunningly addictive,” that convinced the city girl, Joanne, to leave her beloved Boston and settle in Brian’s hometown of Barrington thirty-five years ago.

The neighborhood, known as Bay Spring, began as a community of modest summer cottages built on small lots around the turn of the 20th century. Hurricanes in the 30’s, 50’s and 60’s took a toll on the area. The Kings' house, which started out as a rental that was not much to look at, was barely winterized when they moved in. “The curtains still fluttered in the slightest breeze, even with the windows locked shut,” Brian recalls.

Seeing that the neighborhood was on the verge of a comeback, the couple purchased the house in 1984 and got serious about turning it into a home where they could raise a family. “Our little summer cottage had to be made solid enough to remain cozy through New England winters when even the bay froze over,” explains Brian. In addition to making the house structurally sound, they opened up the first floor by eliminating walls and enlarged the second floor. The renovations were completed just in time to welcome their son Nick.

Throughout the years, the house has evolved as the Kings have built their life as a family of three. The addition of a front room with vaulted ceilings and French doors that open to a wraparound deck creates what Joanne aptly describes as “a fluid space that spills out into both the landscape and the seascape.” “I always feel like the outdoors is right there,” Joanne explains, “I never feel enclosed.” The sea air, the ocean breeze and the sound of birds chirping in the trees make the airy room a favorite spot for afternoon naps. Nikko blue hydrangeas — planted as a nod to their son’s childhood nickname and his “bluer than blue” eyes — surround the house along with sea grasses, lavender, poppies, irises and rosa rugosa. A private Zen patio garden, a quiet sanctuary for morning coffee and relaxation, provides a perfect space for annual flowers.

Joanne acts as art director for the house, continually rearranging furniture, adding decorative touches, and displaying the work of local artists and friends. She draws from their abundant gardens to make flower arrangements and fills the kitchen with artful displays of fresh produce from nearby farms and seasonal markets, special touches that add to the feeling that the home is one with its natural surroundings. Randomly placed dimes are present throughout the house as a spiritual reminder of Joanne’s mom, who had an affinity for the tiny silver coins.

The King house is filled with memories. Looking back to when their journey as homeowners began, Joanne recalls sitting in a lawn chair while pregnant, during the ‘84 Olympics, and thinking, “When you arrive, this house will be ready for you.” She remembers the spring days she spent watching Brian and Nick play catch on the lawn — a sure sign that summer was around the corner — and white Christmas nights when holiday lights illuminated the house like a snow globe. “Every season is beautiful,” she says. Hurricanes, Nor’easters and winter blizzards may come their way, but the Kings are in it for the long haul. “We’ve built our life here,” Joanne says, “I can’t imagine ever letting this go. It’s just wonderful.”

You can see more photos of the King's cottage and read about their style and inspiration on Apartment Therapy.

Photos and text by Jacqueline Marque.

Chris and Kristen's Dreamy Houseboat

It all started with a wildly imaginative dream, sketched on a cocktail napkin one summer night in 2011. Chris and Kristen wanted to design a boat to use as a creative outlet and a place for entertaining summer guests. Never mind the fact that neither had experience with boat building. The couple, artists and gallery owners who divide their time between Newport and New York, aren’t ones to shun a challenge, no matter how unachievable it may seem.

The ideal vessel they sketched during dinner overlooking Newport Harbor became a reality six months later. Kristen shrieked with excitement when she laid eyes on the 1969 houseboat on a freezing cold day in Newburyport, Massachusetts. Within a week they were making plans to transport her back to Newport, Rhode Island.

That March, the new boat owners took a road trip to Miami in search of inspiration for the renovations that lay ahead of them and to visit Kristen’s father, a master carpenter and builder. He offered much insight into how they could execute their designs. When they returned to Newport, fresh with ideas, Kristen recalls visiting the boat and thinking “What have I gotten myself into?”

The boat needed lots of work. She had rotten wood and leaky windows. She needed new plumbing, wiring, floors and walls. They found vendors at a Boston boat show to come check her out and give them estimates for repairs. “One quote for plumbing was six times what we paid for the boat — the amount we had set aside for total costs including renovations, mooring and insurance. When the vendor left the boat yard, I was standing in front of my boat in shock, with black leather boots and a fur coat, and an old salty sailor walked by and said ‘nice boat shoes.’ I had tears in my eyes and went home and called my dad.”

