Mr Viral
“When my wife saw it, she cried because it was so beautiful. And then she turned to me and said the sweetest thing: ‘Try not to touch anything,’” writes Seth Meyers of his Ashe Leandro-designed home in the foreword of the interior design and architectural firm’s new book, Ashe Leandro: Architecture + Interiors, out now from Rizzoli. The 16-year-old firm’s first book features eight of the New York-based duo’s recent projects, from the beautifully layered Gramercy Park townhouse of artist Rashid Johnson to a Georgica Pond Long Island home with an air of zen. Seth’s Martha’s Vineyard property, which he shares with his wife, Alexi Ashe (sister to Ariel), and his children, is among the elegant mix.
A Noguchi pendant light is suspended beside the two-story tall stone and plaster fireplace. Antique finds surround the hearth, including firetools from RT Facts in Kent, Connecticut and coil baskets from the local Chilmark Flea Market.
Photo: Shade Degges
The fireplace runs all the way to the ceiling, which features reclaimed beamed supports.
Photo: Shade Degges
In the living room, a custom Interiors sofa, customer coffee table by Robert Pluhowski, and a chair from Ashe Leandro’s furniture line, Ruemmler no 612, orients guests toward conversation around the hearth.
Photo: Shade Degges
Completed in 2022, the home was a pandemic-era project for which Ariel Ashe and Reinaldo Leandro say they were more or less given carte blanche. Asked what the directive was from Seth and Alexi, Ariel says, “We have worked with them so many times that they didn’t have one!”
The new build sits in the town of Chilmark on Martha’s Vineyard, on a plot of land directly abutting Seth’s parents’ summer home. The bright hue of the cedar planks (they skipped the more traditional cedar shingles to give the home a modern flair) that wrap the barn-like structure reflects the home’s newness. (Ariel explains that it will weather to a gray to match the Martha’s Vineyard vernacular.) In the meantime, the frame of the home was constructed with reclaimed timber, which was largely left exposed in the interior and provides a gorgeous patina to the spaces that look far beyond their years.
Behind the living room sits the kitchen. Twin pendants by Rose Uniacke hover above the island which is painted black—now a signature of the family.
Photo: Shade Degges
Outside, a combination of paned glass and picture windows add a layered look to the barn-like home. There are boulders artfully strewn about the lawn—dug up and original to the property—and a traditional New England stone wall runs the length of the yard. “The house is surrounded by farms and farmland, it needed to relate to that. The materials are largely reclaimed and rugged, so they can take sandy feet, ice cream drips, and lots of playing and entertaining. Humor lives there,” adds Ariel.
A view from the pantry to the entryway and a tiny radish painting by Antonello Radi from Il Buco. Splatterware dishes from March SF are stacked in the shelves.
Photo: Shade Degges
The breakfast room, furnished with a reclaimed pine table by Rob Pluhoski, antique Gustavian dining chairs, and a light by Carlo Scarpa, offers a prime vista of the Eben Armer-designed fireplace.
Photo: Shade Degges
Limited in size and footprint due to Chilmark’s strict building codes, it was decided that the open-concept main floor would feel even more vast with a double-height living room centered around a limestone, wood-burning fireplace that draws the eyes up to barn-style beams. A limewash treatment on the overmantle in moody gray adds sophistication to the focus point. “We just wanted it to be the main anchor of the home, like the old homes on the Vineyard with a heart at the center of the home,” adds Reinado.
A baroque walnut cabinet from Cafeiro Select stands tall as the family’s favorite piece.
Photo: Shade Degges
The secretary style cabines is now a bar stocked with Gucci stirrup cups from Alexi collected.
Photo: Shade Degges
A combination of gray stone tiles and French oak floorboards leads guests into the kitchen, which is given prime placement at the center of the home and was designed to fell less like a traditional kitchen, and more like a wall of built-ins that just so happens to have a sink and an expertly camouflaged refrigerator. The black cabinetry winks to the Pinterest-famous kitchen (also the work of Ashe Leandro) at the family’s Manhattan home. “Their New York kitchen kicked off a black kitchen trend, in my opinion,” says Ariel.
