Beach/House, Fall 2024
Shadows lengthen. The crowds are gone. The weather is at its most glorious. Autumn arrives and cozy season begins on the Outer Cape. It’s the time of year when people here head back indoors to tackle some of the household projects that were impossible to even think about during summer’s hubbub. Evenings that were spent dining outdoors are now savored in front of a fire. In this special edition of the Provincetown Independent's home, garden, and design pages, we’re easing our way into the fall projects that come before the year-end holidays and the promise of the new year ahead.
Shadows lengthen. The crowds are gone. The weather is at its most glorious. Autumn arrives and cozy season begins on the Outer Cape. It’s the time of year when people here head back indoors to tackle some of the household projects that were impossible to even think about during summer’s hubbub. Evenings that were spent dining outdoors are now savored in front of a fire. In this special edition of the Provincetown Independent's home, garden, and design pages, we’re easing our way into the fall projects that come before the year-end holidays and the promise of the new year ahead.
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Provincetown Independent | BEACH / HOUSE | <strong>Fall</strong> <strong>2024</strong> | 7<br />
‘The house has grown with us<br />
and there’s a piece of us in<br />
each stage of the construction.’<br />
— Braunwyn Jackett<br />
strips of wood reveal their age through stains, gradients of color, and<br />
the occasional rusty nail. McKean makes sure to clip all of the nails, but<br />
he doesn’t remove them or heavily sand the wood, preferring to leave<br />
traces of its past lives.<br />
The house, built in 1900, revealed some of its own treasures during<br />
the renovation. In one room, McKean removed the sheetrock and was<br />
captivated by the wood underneath. Rather than put insulation between<br />
the studs and build new walls with sheetrock, McKean left the wood<br />
exposed and affixed insulated panels on the outside of the house, over<br />
which he attached plywood and shingles. The result leaves the interior<br />
feeling beachy and rustic, alluding to the Outer Cape’s dune shacks and<br />
summer cottages.<br />
Jackett doesn’t mind their home’s continual evolution. “The house<br />
has grown with us, and there’s a piece of us in each stage of the construction,”<br />
she says. At first, they divided the house into two spaces: they<br />
rented out one half and the other was where Jackett and McKean lived<br />
with their three children. Their section of the house was once a barn, evidenced<br />
by the high, pitched ceilings. Now that the space is unified, they<br />
have the benefit of two kitchens and more space for hosting gatherings.<br />
As McKean developed his skills and creativity doing this renovation,<br />
the work opened a way for other professional opportunities. For about<br />
10 years he made custom furniture from salvaged and reclaimed wood<br />
for clients. Six years ago, he returned to contracting and established<br />
McKean Artisan Builders, which specializes in construction projects using<br />
reclaimed wood. Renovating the Mary Heaton Vorse house for interior<br />
designer Ken Fulk was one of the company’s first jobs.<br />
Fulk wanted the historic Provincetown home to be restored but<br />
made to look as if it hadn’t been touched. “We picked the house apart<br />
piece by piece and labeled every piece,” says McKean.<br />
Working on the closet- sized library at the Vorse house, McKean<br />
borrowed an idea from his own house. He proposed partitioning off the<br />
library using old window sashes from the house. Fulk liked the idea and<br />
gave him the green light.<br />
These days, McKean, who supervises a crew of 17 builders, is busy<br />
with houses other than his own. But Jackett says that doesn’t mean their<br />
renovation project is over.<br />
“I don’t think it will ever be finished,” she says.<br />
McKean says that, in addition to drawing on local aesthetics, the house integrates his experiences living in<br />
Hawaii, Mexico, Colorado, and Northern California.<br />
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