This is when the hard work began. Kristen’s father intended to come for two weeks and stayed for six. He knew exactly what needed to be done to bring Chris and Kristen’s vision to fruition. He took on the role of foreman and began directing them and their team of friends and family who came to help. The boat was gutted, the stringers inside the hull reinforced, the floors and walls rebuilt. The work went on well into the evening on many cold New England nights. Slowly, the interior began to look more like the inside of an apartment and less like “a wet cardboard box.” “My father is incredible,” says Kristen, “and without him there is no chance I would have had the guidance or knowledge to do half of what was done.”

They put the boat in the water just before Memorial Day in 2012, and christened her Belafonte. “It seemed like a good vessel name. I love Harry Belafonte and his music,” Kristen explains. “The Life Aquatic had a magical boat named Belafonte and it seemed to make sense; an ode to Wes Anderson and Bill Murray who were here filming Moonrise Kingdom, which Chris helped make some props for.” They still had work to do, but over time, they have put it all together, little by little; adding curtains, fabrics, sheets, pillows and cushions. This summer Chris and Kristen began renting Belafonte for overnight stays, dinner parties and spa days. When the boat isn’t rented, she is the ideal setting for Chris and Kristen to entertain their ever-present stream of summer guests.

Moored in the center of Newport Harbor, Belafonte is easily accessed by a water taxi that leaves from downtown Newport. The exterior is a classic navy blue and white. The deck rails are beautifully wrapped with rope. The interior is filled with light that bounces off a gleaming white ceiling and white beadboard walls. An emerald green sideboard adds a pop of color and doubles as a sink and storage for food and tableware. The bed, bordered by windows on three sides, is a perfect spot to relax and read a book or drift off into slumber.

The upper deck seats 12 for alfresco dining and has a blue and white canopy – a deconstructed spinnaker – that can be adjusted in countless ways to create shade as the sun shifts throughout the day. Seeing it billow in the wind evokes the feeling of a dreamy island getaway and adds a bohemian spirit to Belafonte’s mod design. Chris and Kristen say that everyone who steps aboard falls in love with Belafonte’s charm. They’re right; she’s got the stuff that dreams are made of.

You can see a full tour of Belafonte and read more about Chris and Kristen's inspiration for their renovation on Apartment Therapy.

Photos and text by Jacqueline Marque

Gail and Chil's "Dead Grandmother" Style

The first things you notice when you approach Gail Greenwood and Chil Mott’s home are delicate lace curtains hanging in black-trimmed windows and a skull affixed to the yellow clapboard beside the front door. This dichotomy sums up what you’ll find inside of their 1930’s cottage, half of which feels frozen in another time, while the other half tells the story of a rock ‘n’ rock life.

The couple met in the late 1980’s when Gail began playing bass with Chil’s punk rock band, The Boneyards. The two bonded over music, a shared love of history, and joy rides that lead to adventures exploring abandoned buildings. “I love stories about houses that were just left as they were — with the table still set and everything — the family up and moved, or, sadly, the elderly died or were put away. There are so many abandoned houses that I am dying to break into,” Gail explains.

Chil’s reverence for the past dates back to his childhood, when he would accompany his mother, a second-generation genealogist and family historian, to cemeteries. He would shine a light on gravestones as she searched for clues to the past. “Don’t be afraid of ghosts,” she used to say, “Just ask them a lot of questions.”

Together the couple has developed a style they like to call “dead grandmother.” The first floor of their home echoes the feeling Gail previously described — minus the dust and cobwebs — of walking into a home untouched by time. The house manages to look a bit like a movie set while still feeling comfortable and inviting.

The kitchen is the most striking example of a time warp. Vintage hand-painted wallpaper with a repeating pattern including a fruit motif is the perfect complement to the house's original cabinets, now painted a bright cherry red and stocked with Fire-King and LuRay tableware. Sparkling white 1940’s appliances look right at home beside a mid-century red and white dinette set.

