Boston Common - Niche Media - A side of Boston that's anything but common.
Issue link: http://www.ifoldsflip.com/i/94515
PHOTOGRAPHY BY NATHAN COE (HAY, ROOM); COURTESY OF THE INN AT WHITE ELEPHANT VILLAGE (ENTRANCE) PORTFOLIO white elegant THE ISLAND'S CHRISTMAS STROLL. BY JANICE O'LEARY D KATHLEEN HAY DESIGNED NANTUCKET'S PLUSH NEW INN WITH SERENITY IN MIND, JUST IN TIME FOR esigner Kathleen Hay grew up on Long Island's North Shore, in the coastal hamlet of Northport, where Main Street is dotted with quaint shops and one theater, and it ends at the marina with hundreds of masts visible from the street. It's no wonder she felt so at home on Nantucket during summer vis- its with friends. During those summers she began working for George Davis, who owned a popular home furnishings store called Weeds, among other Nantucket busi- nesses. Post-college, she passed up a job offer on Wall Street to work for Davis full time, eventually leaving to begin her own interior design firm. Now Hay lives and works year- round on Nantucket ("I'm a wash-ashore," she says), than not, help from afar, though her clients—more often second-home owners—seek her from Palm Beach to the Hamptons to Woodstock, Vermont. Though she began as a residential designer, Hay has recently branched out into commercial projects. This year she completed The Inn at White Elephant Village—her first for Nantucket Island Resorts. The historic build- ing posed some challenges, but she gave contemporary-yet-comfortable beachy sophistication. She left scheme in both the lobby and the guest suites purposefully neutral. "With color you have an emotional reaction," she says. "I wanted it to soothe." it her own brand of the color Hay created multiple inviting seating areas in the lobby. continued on page 130 128 BOSTONCOMMON-MAGAZINE.COM Kathleen Hay " With color you have an emotional reaction. I wanted it to soothe. "—kathleen hay Nantucket's Inn at White Elephant Village, a calming island getaway.