Michael Trapp’s iron chairs add a punch of red to the outdoor living spaces furnished with a table from Montage Antiques and daybeds from Janus et Cie.
Photo: Shade Degges
Oak trees and boulders unearthed from the property fill the lawn of the cedar planked house.
Photo: Shade Degges
Though the space is filled with some seriously good-looking furniture, it doesn’t feel overwrought It’s a place for a young family to kick back and casually congregate on holidays, where days are centered around mealtimes—meaning there are plenty of places to dine. A smaller breakfast area is punctuated with a round dining set featuring antique Gustavian chairs and a Carlo Scarpa light fixture. (Scarpa is Ashe and Leandro’s favorite designer, so no home is complete without one of the Italian designer’s Japan-inspired pieces.) A larger dining area is filled with Scarpa dining chairs (which, per Ariel, “felt very Vineyard, as they’re made out of sailcloth canvas”) and is cocooned with picture windows that give the feeling of an alfresco meal with views of the property’s oak grove. For the real thing, a covered porch is populated with furniture for outdoor summertime living. A secondary outdoor space was created around an outdoor fireplace by mason and sculptor Eben Armer, who foraged local boulders to help create the cozy space.
Patterns play in the guest room with a vintage Moroccan rag rug and bed throw by Jeanette Farrier.
Photo: Shade Degges
A 1970s monkey rattan lamp sits atop a Zijlstra Meubelen desk in walnut and brass that Seth uses as his Podcast HQ in the summers.
Photo: Shade Degges
Upstairs, arched doorways lead to bedrooms where subtle nautical touches abound. A porthole-esque window in the boys’ room offers a prime view of their grandparents’ home; their bathroom mirror is actually an upcycled porthole with a looking glass at the center. Bunk beds in vibrant red add a jolt of color to the spaces, which are otherwise an ombré of earth and wood tones via antique furnishings and decor. In true Martha’s Vineyard fashion, this home is filled with aged designs. But in the hands of Ashe Leandro, the furniture is sparse yet oversized, filling the house but not cluttering it.
In the primary bedroom, a Navajo rug purchased by Seth for Alexi as a gift sits by the window bench.
Photo: Shade Degges
An unfinished 17th-century Portuguese silk tapestry draws the eye in the primary bedroom.
Photo: Shade Degges
Custom his and hers vanities flank the Agape Ottocento bathtub.
Photo: Shade Degges
In the primary bedroom, a mounted 17th-century silk tapestry adds an old-world touch, while a hulking burled wood secretary desk with ornate curvature has been repurposed as a bar containing silver plated Gucci Stirrup Cups with Elk Head. “I was really into this style of furniture at the moment, and I thought it just sort of threw everything off in the room in a good way,” says Ariel. “I sent it to my sister and just said ‘What?’ I was like, ‘Just say yes!’ And we bought it and it’s everyone’s favorite piece.
Another benefit of decorating for your family? Not having to fully let go of some of your long-held antiques. A sconce Ariel found in a Parisian flea market has made its way into the powder room.
Scrolls feature throughout the home as a nautical motif.
Photo: Shade Degges
A colorful view of a guest bedroom.
Photo: Shade Degges
Almost every corner features small but impactful touches, but according to both the designers and the family, the home looks its best when it’s filled with people. “There’s so much cooking happening all the time–and cocktails. It’s full of life,” says Ariel. “The kitchen counter was always filled with people–we had to get extra stools on the side of the island because everyone wanted to sit there and chat.
As for whether or not Seth was able to abide by his wife’s original wish? Though he co-opted the guest bedroom as a make-shift podcast studio during the summer, Ariel adds, “Not one dish is out of place.”
Sheep in the boys’ bedroom pays homage to the real-life sheep at a nearby farm.
Photo: Shade Degges
A miniature oyster painting by the entryway.
Photo: Shade Degges
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