The bathroom — tiled by Chil in black and white with Vermeer’s "Allegory of Painting" as inspiration — displays old apothecary bottles, vintage glass jars and a working vintage red hairdryer.

The guest room was inspired by the Nature Lab at Gail’s alma mater RISD, and intentionally has a little bit of a creepy Bates Motel vibe. The red walls feature botanical paintings and drawings from long gone relatives — Chil's grandmother, Gail’s great-uncle — and antique taxidermy Gail acquired for use as study models when she taught drawing at Mass Art. The room holds some of Chil’s most precious family heirlooms: a glass-front bookcase filled with antique genealogy and history books inherited from his mother, and the rocking chair his great-great grandfather was sitting in when he died.

The frozen-in-time feeling of the home ends on the second floor. Once an unfinished attic inhabited by pigeons, the large open space filled with custom built-ins made by Chil is now the office of Greenwood Associates, the illustration and graphic design company started by Gail’s father Robert in 1954. Gail and Chil inherited the business from Robert and Gail’s late sister Betsy. Although the business has a long history, the office and art studio is filled with things that distinctly mark the space with signs of modern life — computers, magazines, lighting equipment, props for music videos.

A large collection of electric basses and guitars that line the walls tell the story of a life filled with music: the Rickenbacker and Thunderbird Gail played when she was on the road with Belly, L7 and Bif Naked, a black and white Hamer that used to belong to Rhode Island rock legend Carlotta Christy, and the ones they now play with their current band Benny Sizzler. The instruments are also reminders of the old Boneyards days when they first met and traveled with their bandmates Sluggo and Gene in a red and white van, playing shows with the Goo Goo Dolls, Social Distortion and the Circle Jerks. “To this day I have never laughed — nor cried — as hard as when we were all in that van, the "Pack of Luckys."  The funniest people I have ever met,” Gail remembers fondly.

Their band no longer takes them far from home, but their life is still filled with music and laughter. The couple is currently planning a new Benny Sizzler video, complete with costumes and props they make themselves, featuring their charming and incredibly well-trained dogs Maurice Cheeks and Bear.

You can see Gail and Chil's full house tour and read more about their style and inspiration on Apartment Therapy.

Photos and text by Jacqueline Marque

Chris and Kristen's Artists' Retreat

Kristen Coates loves to have a home full of guests. She and partner Chris Wyllie, both artists who divide their time between New York and Rhode Island, had entertaining in mind when they moved into their spacious third-floor apartment in the heart of Newport above their gallery Egg + Dart. They imagined their home as an artists’ retreat for themselves and their friends, some of whom show work in their Manhattan art gallery Coates Wyllie.

The airy, light-filled space is the perfect place for an artist to unwind. A ten-foot square window that overlooks Bellevue Avenue is the first thing you notice as you enter the drawing room. There is art — big and small, in books and on ledges — nearly everywhere you turn. The high ceilings and ample wall space keep the apartment from feeling cluttered and make it possible to display large artwork, including several of Chris’ figurative and narrative subjects painted on vintage doors. Kristen, best known for her creative fashion collections and full-sized teepees, adds warmth to the space with simple designs like a bundle of sticks with brightly painted edges and a hand-dyed tablecloth draped over the dining room table, a Coates family heirloom.

The couple has a laissez-faire attitude when it comes to hosting. They enjoy putting out a beautiful spread of food and wine and insist that friends come and go at will, help themselves to anything in the fridge and, most importantly, relax and feel at home. “It’s like summer camp, but better, because there are no rules,” says Wyllie.

In order to have room for more visitors, they recently took over a second floor apartment in their building. They also own a renovated houseboat they use as a creative outlet and a place for entertaining. “Newport is a special place and our home is very open and comfortable,” explains Coates. “Friends come for a day or two and end up staying a week or longer once here. We have the gallery and the garden and the boat in addition to the apartment itself, and inspiration springs from all places.”

And it’s hard to not feel inspired by Chris and Kristen themselves; the perfectly suited pair has mastered the art of living well. To the benefit of those who surround them, they thrive on sharing the wealth.

You can see a full tour of Chris & Kristen's apartment on Apartment Therapy.

Photos and text by Jacqueline Marque.